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School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Studentships

Fully Funded PhD Studentship in The School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

President's Doctoral Scholar Award

The University of Manchester has launched a further £2.5m investment in PhD training with the creation of the President's Doctoral Scholar Awards (PDS Awards). These prestigious awards are open to all nationalities and research areas.

Within the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, PDS Award funding will be allocated to our most outstanding applicants seeking PhD training opportunities starting from September/October 2012. We aim to award scholarships as part of our 2012 PhD recruitment round, which may include a number of collaborating schemes such as:

Based on the academic track-record of applicants, and evidence of research potential, we will select our Presidential Scholars from the various applicants across our 2012 funding schemes. PDS Awards status will entitle our successful candidates to a further £1,000 enhancement to their funded stipend/living allowance. They will also have the opportunity to:

Criteria

Applicants must have obtained (or expect to obtain) a minimum first-class honours degree (or equivalent), and ideally hold a Masters-level qualification at merit or distinction (or equivalent). They should also have a track-record of engaging with research. This may include contributions to publications/articles, promoting their research to a wider audience, prizes/accolades for previous research work, setting up research collaborations with other groups etc.

If you wish to apply please email a covering letter, full Curriculum Vitae, two academic references and the transcripts of your degree course unit marks (for all years) to Ms Marie Davies by the 20th February 2012.

 

Investigating the performance limits of next generation food line detectors
Industrially based Doctorate Project

Start date: April 2012 (earliest)
Duration: 3 years
Deadline for applications:  24th February 2012
Supervisor:  Professor Tony Peyton
Project reference number: PhD/EEE/AP/SL468

Looking for an opportunity to combine industrial experience with a research project leading to a doctorate?

This industrially based doctoral studentship offers an exciting opportunity for a graduate student to pursue an industrial based PhD degree between sites at the University of Manchester School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Mettler Toledo Safeline facilities nearby at Salford Quays, close to the new Media City development, and working as part of a team of academic and industrial partners, to develop new, state of the art food line monitoring systems.

In-line metal detectors are widely used in the food and pharmaceutical industry.  They serve as a safe guard against product contamination from metal fragments and for some applications there are statutory requirement for their levels of performance.  Although the metal detection industry is relatively mature; there are aspects of the performance of the detectors that still need to be better understood.  Some of these issues now present a significant barrier to further improvement of these instruments

Consequently, this research will address fundamental issues, which now limit the performance of food line detectors, especially the systems for sensing foreign bodies.

One issue is to improve our understanding the “product effect”, which is the unwanted signal caused by the complex electrical conductivity of the object being scanned.  A full understanding of this issue should lead to more sensitive detectors and an ability to use the product signal to monitor product quality in food stuffs.  Another issue is improving the response of detectors to non-uniformed contaminants.  As the research progresses we would hope to exploit our new knowledge and together with techniques being pioneered for mutual induction tomography and spectroscopy to look forward towards a new generation of electromagnetic inspection systems.

Qualifications:
This scholarship is open to both UK/EU and overseas applicants who have obtained (or expect to obtain) a minimum first-class UK honours degree (or equivalent) in Physics, or Electrical Engineering / Electronics.  The ideal candidate will also be stimulated by problem solving and have proven practical ability and be able to work in a multidisciplinary team with food scientists, application engineers, business management and end-users.  The candidate will also join an existing industry / university research team and be able to enjoy the support of working in an active applied research environment.

Funding:
The successful candidate will receive a scholarship covering fees paid at the UK/EU rate (currently £3,732, 2011/2 rate) plus a minimum stipend of £21,000 p.a. over a period of 3 years, subject to satisfactory progression.  (N.B. please note that it will be the responsibility of the successful candidate to cover the difference between UK/EU and overseas fees if appropriate)

Contact:
Informal enquiries about the studentship are welcome by email to a.peyton@manchester.ac.uk or by telephone on 0161 306 8716.

How to Apply:
If you wish to apply please email a covering letter, full Curriculum Vitae and the names and contact details of at least two academic referees to Marie Davies (m.b.davies@manchester.ac.uk)in the first instance.  (Please note that following the deadline for receipt of applications shortlisted candidates ONLY will be contacted to submit a full application).  Please quote the project reference number.

See also:

 

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