Level: PhD
Tuition: Full coverage
Deadline: Feb 28, 2027
Duration max: 99  months

Industrial chemistry labs have not changed significantly in the last 25 years. The vast majority of experimentation supporting late phase drug development activities is performed manually one reaction at a time. There have been significant advances in automation, but these have been primarily focused on small scale high-throughput chemistry. As chemistry processes are scaled up, the geometry and agitation characteristics of the reaction vessels become very important. Reactions that have been optimised on small scale may not be reproducible when scaled to more industrially representative vessels. In this project we will develop a new approach: the use of mobile robotic chemists to operate round bottom flasks and/or controlled laboratory reaction vessels to perform autonomous synthetic chemistry. This project will build on our recent progress in the area of mobile robotic chemists: Nature 2020, 583, 237–241 – videos of the autonomous system can be found in the supporting information section.

  • Afghanistan
  • Albania
  • Antarctica
  • Algeria
  • American Samoa
  • Andorra
  • Angola
  • Antigua and Barbuda
  • Azerbaijan
  • Argentina
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Bahamas
  • Bahrain
  • Bangladesh
  • Armenia
  • Barbados
  • Belgium
  • Bermuda
  • Bhutan
  • Bolivia
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Botswana
  • Bouvet Island
  • Brazil
  • Belize
  • British Indian Ocean Territory
  • Solomon Islands
  • Virgin Islands, British
  • Brunei Darussalam
  • Bulgaria
  • Myanmar
  • Burundi
  • Belarus
  • Cambodia
  • Cameroon
  • Canada
  • Cape Verde
  • Cayman Islands
  • Central African Republic
  • Sri Lanka
  • Chad
  • Chile
  • China
  • Taiwan
  • Christmas Island
  • Cocos Islands
  • Colombia
  • Comoros
  • Mayotte
  • Congo
  • Congo
  • Cook Islands
  • Costa Rica
  • Croatia
  • Cuba
  • Cyprus
  • Czech Republic
  • Benin
  • Denmark
  • Dominica
  • Dominican Republic
  • Ecuador
  • El Salvador
  • Equatorial Guinea
  • Ethiopia
  • Eritrea
  • Estonia
  • Faroe Islands
  • Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
  • South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
  • Fiji
  • Finland
  • Eland Islands
  • France
  • French Guiana
  • French Polynesia
  • French Southern Territories
  • Djibouti
  • Gabon
  • Georgia
  • Gambia
  • Palestine
  • Germany
  • Ghana
  • Gibraltar
  • Kiribati
  • Greece
  • Greenland
  • Grenada
  • Guadeloupe
  • Guam
  • Guatemala
  • Guinea
  • Guyana
  • Haiti
  • Heard Island and McDonald Islands
  • Vatican
  • Honduras
  • Hong Kong
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Iran
  • Iraq
  • Ireland
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • Cote d'Ivoire
  • Jamaica
  • Japan
  • Kazakhstan
  • Jordan
  • Kenya
  • North Korea
  • South Korea
  • Kuwait
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • Laos
  • Lebanon
  • Lesotho
  • Latvia
  • Liberia
  • Libya
  • Liechtenstein
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Macao
  • Madagascar
  • Malawi
  • Malaysia
  • Maldives
  • Mali
  • Malta
  • Martinique
  • Mauritania
  • Mauritius
  • Mexico
  • Midway Islands
  • Monaco
  • Mongolia
  • Moldova
  • Montenegro
  • Montserrat
  • Morocco
  • Mozambique
  • Oman
  • Namibia
  • Nauru
  • Nepal
  • Netherlands
  • Curacao
  • Aruba
  • Sint-Maarten
  • Bonaire, Sint-Estatius and Saba
  • New Caledonia
  • New Zealand
  • Nicaragua
  • Niger
  • Nigeria
  • Niue
  • Norfolk Island
  • Norway
  • Northern Mariana Islands
  • United States Minor Outlying Islands
  • Micronesia
  • Marshall Islands
  • Palau
  • Pakistan
  • Panama
  • Papua New Guinea
  • Paraguay
  • Peru
  • Philippines
  • Pitcairn
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Guinea-Bissau
  • Timor-Leste
  • Puerto Rico
  • Qatar
  • Reunion
  • Romania
  • Russian Federation
  • Rwanda
  • Saint Barthelemy
  • Saint Helena
  • Saint Kitts and Nevis
  • Anguilla
  • Saint Lucia
  • St. Maarten
  • Saint Pierre and Miquelon
  • Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
  • San Marino
  • Sao Tome and Principe
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Senegal
  • Serbia
  • Seychelles
  • Sierra Leone
  • Singapore
  • Slovakia
  • Vietnam
  • Slovenia
  • Somalia
  • South Africa
  • Zimbabwe
  • Spain
  • Southern Sudan
  • Sudan
  • Western Sahara
  • Suriname
  • Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands
  • Swaziland
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Syrian Arab Republic
  • Tajikistan
  • Thailand
  • Togo
  • Tokelau
  • Tonga
  • Trinidad and Tobago
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Tunisia
  • Turkey
  • Turkmenistan
  • Turks and Caicos Islands
  • Tuvalu
  • Uganda
  • Ukraine
  • North Macedonia
  • Egypt
  • United Kingdom
  • Guernsey
  • Jersey
  • Isle of Man
  • Tanzania, United Republic of
  • United States
  • Virgin Islands, U.S.
  • Burkina Faso
  • Uruguay
  • Uzbekistan
  • Venezuela
  • Wallis and Futuna
  • Samoa
  • Yemen
  • Zambia
  • South Ossetia
  • Kosovo
  • Vanuatu
  • Aland Islands
  • French Southern and Antarctic Lands
  • Life Sciences, Medicine & Health

The studentship is funded by the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) and GlaxoSmithKline (iCASE). The iCASE award will pay full tuition fees and a maintenance grant for 4 years (at ca. £16,000 p.a.). Applications from candidates meeting the eligibility requirements of the EPSRC are welcome – please refer to the EPSRC website

Open to students worldwide

Universities: