PhD opportunities

Please read the How to apply to Imperial guidelines carefully. 

Applications should be made online via the postgraduate applications system My Imperial. 

The official application asks for a research proposal, but we do not expect any kind of lengthy or detailed proposal. It is sufficient for you to describe what you find most interesting in physics and which area or areas you might like to do research in. This will help in terms of pairing you with a potential supervisor. 

You can find a list of potential PhD projects for 2024 in this Prospectus. You can highlight your preference for a specific project in your application. However, we will consider you for all available projects. 

Shortlisted candidates will be invited for interview before being accepted. This provides an opportunity to discuss possible supervisors and research projects. Due to the large number of applicants we do not interview all candidates.

Please register for the joint Light and Matter Open Day, scheduled for Wednesday, December 4, 2024.

Time and Place: 14.00-18.00 in the Lecture Theatre 3, Blackett Lab. 

Our main funding for PhD students is from the UK research councils, STFC and EPSRC and the European Reasearch Council (ERC). 

Home applicants (UK citizens and EU settled status):

We typically have a limited number of fully-funded PhD studentships that pay both your fees and your living expenses. These can be directly associated with a specific project (see our prospectus). 

Overseas applicants (including EU citizens):

Studentships for overseas applicants are very restricted. We typically take a few overseas students who have scholarships from their home country, or in some cases are self-funded. 

Scholarships for Home and Overseas Applicants:

Both Home and Overseas students are eligible for the Imperial College Presidents scholarships and the Schrodinger scholarship. These are very limited in number and therefore very competitive. Only students with an unusually strong academic profile are put forwards for them. To apply for one of these scholarships, all you need to do initially is tick the box on the PhD application form to indicate interest but DO NOT attempt to secure provisional acceptence from a potential supervisor at that stage.

We may put you forwards for this funding if you are short-listed for one of our PhD positions and can be matched to a suitable supervisor. We will contact you if we wish to do this. The College scholarships have three deadlines throughout the year. The first one is very early in the year, usually in November, and has considerably fewer applicants than the later deadlines so there is some advantage in getting your application in early. 

Note that for students currently doing an MSc course, if the College offers one of their scholarships it will be conditional on a distinction. The College are very strict about this - there is no negotiation if this condition is missed very narrowly.

Please indicate in the application whether you will be able to accept an offer from us if we are unable to provide funding. Read more about fees and funding at Imperial.

For general enquires about postgraduate study in physics and the application procedure contact:

Ms Loli Sanchez
The Physics Postgraduate Secretary
Department of Physics, Imperial College
London SW7 2AZ, UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 7512
Fax: +44 (0)20 7594 7777
Email: l.sanchez@imperial.ac.uk 

For enquiries directly related to study in the Matter Community contact Dr Stefan Truppe but please read this website carefully first since it addresses most common questions. Note also that due to the time required to process the very large number of applicants it may not be possible to answer all email queries in any detail.