A £11.5M doctoral training centre, run collaboratively by Oxford’s Departments of Chemistry and Materials, will train the next generation of doctoral scientists in the design, synthesis and characterisation of inorganic materials relevant to the future prosperity of the manufacturing sector.
The Inorganic Materials for Advanced Manufacturing Centre for Doctoral Training (IMAT CDT) is an EPSRC-funded centre that builds on the success of the current OxICFM CDT programme. IMAT will focus on inorganic materials – their design, synthesis and characterisation – and will feature a taught course component focusing on the raw materials and processes needed to produce novel inorganic materials products. IMAT will equip and enable a new generation of scientists capable of addressing critical societal challenges in the manufacturing sector.
The centre is led by a team of five senior academics from the Departments of Chemistry and Materials (Profs S. Aldridge, S. Clarke, N. Grobert, K. Vincent and C. Williams), and brings together over 60 academics from a range of disciplines – including chemistry, materials, physics and engineering – to offer postgraduate students a comprehensive four-year course of unprecedented breadth.
The CDT has been co-designed with 19 companies and national facilities to provide a focused, topical and integrated training package. By embedding a strong industrial component into the taught elements and throughout the substantive research phase, the training programme delivered will be relevant to a range of different business sectors and sizes.
From September 2024, students will take four months of taught courses during the first year, followed by a short industrial internship, and finally a doctoral research project in their particular field of interest, including the possibility of studying abroad at international centres of excellence. Training modules will involve lectures, problem classes, tutorials, site visits and advanced practical components. There will also be modules focussing on professional skills and responsible research and innovation.
Professor Aldridge, IMAT Director, said:
The new CDT in Inorganic Materials for Advanced Manufacturing offers a fantastic opportunity for students who are interested in the fields of inorganic chemistry and materials science to obtain a world-class training delivered by a team of leading academic and industrial experts.
Applications for the IMAT CDT are currently open. We offer up to 13 fully funded PhD studentships for September 2024 entry. For more information, visit our website (https://imatcdt.chem.ox.ac.uk) or contact: imat-admin@chem.ox.ac.uk
