UK-France Joint PhD programme 2016
The UK-France joint PhD programme aims to develop research in key areas of mutual interest to
France and the UK. The programme was agreed at the 2010 Anglo-French Summit as one of the ten
priorities in 2011 for the Anglo French Defence Research Group (AFDRG).
Expressions of interest for the programme should be submitted by Friday 4 March 2016. Further
details and an application pack are provided herein.
Programme details
This PhD programme is jointly managed by Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA) and Defence
Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl).
Ten PhDs were funded in 2015, five from the UK and five from France. To date, 43 PhD projects have
been funded since the call began in 2011. These PhDs are investigating a variety of topics including
autonomous underwater vehicles, meta-materials, synthetic biology, sensors, vehicle armour, and
human and social sciences. The intention is that (subject to the available budget and the cost of
individual proposals) a further five PhDs are expected to be funded by the UK in this latest call.
The programme is seeking proposals in the following areas of interest:
 acoustic and radio-electric waves
 biology and biotechnology
 defence and security foresight
 energy
 environment and geosciences
 fluids and structures
 human and systems
 information engineering and robotics
 information management ‘big data’
 materials and nano-technologies
 photonics
Acoustic and radio-electric waves
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generation and measurement of radiation
wave propagation
detection and imaging
electromagnetic compatibility and bio-electromagnetics
communication in complex and harsh environments
detection, location and identification of objects, which may have a low signature, in
complex environment and harsh environments
protection of systems
Biology and biotechnology
• risk analysis and modelling
o knowledge and characterization of current and emerging Chemical, Biological and
Radiological (CBR) agents
o risk modelling, simulation and prediction
• detection, identification (to include Synthetic Biology approaches) of CB agents within
complex clinical, environmental samples
o multiplex, fast, sensitive, specific and portable technologies
o integrated, miniaturized in-field systems
o innovative miniaturized DNA sequencing technologies
o collection, conservation and preparation of complex samples (at room temperature)
o novel tools for rapid phenotypic analysis of antimicrobial susceptibility/resistance
o technologies for point of care diagnostics in low resource environments
o enhanced tools and techniques for identification of non-nucleic acid based
(phenotypic) biomarkers of infection
• protection, decontamination
o mild decontamination (phages, synthetic biology, nanoparticles, physical
techniques…)
o control/modelling of physico-chemical, toxic- filtering media interaction mechanisms
• forensic microbiology to attribute an event to a source
o high-throughput sequencing applied to analysis of DNA traces
• medical countermeasures
o early diagnosis (exposure biomarkers)
o infectious risk (new classes of broad-spectrum antimicrobials)
o prevention and treatment of organophosphorus nerve agent poisoning (long-term
neurological sequelae)
o in-field radiological dosimetry
o Physiology and treatment
• UK/France deployed medical interoperability
o deployed Medical Laydowns
o clinical equipment / tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs)
o casualty classification systems
Defence and security foresight
How the opportunities and risks to defence and security that emerge from future developments in
science and technology (S&T) can be better assessed and addressed. The influence of cultural,
historical, ethical, economic, societal and political factors on how S&T is developed and utilised in
future to present opportunities and threats for defence and security.
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the changing balance between civil sector and government driven investment
national and international research collaboration
reliability of transnational infrastructure and supply chains
globalisation of knowledge
differences in processes, approaches and perceptions
recognising and embracing uncertainty and bias
modelling, visualisation and communication of trends, forecasts and results
anticipating and overcoming barriers to the valuable exploitation of new technology for
defence and security, avoiding the ‘Valley of Death’
Energy
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materials for energy storage pulsed power, transient or permanent (electrochemical,
magnetic, thermodynamic, etc.)
advanced materials for electrochemical energy storage (capacitors, supercapacitors,
batteries)
concepts of innovative materials for thermal management in electrical engineering
materials that contribute to improve the capacity of fuel cells
new concepts for alternative fuels and synthesis of new fuels
Environment and geosciences
Characterising and understanding the environment is critical to successfully delivering capability
from and to the battlespace. Developing faster and more accurate representations of the
environment and cost-effective environment data gathering.
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bathymetry, gravimetry and geomagnetism: observations, gain in resolution, data
reliability and accuracy
marine geology: nature and description of marine sediments, particle transport, bottom
evolution
acoustic oceanography: acoustic description of the marine environment, ambient noise,
tomography
oceanic circulation: dynamics at low and meso-scale and hydrological characteristics of
areas of defence interest
swell and modelling of sea status : observation, modelling
marine biochemistry and biological/physical interactions (in relation with turbidity and
bioluminescence)
meteorology and atmosphere physics
integrated climatology by weather type or regime
forecast of local atmospheric phenomena as well as in the low atmosphere layers:
o fog and teledetection, coastal fog
o cloudiness/rain systems, radiation
atmosphere/ocean interactions in lower atmospheric layers
continental environments
soils:
o surface layers, mechanical and sedimentary characterisation
o cartography
o relation with the water cycle (precipitation/infiltration/runoff), soil behaviour
links with the hydro systems: soils/aquifers relationships, modelling
improving modelling and simulation
combining measurements with modelling
Fluids and structures
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complex regimes of fluid or reactive flows
o aerodynamics of complex shapes
o numerical simulation of multi-fluid or multiphase flows
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o flow control (simulation, technologies for actuators)
structural strength against heavy and dynamic loads
o modelling loads (blast, solid impacts)
o structural behaviour (dynamic effects, damage, breaking, ultimate resistance)
o solutions for protection (concepts, simulation)
mechanical noises (fluid, solid) in underwater environment
o noise generated by submarine systems (coupling between flow and vibration,
internal vibro-acoustics)
o radiated noise (internal sources of vibration, motion-induced vibration, transient
phenomena)
Human and systems
The study of society and the manner in which people behave and impact in the world around us is
fundamental in our approach to both defence and security. This is vastly complex, crossing
disciplines such as sociology, political studies, psychology, criminology, and economics. To be truly
effective in defence and security operations today we need to harness this and are interested in the
following priority areas:
 to understand our adversaries on the battlefield, and understand the civil populations to
which we bring stability and security
 to understand the motivating factors that cause someone to support or commit acts of
violent extremism
 to better identify suspicious behaviours of those who wish to do us harm
 improving human resilience against cognitive, mental and social vulnerability
 new concepts to improve learning, engineering processes, workspaces, efficiency of
interactions and collaborative work
 exploiting human and social sciences to enhance defence’s systems or capability
requirements
 autonomy (semi-autonomous through to full autonomy)
o medical applications – eg telemedicine or automated surgery on deployment
o end to end supply chain – all elements probably now possible to one degree or
another but how can they be made to work as an effective and efficient system?
Interfaces, accuracy, where greatest changes would be from traditional approach,
incremental adoption or big bang?
o repair/maintenance – how to diagnose problems and subsequently repair
equipment on deployment
o equipment recovery - both remote operated as an interim 2025 goal and fully
autonomous for 2035, what functions and processes would benefit most from
automation?
 augmented reality
o engineering support applications – use for training or deployed repair and
maintenance, impact on required skillsets/engagement
• data management
o the cloud - how can cloud /centralised based systems be exploited for rapid access
to data, decision making tools, training aids and Defence publications?
o configuration control, single version of the truth, data /information sharing, level of
required security?
Information engineering and robotics
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communications and security
digital signal and image processing and knowledge extraction
complex systems, robots and cognitive systems
For defence security capabilities (such as command, control, communication and computers,
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR), critical infrastructure protection, cybersecurity
missions), the issue is to drive information communications technologies and the underlying science
towards a goal of maximal efficiency for systems, according to the nature of their operating
environment (highly complex, partially known, uncooperative, time sensitive / real time) and
interfacing constraints.
Digital technologies therefore cover a wide area from tactical (e.g. soldier’s equipment) to strategic
(e.g. large C4ISR infrastructures) systems, with the absolute necessity to meet performance
requirements everywhere at the subsystem level: sensors, data links, information processing tools…
up to global control and monitoring.
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complex information processing
Various data sources: text, multimedia, video, logs, IP flux, software codes, imagery (infrared, visible,
hyperspectral, Lidar, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)), radar, sonar. Various applications:
observation, intelligence, cyber defence, robotics, environment /behaviour perception, target
detection /recognition / identification, navigation and localization, tracking, early warning, situation
awareness … Various techniques: signal and image processing, language processing, heterogeneous
information fusion, tracking, clustering, [big] data mining, artificial intelligence, machine learning.
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secure, reliable and robust systems
Hardware and software security, data and exchange integrity and authentication, networks
supervision, mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), reliability of software, hybrid and embedded
systems.
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embedded/distributed decision
Inter-connected (socio-technical or cyber-physical) systems, increased/adjustable autonomy for
robots, decision aid, smart sensors, multi-agent systems (eg robot swarms), behaviour simulations,
serious games for training or situation awareness.
Information management ‘big data’
There is the need to capitalize on the pervasive, data rich world in which we live. However this is a
task made difficult by the sheer size, heterogeneity, incompleteness and error prone nature of
digital data. Key challenges include the detection of relevant data in large (petabyte+) sized samples,
deriving meaning from it and presenting it to humans in an understandable form. Innovative
proposals are sought to research into this challenging area. As a guide, subject areas may include:
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methods to detect “important” data in very large (petabyte plus) data sets
unconventional methods for effectively fusing data captured from a range of open media
(video, audio, textual) and data from social graphs
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databases and other information to determine key patterns and trends that are ‘of
interest’ to national security and defence?
can fused multimodal data with other information tell us whether we have seen
something or someone before, or better anticipate events and give near real‐time
responses?
methods of determining links between otherwise disparate data sets
methods of combining heterogeneous data and data sets
methods of analysing / synthesising error rich heterogeneous data
Materials and nano-technologies
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polymer aging (increased storage life, ability to measure remaining potential life)
structural bonding (maritime domain):
o qualification process: test methods, key parameters, criteria
o accelerated ageing
o Non-destructive evaluation (NDE)/non-destructive testing (NDT) of bonded joint
rubbers, elastomers, adhesives and sealants (aeronautic domain):
o accelerated ageing methods
o key parameters to evaluated aging
o control and measurement of these key parameters
metamaterials:
o development of low loss magnetodielectrics for lens synthesis
o design and manufacture of metamaterials (especially transformation metamaterials
eg pushing envelop of multi-material additive or bottom-up fabrication at
microwave through to optical wavelength scales)
autonomous vehicles, focussing on:
o modular assembly
o power (eg batteries)
o electronics integration
nanomaterials
o understanding the potential for harm from using nanomaterials in military systems
(eg when damaged etc.)
new materials
o development of higher temperature aluminium alloys for lightweight small [air]
engines
o lead-free piezoelectrics for SONAR applications (including single crystal materials)
o synthetic biology approaches to develop novel materials for protection or armour
applications, self-healing materials, biocompatible materials, materials that have
enhanced resistance to corrosion, novel adhesives
novel methods for fabrication of functional materials (eg 3D printing)
Photonics
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sources and laser systems
imaging systems
materials for optics
o semiconductor vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) / vertical-externalcavity surface-emitting-laser (VECSEL) devices with phase control
o novel use of liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) devices for laser beam control
o high power 2 um laser sources
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o Infrared fibres for beam delivery, switching and control
o chalcogenide glasses for compact infrared optical systems
o optical dielectric coatings with eye-centred design for laser protection
time-frequency metrology
information and quantum computing
innovative solutions for detection of hazardous materials
o laser source and imaging for detection, identification and diagnosis: broadly
tuneable finite impulse response (FIR) (5-14 um) sources, narrow linewidth tuneable
sources for gas detection
o infrared detector technologies: techniques to reduce noise and increase operating
temperature – barrier devices, optical antennas
o passive/active spectrometry: Single photon counting detector arrays in the
extended-Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) waveband
use of short pulse lasers
o terawatt laser for remote effects
o novel sensing and exploitation of quantum effects
These areas represent French and UK scientific priorities in the defence domain.
Selection process
The intention is for the successful PhDs to be co-supervised by a French and a UK supervisor.
In addition, PhD students (UK or French nationals only) will be expected to spend time at both the UK
and French institutes over the course of the PhD. Given this, applicants should have, or demonstrate a
plan to develop, strong English and French language skills.
Proposals are requested from universities or appropriate labs in the areas of interest and should
propose a suitable candidate (if known at this stage) and a French co-supervisor.
The deadline for expressions of interest is 12:00 on Friday 4 March 2016. Additional key dates are as
follows:
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7 to 18 March – review of applications
21 March – write to applicants informing them of the outcome, successful applicants will
now need to prepare a full proposal
12:00 on 8 April – all full proposals to be submitted
11 to 22 April – review of full proposals
Mid May – inform applicants of the outcome
Review assessment and criteria
The decision making criteria and some key details relating to them are provided below:
Defence interest
How important is this problem to defence and security and how does it affect current / future
capability? What is its operational relevance? In particular, how will this PhD:
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enhance the effectiveness of field capabilities, and / or
lead to the creation of completely new concepts / disruptive technologies, and / or
lead to the creation of technologies that inspire new ways of working, and / or
enable agility, flexibility and adaptability?
Scientific quality and innovation
What is the state of the art/possible in this area and how is this proposal new and innovative? What key
piece of science does this project seek to develop and what is its value?
Technical / scientific approach
Define:
 what hypothesis does this PhD seek to prove/disprove?
 what goal does this PhD seek to achieve and, thus, what are its objectives?
 how will this PhD know when it has met its goal/objectives?
 what is the scientific risk and how will this risk be managed?
 what is the scientific risk and how will the PhD manage / mitigate that risk?
 what are the outcomes / deliverables of this PhD?
Exploitation
A definition of methods by which the results of the PhD will be exploited in support of the development
of capability.
Track record of PhD supervisors and university
An assessment of the track record of the supervisors and universities in:
 delivery to defence
 delivery of collaborative programmes with non-UK universities
 delivery of research in the proposed field
Application Process
Each proposal is for one PhD, which must have a supervisor from both the UK and French academic
institution. There is no limit on the number of proposals that an organisation can be involved with.
Proposals should be submitted to phds@dstl.gov.uk and should include:
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completed application form
CV of proposed PhD candidate if known (UK or French National only)
CV of supervisor in the UK
CV of supervisor in France
academic reference from lead PhD supervisor
price breakdown proposal structure including a Gantt chart (or similar)
a single PowerPoint slide which summarises the scope of the proposed work
Contact details
For further information, please contact: phds@dstl.gov.uk