Postgraduate subject options offered by the University of Swansea
through the Science without Borders scheme
Since the beginning of the Science without Borders scheme, Swansea has welcomed many students from Brazil to the multidisciplinary College of
Engineering as part of their bachelor degrees.
Due to the success of this scheme, we are now accepting applications from students seeking PhD places in the UK as part of the SWB scheme.
Swansea has a wide range of potential research projects available to suit students holding/completing all branches of Engineering, Mathematics,
Chemistry and Physics bachelor degrees.
Engineering at Swansea www.swansea.ac.uk/engineering is a very highly regarded UK Engineering Centre with numerous world-leading academic staff and
research groups. We have several fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Swansea is a beautiful coastal campus university offering excellent facilities for students. www.swansea.ac.uk
Projects are available across most of the areas you will find detailed on our website, but are particularly seeking applications in the below areas.
To apply, please contact the academic staff directly with your CV/transcripts and state which areas you are interested in joining
Project
Summary of Research Areas and Web link
To Apply
Nanomedicine
In nanomedicine we seek to engineer nanoscale systems for direct diagnosis and treatment of
disease within cells. Through control of physical and chemical aspects of nanoparticles they can
be introduced within the body and delivered to targeted cells (e.g. cancers) to affect medical
treatments at the molecular level. Projects are available in particle characterisation, study of bionano interactions and computational and mathematical modelling of nanoscale drug therapies.
Professor Huw Summers,
h.d.summers@swansea.ac.uk
http://systemscytometry.org/index.html
Nanomaterials
The properties of materials are fundamentally altered when they are reduced in size down to the
nanoscale. Extreme surface area to volume ratios lead to high chemical activity whilst quantum
physical effects radically affect basic electrical properties. Thus through nanotechnology we can
‘size-engineer’ material properties. Projects are available in nanocrystal growth, nanoscale
imaging and nano-material characterisation.
Professor Huw Summers,
h.d.summers@swansea.ac.uk
http://www.swansea.ac.uk/engineering/researc
h/centres-and-projects/multidisciplinarynanotechnology-centre/
Nano-sensors
Nanoscale structures are of the same scale as molecules. Therefore the use of nanoparticles,
Postgraduate subject options offered by the University of Swansea
through the Science without Borders scheme
nanowires and other nanoscale systems provides a means to exceptionally sensitive devices in
which performance can be altered by a single molecule. Projects are available on a wide range of
topics including nanowire sensors for bio-molecule detection (e.g. glucose) and graphene-based
nanosensing systems.
To apply: Professor Huw Summers, h.d.summers@swansea.ac.uk
http://www.swansea.ac.uk/engineering/research/centres-and-projects/multidisciplinarynanotechnology-centre/
Tissue Engineering
Work in this area aims to develop novel tissue scaffolds with controlled micro and nanoscale
morphology and the functionality to guide tissue development and regeneration. Engineered cell
environments such as these are utilised as 3D tissue regeneration systems to evaluate the
applications of stem cell, tissue engineering, scaffold-free cell engineering and acellular
functional materials. Projects are available in technologies for tissue scaffold formation and in
imaging and analysis approaches for regenerative medicine.
Professor Huw Summers,
h.d.summers@swansea.ac.uk
http://www.swansea.ac.uk/engineering/researc
h/centres-and-projects/multidisciplinarynanotechnology-centre/
Desalination and
membrane
technologies
Pressure is increasing on our limited water resources. With more people requiring clean water,
effective solutions need to come from reusing water in the most efficient way. Projects in water
engineering and process engineering include:
Professor Huw Summers,
h.d.summers@swansea.ac.uk
http://www.swansea.ac.uk/cwater/
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Complex fluids and
Drinking water treatment: improved methods of potable water treatment, with a view
to meeting tightening regulations at cheaper capital and operating costs.
Waste-water treatment: technologies for the efficient removal of environmentally
harmful materials and thus reduced emissions per output of discharge.
Process-water treatment: methods for the treatment of process streams enabling the
recycling of water and valuable chemical intermediates.
Membrane engineering - modelling membrane processes, development of new
membranes, pilot scale studies.
The processing of complex fluids is a major feature of modern industry. Such fluids are extremely
Professor Huw Summers,
Postgraduate subject options offered by the University of Swansea
through the Science without Borders scheme
Rheology
diverse in origin and composition - ranging, for example, from fermentation broths and food
products to inks and mineral slurries. However, underlying this diversity are certain properties
that must be understood if the processing is to be effective and efficient. Our research in this
area covers the study of flow behaviour in process equipment, understanding how the
components of the fluid determine its overall properties and how individual components may be
selectively separated.
h.d.summers@swansea.ac.uk
http://complexfluids.swan.ac.uk/home.htm
Printing and Coating
The Welsh Coating and Printing Centre at Swansea has a broad range of research activities
relating to modern printing processes. Research areas include:
 Graphics and Packaging - as a vital area of the economy research and support of this
sector are considered to be a corner stone for WCPC.
 Printed Electronics - the holistic approach to printed electronics is removing the trial an
error approach of materials and process integration.
 Medical and Biotechnology - Printing as a manufacturing process for integrating
conductives and biotechnology will provide high speed low cost manufacturing
solutions.
As reserves of important metallic elements become depleted it is vital to develop alternative
and/or improved metal alloy systems for the future in a wide variety of industrial sectors. This is
a massive sector; in Europe alone the metal industry contributes an added value to the EU GDP
of €1.3 trillion per year. In order to discover new alloys it is necessary to (i) develop very fast
numerical algorithms to identify candidate alloys and (ii) develop a high–throughput (HT)
characterization methodology to test potential alloys quickly. A range of research projects in this
emerging field (either programming, experimental or both) are available and will include
collaboration with the European Space Agency.
Professor Huw Summers,
h.d.summers@swansea.ac.uk
http://wcpcswansea.com/
Additive Layer Manufacturing is developing rapidly with significant interest from Aerospace,
Medical and Automotive industries looking to take advantage of the freedom of design and low
material waste. Much of the interest is currently on scaling up the process for larger-scale
industrial production. In the development of the process, it is clear that some of the
fundamental engineering challenges are the control of porosity and residual stresses in parts.
Swansea is involved in the AMAZE project, coordinated by the European Space Agency, and with
Contact: Dr N Lavery,
N.P.Lavery@swansea.ac.uk
http://www.astutewales.com/en/
New Alloy Discovery
Additive Layer
Manufacturing
Contact: Prof. SGR Brown,
s.g.r.brown@swansea.ac.uk
http://www.swan.ac.uk/engineering/mach1/
Postgraduate subject options offered by the University of Swansea
through the Science without Borders scheme
some important partners such as EADS, Airbus and Renishaw. In the course of the work
proposed for this PhD, there would possibilities to work on either computational models of the
process, prediction of residual stresses, optimal design of components, building of parts and/or
materials testing &characterisation of components built using new metal powders. The specifics
of the projects could be tailored about the candidate.
SPECIFIC Sustainable Product
Engineering Centre
for Innovation in
Functional Coatings
SPECIFIC is Wales national Innovation and Knowledge Centre. It aims to develop coated glass and
steel products that capture, store and release solar energy, turning buildings into power
stations. The centre brings together world class academic and industrial expertise in the fields of
photovoltaics, solar thermal, batteries, chemical conversion and wide area lighting, alongside
unique sheet and coil printing and coating facilities. SPECIFIC is led by Swansea University in
partnership with industrial partners Tata Steel, BASF and NSG Pilkington and research partners
Imperial College London, Cardiff University, Bath University, Bangor University and Sheffield
University; it is funded by EPSRC, Technology Strategy Board and the Welsh Government.
Hydrogen storage
materials
Energy storage is one of the biggest challenges at present. Due to the environmental concerns,
developing clean and safe fuels is extremely important. Hydrogen is considered as a promising
substitute for fossil fuels. The most important application for hydrogen storage materials is in
automobiles, where large storage capacity and the reversibility of dehydrogenation and
hydrogenation reactions under reasonable conditions are the prime challenges to be overcome.
Although encouraging improvements in hydrogen storage is achieved by severe plastic
deformation (SPD) of metallic materials, little is understood on the parameters influencing the
hydrogen storage performance. In this context, our prime interest is the mechanistic
understanding of hydrogen storage in metals (Mg and Ti) by SPD. It will also have special
emphasis on identifying the exact controlling mechanism of hydrogen storage by advanced
techniques, TEM, EBSD and X-ray synchrotron diffraction. A range of research projects having
potential collaborations with UK industries are available.
To apply: Dr. Leo Prakash, l.prakash@swansea.ac.uk
Nuclear materials
The investment for new nuclear builds worldwide is predicted to be $300 billion over the next
few decades. By 2030, the worldwide nuclear energy capacity is estimated to increase by over
Professor Dave Worsley,
d.a.worsley@swansea.ac.uk
http://www.specific.eu.com/
Postgraduate subject options offered by the University of Swansea
through the Science without Borders scheme
10%. Currently, advanced nuclear fission (GEN-III+ and GEN-IV) and fusion reactors are under
intensive research and development around the globe to meet our future energy requirements.
To this end, the challenges to structural materials used in future reactors (due to higher
operating temperatures and higher fuel burn-ups) far exceed the requirements for nuclear
materials typically encountered in current GEN-II and GEN-III reactors. Understanding and
developing new material systems is an urgent task due to their severe operating conditions. In
this context of nuclear materials, our research interests are: alloy development, understanding
the underlying deformation mechanisms, thermomechanical processing, phase transformation
and irradiation induced damage to improve the manufacturing and performance of nuclear
materials. Projects on Zr, Refractory alloys and ODS steel having potential collaborations with
European industries are available. EBSD, TEM, ion/proton irradiation, neutron and X-ray
synchrotron facilities will be accounted for this research.
To apply: Dr. Leo Prakash, l.prakash@swansea.ac.uk
HCP metals:
Processing to
Performance
Hexagonal closed packed (hcp) metals, most importantly Ti and Mg, have a versatile industrial
applications, including automobile, aerospace, oil and gas, biomedical and nuclear, due to their
unique combination of properties providing advantages over competing materials such as Al and
steel. Swansea has world leading research centres working on hcp metals on various aspects,
including material design, processing, forming, modelling, joining and performance. The prime
aim here is to understand the fundamental mechanisms responsible for their processing to
performance. Some aspects of potential projects include enhancing ductility and grain boundary
damage of Mg, process related micromechaisms of Ti, processing to performance of additive
manufactured structures, lattice strain evolution and crystal plasticity modeling. We will exploit
the state of art large-scale neutron and X-ray synchrotron facilities, EBSD, TEM, and a large
variety of deformation techniques for this research.
To apply: Dr. Leo Prakash, l.prakash@swansea.ac.uk; Dr. SoranBirosca, s.birosca@swansea.ac.uk
http://www.swansea.ac.uk/engineering/ism/
Postgraduate subject options offered by the University of Swansea
through the Science without Borders scheme
Civil and
Computational
Engineering Centre
Swansea has one of the top Centres for Computational Science and Engineering in the world.
One of the fathers of the finite element method, the late Professor O.C. Zienkiewicz was an
academic here. The academic staff within the Centre edit a large number of top journals in the
area of Computational Engineering and Science. A large number of academic staff works closely
with major industries within the UK and abroad.
Specific projects within the Centre are listed below.
Computational
Aerospace
Engineering and
Structures (CAES)
Morphing aircraft are able to deform their structure to improve performance or to control the
aircraft. Opportunities exist in specific structural concepts for example camber variation, span
extension or active winglets, or in the conceptual level modelling of morphing aircraft.
See http://www.morphing-aircraft.com.
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Computational
Nano Structures
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All prospective PhD students interested in
computational modelling are requested to
contact Head of Centre, Professor
PerumalNithiarasa,
P.Nithiarasu@swansea.ac.uk.
www.swansea.ac.uk/engineering/research/cent
res-and-projects/civil-and-computationalengineering/
Professor PerumalNithiarasa,
P.Nithiarasu@swansea.ac.uk.
www.swansea.ac.uk/engineering/research/cent
res-and-projects/civil-and-computationalengineering/
Uncertainty modelling, propagation and quantification, for example considering the
uncertainty and variability in aircraft composite components. Robust design.
Nonlinear structural dynamics, nonlinear modes, ground vibration tests, and their use in
the design of lightweight engineering structures such as aircraft wings.
Tools to analyze the aeroelasticity of aircraft, including flutter prediction and gust load
alleviation.
Energy harvesting from ambient vibration, via piezoelectric and electromagnetic
devices.
Vibration control, including the analysis and optimisation of passive damping
treatments, nonlinear vibration absorbers and isolators, and the fully active control of
vibration.
Structural health monitoring from the structural response, including the use of low
frequency vibration data or acoustic emission.
Modelling, analysis and design of rotating machinery, particularly for condition
monitoring.
Contacts, made up of metal-semiconductor interfaces, are integral part any
semiconductor device and their quality is crucial for the device proper functionality.
Professor PerumalNithiarasa,
P.Nithiarasu@swansea.ac.uk.
Postgraduate subject options offered by the University of Swansea
through the Science without Borders scheme
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Two major current trends in the semiconductor industry - miniaturisation of the devices
and shift to new materials - pose the challenges for the contact technology: (i)
robustness and stability of operation in ever smaller devices and (ii) compatibility of the
metal and semiconductor components.
Electronic devices become smaller and smaller allowing them to be smarter and to
consume less energy. All this is happening thanks to the continuous reduction in the
size of transistors, the basic building blocks of each silicon chip. However, further
reduction in size will become almost impossible if we continue to use the current, bulk
transistor technology beyond the 22 nm technology generation. One of the solutions is
to employ 3D geometry design allowing us to drive the technology forwards and
achieve yet faster transistors and more complex circuits as outlined in the International
Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS).
www.swansea.ac.uk/engineering/research/cent
res-and-projects/civil-and-computationalengineering/
Silicon based power devices’ technology is reaching its maturity and is not able to deliver a
further significant improvement in power conversion. An essential technology booster is needed
to satisfy the requirements for a high integration
Computational
Biomedical
Engineering and
Rheology
This group offers computational projects in many areas of computational biology, biomechanics,
biomedical engineering, and rheology related to both medicine and other standard industrial
applications. Some specific projects within this group include but not limited to
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Application of smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) to multiscale flow applications
within different biomedical systems. SPH is a meshless method with a large number of
applications.
Driving device development using computational approach. This is an excellent
opportunity to demonstrate how new medical device design can be driven by
computational mechanics and methods.
Developing software from very fundamental knowledge to disease diagnosis. Any
successful project in this area will make significant improvements to quality of life for
patients and also reduces healthcare costs everywhere.
Fundamental understanding of how an individual contributes to a group behavior. The
exciting applications include any sort of insect or animal swarms, red blood cell motion
Professor PerumalNithiarasa,
P.Nithiarasu@swansea.ac.uk.
www.swansea.ac.uk/engineering/research/cent
res-and-projects/civil-and-computationalengineering/
Postgraduate subject options offered by the University of Swansea
through the Science without Borders scheme
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Computational Fluid
Dynamics and
Electromagnetics
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in blood and many other problems.
Image processing and dealing with large amount of data is another area that is
important for diagnosis and treatment of various diseases. Developing new methods for
segmentation software, preprocessing to obtain suitable output for analysis etc. are
within the scope of this research area.
Rheology of biological material and industrial flows is important area within both drug
and standard engineering industry. This important area of application can lead to
original research.
Prosthetic leg development within the group is vigorously pursued. The design is driven
by theory and modelling and supported by other disciplines within Swansea University.
This group offers computational projects in many areas of computational fluid dynamics
and computational electromagnetics. These projects emanate from industrial interest
and often involve industrial collaboration.
Development of the next generation computational fluid dynamics techniques on
unstructured grid that is based on higher order methods which enable efficient
simulation of unsteady flow phenomena such as gust flow over commercial aircraft.
Development of computational fluid techniques that is based on the low operation
count scheme of Marker and Cell on unstructured grids.
Development of high order simulation techniques for the modelling of photonic
devices.
Development of combined mechanical-electromagnetic techniques for the modelling
the possibly large non-linear deformations and complex electromagnetic fields.
Development of computational techniques based on the coupling of the Lattice
Boltzman equation and particle methods to improve the simulation of membrane
separation process which is essential for water treatment.
Development of Hex dominant mesh generation technique that enable the use of
mixture of element types that are best suited for individual application.
Professor PerumalNithiarasa,
P.Nithiarasu@swansea.ac.uk.
www.swansea.ac.uk/engineering/research/cent
res-and-projects/civil-and-computationalengineering/
Postgraduate subject options offered by the University of Swansea
through the Science without Borders scheme
Computational
Solids and
Structures
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Stochastic Modelling of Heterogeneous Media: Theory and Applications
Heterogeneous materials, such as composites, concrete and porous media, consist of
two or more phases that have different physical properties and arerandomly distributed
within the volume of the materials. They are encountered ina wide range of engineering
applications, e.g. concrete structuresand oil/gas flow in porous reservoirs etc. The
principal objective of the work is to utilise and further develop the existing expertise
available to the researchteam in order to provide the knowledge and methods of
stochastic modelling for theanalysis of practical random medium systems.
Computational Multiscale Methods for Modelling of Solids ad Structures. The proposed
research project is concerned with development of numerical procedures for multiscale analysis of materials with applications including metals, biological
tissue,geomaterials and concrete. Computational strategies for fluid-structure interaction
Many practical problems,
encountered in nature and various areas of engineering involve the interaction of
fluid flow with a solid structure. The difficulty lies in the
strong nonlinearity and the
high degree of coupling between the fluid and the solid fields.
Therefore, various
solution strategies, with different effects on time integration, numerical stability,
accuracy and computational cost, are employed to solve the overall problem.
The
main objective of this project is the development of robust and efficient
computational
fluid-structure interaction strategies that would be suitable for
application to a wide range of problems relevant to industrial practice, such as,
valves, pistons, wind turbines, etc.
Fractures in rocks provide high conductivity paths for fluid flow on a range of length
scales and dominate flow behaviour in many subsurface reservoirs. Consequently
fracture modelling has become a crucial ingredient in recovery of petroleum and for
carbon sequestration strategies. This project will entail multiscale numerical modelling
and development for fracture flow simulation in subsurface reservoirs.
Oil recovery, aquifer remediation and carbon sequestration strategies are determined
by subsurface reservoir simulation. Subsurface rock can be compressible and undergo
deformation during the recovery process leading to drastic changes in rock properties
such as permeability and even subsidence, with consequent major impact on simulation
predictions. This project will involve coupling of geomechanics (modelling of rock
deformation) with state of the art reservoir simulation techniques to significantly
improve current reservoir simulation physical modelling and consequent predictive
capability.
Professor PerumalNithiarasa,
P.Nithiarasu@swansea.ac.uk.
www.swansea.ac.uk/engineering/research/cent
res-and-projects/civil-and-computationalengineering/
Postgraduate subject options offered by the University of Swansea
through the Science without Borders scheme
Energy and
Engineering from
Clouds to Coasts
This group undertakes research into marine renewable energy, flooding (coastal, fluvial and
pluvial), coastal and estuarine morphodynamics. We specialize in mathematical and
computational modeling as well as field experimentation. Project areas include:
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Climate change impacts on extreme storm/flooding and flood risk management. This
research will make use of the advanced High Performance Computing facility to
investigate the extreme weather/storm and the consequent flooding at regional and
continental scales. Individual projects are available that focus specifically on coastal or
fluvial or pluvial flooding.
Uncertainty awareness and quantification in complex water resources modelling
systems. Statistical/stochastic models/methods in describing rainfall/runoff model and
applications.
Urban flood risk management with GIS and remote sensing. A high-resolution urban
flood model for big cities is to be developed and tested using cutting-edge GIS data and
technology. In addition, the research will also attempt to address the utility of modern
satellite-borne remote sensing technology and data in modelling urban flooding.
The role of long period waves in the overtopping of sea defences is not well
understood. This project would be a computational investigation of long wave
overtopping of sea walls.
Changes in beach shape can be considered as stochastic. Equations describing the
evolution of stochastic variables can be formulated and used to describe variations in
beach position. This project would be an analytical and numerical investigation of using
such an approach for beach management.
Development of a variable-boundary overtopping and coastal flooding module for
coastal area models: The land boundary of natural beaches change as a result of
dune/beach erosion. Therefore, wave overtopping and flooding will be a temporal
function of incident wave conditions but also of the state of the beach.
Investigation of the effects of repeated storms on beach change: recent repeated
storms created unprecedented damage to beaches, which we normally do not
experience with the single storm approach. Here we plan to model the effects of
landfall of repeated storms on our coastlines.
Turbulence model development for computational fluid dynamics of farms of tidal
Professor PerumalNithiarasa,
P.Nithiarasu@swansea.ac.uk.
www.swansea.ac.uk/engineering/research/cent
res-and-projects/civil-and-computationalengineering/
Postgraduate subject options offered by the University of Swansea
through the Science without Borders scheme
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stream turbines used for ocean renewable energy.
Performance modelling of a novel wave energy conversion device.
Computational fluid dynamics modelling of dynamic control of tidal stream turbines.
The effects of waves and turbulence on tidal turbines using a Blade Element
Momentum Theory approach.
Algorithms for tracking the movement of marine mammals from multi channel acoustic
recordings.
Individual Based Modelling of the movement of fish. For further details see
http://thaaquatic.info/services/individual-based-models-ibm/
Background for marine energy projects can be found on the Marine Energy Research
Group website: http://www.swansea.ac.uk/engineering/marine-energy/
If you cannot see a research area listed above ,but have found an academic or research area in Swansea that you would like to apply to study
with, please contact Mrs Ruth Bunting, r.j.bunting@swansea.ac.uk.