A funded doctoral place is open for research on alloys that must survive the harsh conditions inside next generation nuclear reactors. The studentship sits in the School of Metallurgy and Materials at the University of Birmingham and is tied to industrial guidance from the UK National Nuclear Laboratory.
The Studentship and Who It Is For
This is a full time, four year UK PhD or EngD studentship in the group of Professor Sandy Knowles. It is open to UK students and based in Birmingham. The award provides a tax free stipend of £26,805 per year and includes the PANDA doctoral training programme as part of the 2026 cohort. The post was listed on 6 August 2026 and applications close on 6 November 2026.
The project is linked to the UK National Nuclear Laboratory, which will give industrial direction and co supervision with Dr Paul Styman. Day to day academic supervision is led by Professor Sandy Knowles. Candidates should expect a programme that mixes research training with close contact between the university and the national laboratory.
Why These Alloys Are Being Studied
The work sits within the Materials for Extremes research group, which designs and tests alloys for demanding settings such as fission and fusion reactors, aerospace gas turbines, and concentrated solar power. The group covers computational alloy design, manufacture by arc melting, powder metallurgy, or additive manufacturing, characterisation by electron microscopy and X ray diffraction, mechanical testing from large scale to very small scale, and studies of oxidation, corrosion, and irradiation damage.
High entropy alloys are multi component materials made from at least four elements, each present at more than 5 atomic percent. They have shown strong resistance to corrosion and oxidation, high strength, and good tolerance of radiation damage, especially between 500 and 1000 degrees Celsius. That combination makes them candidates for structural use in advanced modular reactors.
Of particular interest are alloys based on 3d transition metals and those based on refractory metals. High melting points and useful strength, creep resistance, and ductility up to about 1000 degrees Celsius suit components in liquid metal cooled reactors and fast reactors. Parts in these plants are expected to see much higher neutron doses than components in the current reactor fleet, so irradiation hardening, creep, and swelling must be understood alongside corrosion and oxidation. Development of these alloys is still early, and many aspects of their behaviour remain poorly mapped.
What the Research Will Examine
There is limited published evidence on how these alloys respond after irradiation. The project will study advanced modular reactor relevant high entropy alloys under irradiated conditions, building on an existing collaboration between the University of Birmingham and the UK National Nuclear Laboratory and on their shared equipment and expertise.
Alloys can be made at Birmingham. Irradiation can then be carried out in the High Flux Accelerator Driven Neutron Facility and with the cyclotron proton accelerator, including in situ testing, with links to the National Nuclear User Facility. Samples from the Birmingham and UKNNL collaboration are already undergoing neutron irradiation at JRC Petten in the Materials Irradiation Device. Post irradiation examination of those samples will be a central part of the doctorate and will be compared with results from ion and proton irradiations.
Changes caused by irradiation will be measured with small scale methods such as small punch testing. Microstructural characterisation will run alongside the mechanical work so that the mechanisms behind any promising irradiation behaviour can be identified. Together, fabrication, irradiation, testing, and microscopy form a single route from alloy production to an explanation of damage resistance.