Recruiting 36 PhD/EngD Studentships in Battery Science/Engineering

Interested in being part of a dynamic, pioneering and collaborative community?

Want a route into a successful career in a growing industry?

The Faraday Institution is actively investing in a high-quality portfolio of talent development initiatives to inspire, attract and equip individuals to pursue and thrive in battery related careers in the UK.

Thanks to £3.2 million of funding from the Battery Innovation Programme, through the Department for Business and Trade and delivered by Innovate UK and leveraging £1.34 million co-funding pledged from partners across industry, universities and research technology organisations, the Faraday Institution is funding 36 PhD/EngD studentships at UK partner universities for an October 2026 start.

Universities are currently recruiting – see the full list below and apply today. We thank 22 partner companies, universities and research technology organisations for cofunding many of these opportunities.

Once recruited these researchers will form Cohort 9 of the Faraday Institution PhD Training Programme (equivalent to £5k per year) designed to increase the knowledge, skills and aspirations of UK battery related PhD researchers, and setting up individuals for career success.

Past graduates of the Faraday Institution PhD programme have gone on to successfully secure positions as postdoctoral researchers in academia, scientists in the battery industry, and analysts in the energy storage sector. 85% of cohort 1 to 3 PhDs secured their first roles in the battery sector. Three have even successfully set up their own companies.

The Studentships

	PhD Project Title	University	Supervisor	Co-funding Partner	Status	Deadline
	Battery safety
1	The quantification of fire safety for new battery materials, specifically answering the question of the cell-level stability and propensity to fire risk of these new materials.	King’s College London	Francesco Restuccia	King's College London	Application open.	31 July 2026
	Electro-active materials
2	How do local structural motifs in graphene-based carbons—such as curvature, stacking order, and defect density—govern electronic conductivity and percolation in battery electrodes?	Lancaster University	Xiao Hua	HydroGraph	Application open.	15 August 2026
3	Developing solid boosters to increase energy density of flow batteries while maintaining energy and power decoupled.	Queen Mary University of London	Ana Jorge Sobrido	Invinity Energy Systems	Application open.	30 June 2026
4	Understanding ion (de)solvation at interfaces to enable faster, safer battery charging.	University of Cambridge	Raj Pandya	European XFEL	Closed.
5	Characterising lithium and transition metal ordering in disordered rocksalt cathode materials and its link to electrochemical properties.	Lancaster University	John Griffin	Lancaster University
6	How to realise low/zero volume change Li-rich 3D cathodes using earth-abundant metals for solid-state batteries?	University of Oxford	Robert House	Nissan
	Integration and applications
7	How can we better understand and predict electrochemical behaviour inside large format lithium iron phosphate cells in real-world applications over their lifetime?	Loughborough University	Ashley Fly	Perkins Engines / Caterpillar
	Manufacturing and scale-up processes
8	How can innovation in electrode architecture improve interfacial contact, enhance Li-ion transport and enable higher-performance solid-state cells?	Loughborough University	Pengcheng Zhu	Loughborough University	Applications open.	15th of July
9	Exploring the potential for applied magnetic fields to aid in the formation process and subsequent cycle life of anodeless (zero-excess Li) NMC/liquid electrolyte systems.	University College London	Rhodri Jervis	Gaussion Limited
10	What are the operating windows for stable, defect-free battery electrode coatings (considering the complexities of slurry rheology and the interaction between multiple coating layers)?	University of Warwick	Ferran Brosa Planella	Mathematics Institute - University of Warwick	Closed.
	Modelling and simulation
11	How can sodium-ion batteries overcome limitations in capacity and cycling lifetime to rival lithium-ion? This project will parameterise the Multi-scale Modelling project’s atomistic-to-continuum simulations specifically for sodium-ion systems.	University of Southampton	Chris-Kriton Skylaris	N/A	Application open.	31 July 2026
12	Developing a predictive framework for battery interphase formation mechanisms by delivering machine learning-accelerated formation protocols for next-generation NMC / silicon/graphite materials.	University of Warwick	Bora Karasulu	University of Warwick - WMG	Applications open.
13	How can federated AI link manufacturing parameters to microstructural failure while protecting IP? Using physics-constrained graph neural networks to bridge the gap between synthesis and performance.	University of Greenwich	James Le Houx	Ada Lovelace Centre
14	How can embedded sensing inside battery cells be fused with in-situ intelligence to create physical-AI battery systems that autonomously monitor, predict, and respond to internal states?	University of Warwick	Mona Faraji Niri	University of Warwick	Applications open.
15	How can we rigorously quantify and reduce uncertainty in microstructure-derived parameters used in electrode-scale battery models by linking state-of-the-art FIB-SEM characterisation and AI-driven image analysis to performance simulations?	Imperial College London	Samuel Cooper	Imperial College London	Applications open.
16	How can physics-based diagnostics be used to infer degradation pathways within EV battery packs when only imperfect first-life operational data is available?	University of Bristol	Alastair Hales	Allye Energy	Closed.
17	What gas evolution mechanisms and swelling behaviour are triggered during fast-charging at elevated temperature in lithium-ion cells, and how do these processes link to degradation, safety and internal pressure build-up and how can they be mitigated?	Imperial College London	Jingwen Weng	Agilent Technologies
18	How does the state-of-health of a battery change when it experiences an extended period of disuse, at any stage of its life?	University of Birmingham	Jacqueline Edge	University of Birmingham	Applications open.	28 July 2026
	Next-generation batteries
19	Determination of the most sustainable and scalable sodium-ion cathodes for stationary storage and e-mobility applications by comparing cathodes families, assessing their economic manufacturability, and evaluating environmental impacts at scale.	Imperial College London	Magda Titirici	We Soda LTD	Applications open.
20	Can high-performance, long-life Li-S batteries be achieved through electrolyte engineering?	University College London	Alexander Kibler	University College London
21	How can we catalyse sulfur redox reactions in the solid state?	University of Nottingham	Graham Newton	University of Nottingham	Applications open.	17 July 2026
22	How can long-life, efficient, safe, and scalable anode-free batteries be unlocked through high-throughput interface design?	University of Cambridge	Svetlana Menkin Bachbut	Nyobolt Limited
23	Leveraging Gaussion’s unique MagLiB™ technology, this project will explore the role of magnetic fields in the performance and lifetime of Li-ion, Li-S and solid-state batteries.	University of Oxford	Paul Shearing	Gaussion Ltd	Application open.	3 July 2026
24	Enabling cost-effective, long-duration energy storage by developing low-cost, scalable and highly selective microporous membranes that can replace expensive, low-selectivity commercial options.	Swansea University	Rui Tan	Leaf Tech Ltd
25	How can we mitigate or control lithium plating in Li-ion batteries, reducing dendrite growth and battery degradation?	Lancaster University	Michael Mercer	Gavion Ltd	Applications open.	31 July 2026
26	Designing new oxide-based solid electrolytes for practical sodium solid-state batteries (including exploring use of new doping strategies and using modelling and data-driven methods).	University of Manchester	James Dawson	Newcastle University	Closed.
27	How can low‑cost, waste‑derived next-generation tin–carbon anodes for sodium‑ion batteries be engineered to enable fast‑charging, high energy density, and long cycle life?	Queen Mary University of London	Maria Crespo	N/A	Applications open.	21 August 2026
28	Can we develop new lithium-rich alloy and/or intermetallic anodes for high energy high power (quasi-) solid-state lithium-sulfur batteries?	University of Birmingham	Dominic Spencer-Jolly	University of Birmingham
29	What are the mechanisms by which sulfide solid electrolytes degrade in commercial cathodes and how can coatings suppress this process?	University of Oxford	Mauro Pasta	Nissan	Application open.
30	Can we reliably detect, and parameterise, metallic lithium plating non-destructively in industry-relevant cell formats, to improve physics-based battery degradation models, and enable predictive diagnostics based on the lithium plating–stripping behaviour?	STFC	Gabriel Perez	N/A
31	Can organomagnesium complexes act as proficient electrolytes? Design, synthesis, characterisation and testing potential magnesium battery electrolytes focusing on carbon-based anions.	University of Strathclyde	Stuart Robertson	N/A	Closed.
32	Developing humidity-resistant air-cathodes for refuellable primary magnesium–air batteries, while elucidating the underlying degradation mechanisms to establish material–environment interactions that ensure stable oxygen reduction and long-term discharging performance under realistic climatic conditions.	Loughborough University	Dowon Bae	N/A	Applications open.	28 July 2026
	Power electronics & control systems
33	How can we develop a physics-based self-learning lithium-sulfur battery management system that could automatically learn from real-time data?	Cranfield University	Abbas Fotouhi	N/A	Application open.	22 July 2026
	Recycling, sustainability and supply chain
34	Evaluating lithium distribution in end of life batteries, and strategies to recover maximal value from its’ recovery	University of Birmingham	Elizabeth Driscoll	Fusion Engineering CDT at the University of Birmingham	Closed.
35	Are multivalent batteries a viable, low-cost, and sustainable technology capable of reducing our dependence on lithium-ion batteries and supporting a resilient UK battery supply chain?	King’s College London	Laura Lander	King's College London	Applications open.	10 August 2026
36	How do shredding conditions, such as state of charge and stabilisation processes influence the recyclability, morphology, physical and chemical properties of various active materials during a recycling process?	University of Birmingham	Rob Sommerville	University of Birmingham	Closed.

Eligibility

These studentships are open to students with home fee status only. Please check if you are eligible.
For further details please refer to individual job adverts.

How to Apply

Each PhD position will have its own job description, prepared and publicised by the host university. Please refer to those job descriptions in the links in the table above (when available). In general, applicants should demonstrate:

Academic excellence
Drive to pursue a career in the UK battery sector
A high degree of motivation to make the most of the PhD experience, build a professional network and develop a strong researcher professional identity
Commitment to fully participate in all training events

As well as applying directly to the host university, please complete this 5-minute survey. This will help us maximise the number of places filled and enable us to support unsuccessful applicants by connecting them with alternative supervisors and opportunities, thereby increasing their chances of securing a PhD place.

Questions

Please refer questions about individual studentships and research topics to the recruiting host university. For questions about the Faraday Institution PhD Training Programme, please contact [email protected].