DTP 2016-2017 University of Brighton

The University of Brighton has a long, distinguished history of applied research, which sustains and nourishes our mission to help form professional & vocational careers. We aim to transform people's lives and improve their environments with research that matters. This EPSRC DTP will make a difference at many levels and through different platforms: improving individual healthcare, advancing technologies to make lives safer and simpler, deliberately changing perceptions & values in society, improving economic performance, facilitating exposure to different cultures and design, and influencing and rewriting policy. Our research targets individual, societal, regional & global concerns, and leads to positive change and benefits. The disciplinary areas relevant to this DTP are mainly located within the University's College of Life, Health & Physical Sciences1 although the cross-disciplinarity stretches across both the other Colleges (Social Sciences and Arts and Humanities)2. Particular research areas we are growing though the DTP are:
Automotive engineering - Designing the next-generation energy-efficient cars and heavy-duty vehicles, and optimising the safety and security of military vehicles. Construction of a new Advanced Engineering Centre will begin in November 2015 using over £12m of external funding and engine test beds provided by our industrial partners Ricardo Ltd. There is also emerging research in aerospace engineering.
Applied computer science - Using diagrammatic and visual models of reasoning and communication; improving data security and dependability and; developing digital systems that support applications such as business intelligence or the creation of digital surrogates of cultural objects. We are particularly interested in the areas of big data, visual analytics and effective, mobile and interactive applications.
Geosciences and environmental technology - Nanomaterial Science and research themes at the interface between EPSRC priorities (e.g. in numerical modelling of environmental change), applied geosciences and geotechnical engineering, aquatic research, and sustainable mining and recovery of Rare Earth Elements (REEs).
Health and biomedical sciences - Our new Research Centres in Regenerative Medicine and Musculoskeletal Research and developing new trans-disciplinary research in areas such as Biomedical Engineering (including the development of techniques exploiting the potential of 3D printing and medical imaging) and Healthcare Technologies (including facial, skin and bone reconstruction)
Projects investigating novel mathematical techniques to model & inform research in other disciplines will also be encouraged as well as research that crosses priority areas. All doctoral students are members of the Brighton Doctoral College (BDC), providing a consistent and supportive environment for PGR students across the whole university. In 2014 the quality of our provision was recognised in our participation in 2 AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership consortia (TECHNE and Design-Star) and the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Science and Engineering for Arts, Heritage and Archaeology (SEAHA) with UCL and the University of Oxford. We seek to ensure that doctoral graduates are equipped with broader skills for a career in research. We have launched an integrated 4-Year EngD with industry and expect to offer similarly integrated 4 year provision in other areas from 2016. All research students participate in a formal research training programme and have the opportunity to train for teaching in Higher Education. A call for potential Doctoral projects will be issued to academic staff in the Autumn of each year & projects advertised in the early Spring for admission the following October.
1 www.brighton.ac.uk/research/index.aspx
2 www.brighton.ac.uk/research/our-research/life-health-and-physical-sciences/index.aspx
3 www.brighton.ac.uk/research/research-study/funding-opportunities-and-studentships/index.aspx