Engineering and Physical Sciences Collaborative Research Scholars

EPSRC collaborative studentship: Innovations in high-performance high-lift heat pumps (2025)

As part of its EPSRC Doctoral Landscape Award, the Sussex Thermo-Fluid Mechanics Research Centre invites applications for a collaborative studentship working with its industry partner DOCAN Ltd.

What you get

As an EPSRC student you will join a vibrant doctoral community and will benefit from:

  • 3.5 years of funding with a a tax free living allowance at the standard Research Council rate – currently £19,237 in 2024-5 – and international or UK PhD fees
  • An option of 3 months of additional funding to cover a placement outside academia
  • Funding for training and research expenses, such as conference trips and experimental costs
  • Supervision by world-leading researchers
  • Our Entrepreneurship Summer School and Responsible Research and Innovation workshops tailored to the needs of engineering and physical sciences researchers.
  • Our Researcher Development workshops and access to taught modules relevant to your project.

Type of award

Postgraduate Research

PhD project

Heat decarbonisation is a significant challenge that requires urgent action to meet net-zero targets. A particular challenge lies in the industrial sector, where heat demand is significant and can range enormously in terms of the amount and temperature of heat required. High temperature industrial heat pumps are expected to play a major role, but existing systems are limited in terms of the achievable temperature lift and heat-sink temperature, and new solutions need to be identified.


This PhD studentship will focus on conducting state-of-the-art research to develop the tools and knowledge to enable the design of high-performance heat pumps that can meet the challenging needs of industrial applications. Working with the industrial partner, DOCAN, this studentship will focus on developing and modelling high-temperature heat pumps using state-of-the-art 1D and system-level simulation and optimisation tools. Through this, innovations in fluid selection, cycle design and compressor design will be explored enabling the identification of heat pump designs that achieve high temperature lifts and provide high heat sink temperatures.


The PhD candidate will make significant contributions to the exploration of next generation heat pump
systems, while working in close collaboration with leading academics and industry experts. This includes contributing to the development of new modelling methodologies, researching new fluids and system architectures, and exploring optimal operational strategies for multiple industrial applications. This studentship offers an exciting opportunity to contribute to a critical area that can contribute positively to industrial decarbonisation, with the potential to deliver transformative improvements to energy efficiency across a wide range of industries.

Eligibility

Applicants should have/expect to have at least a 2:1 undergraduate honours degree in a relevant subject and meet our English language requirements. International and UK applicants are both eligible to apply but in line with EPSRC regulations, international awards will be limited.

Sussex recognises the value of diversity in research communities and is committed to addressing patterns of under-representation. We recognise that a range of factors, both structural and individual, influence and impede pathways into postgraduate research in different ways.  If you wish, you may write a short, optional statement offering any further contextual information affecting your pathway to postgraduate research not included elsewhere that you think is relevant to your application.

Number of scholarships available

One

Deadline

14 February 2025 16:00

How to apply

  1. Contact the main supervisor to find out more about their research and what they are looking for in a PhD application.
  2. Read our guidance on PhD applications and apply for a PhD place at Sussex using the online PhD application system.
  3. Apply for the PhD course in ENGINEERING.  List your Dr Martin T White as your preferred supervisor and enter “EPSRC 2025” in the “sources of funding” box.
  4. Complete the EPSRC application form (in FILES section at the bottom of this page)  and upload it to your PhD application in the “Research Proposal “category. You may also upload an optional Contextual Information form (below)  if you wish to tell us more about any barriers you have faced. If the forms do not download with a Chrome browser, please use Edge or Firefox.
  5. Upload as attachments along with your EPSRC application form, your CV. degree certificates and transcripts and English language qualifications if applicable before submitting the PhD application online.
  6. Complete our online data collection form. This is not part of the assessment process but used for reporting to the EPSRC.

    https://qualtricsxm4dz52nmjl.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9FZsYtb6a855Ado

Relevant Publications

Design and simulation of ORC power systems, which are closely related to heat pump systems:
• White, M., 2024, pocketTHERM: A web-based tool for teaching non-ideal thermodynamic cycles,
SoftwareX, 27, 101806. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2024.101806
• White, M., 2021, Cycle and turbine optimisation for an ORC operating with two-phase expansion,
Applied Thermal Engineering, 192, 116852. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2021.116852
• White, M., Sayma, A., 2019, Simultaneous cycle optimization and fluid selection for ORC systems
accounting for the effect of the operating conditions on turbine efficiency, Front Energy Res, 7, 50.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fenrg.2019.00050

Numerical simulation and optimisation of turbomachinery components:
• Aqel, O., White, M., Sayma, A., 2024, Loss analysis in radial inflow turbines for supercritical CO2
mixtures, Journal of Turbomachinery, 146(5), 051003. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4064193
• Salah, S., Crespi, F., White, M., Munoz, A., Paggini, A., Ruggiero, M., Sanchez, D., Salma, A.,
2023, Axial turbine flow path design for concentrated solar power plants operating with CO2 blends,
Applied Thermal Engineering, 230(A), 120612.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2023.120612

Sponsors

These scholarships are funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

Contact us

For questions regarding your chosen research project, please contact the project supervisor Dr Martin White - martin.white@sussex.ac.uk  

If you have questions relating to the online application process, please contact enginf-pgr@sussex.ac.uk  for Informatics and Engineering

You might also be interested in

  This project is part of the Sussex EPSRC Doctoral Landscape Award.  Further detaials are here: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/fees-funding/phd-funding/view/1818-EPSRC-Science-and-Engineering-studentships

Timetable

14th February 2025 (23:59): Deadline for applications
January to March 2025: Interviews 
From late March 2025: Awards confirmed

Availability

At level(s):
PG (research)

Application deadline:
14 February 2025 16:00 (GMT)

Countries

The award is available to people from these specific countries: