PhD opportunities

Applying for a PhD

For prospective applicants wishing to start a PhD in our group in 2025/26, there are two possibilities to receive a fully-funded doctoral position.

1. Studentships funded by the School of Mathematics and Physical Sciences through its EPSRC Doctoral Landscape Award.

2. One studentship under the supervision of Marco Fazzi funded by his Lectureship startup package of the Faculty of Science.

3. One studentship under the supervision of Albrecht Klemm funded by his Leverhulme Trust grant.

EPSRC Studentships

The EPSRC studentships can fund PhD projects under the supervision of any member of staff in our group, and they include a stipend and support for travel and research training. Furthermore, all studentships cover the amount of home-level fees (applicable to long-term residents of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) and a selected, limited number of the EPSRC studentships account also for the full amount of overseas fees (applicable to international applicants). 

Deadline: please apply by (exact date TBC in 2026) for full consideration. 

Feel free to have a look at our research interests and members section to choose potential supervisor(s). Informal enquiries from interested candidates can be sent to Andrea Brini.

Faculty of Science Studentship

The FoS studentship will be under the supervision of Marco Fazzi. Prospective students with both "home" (long-term residents of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) and "overseas" status (everybody else) for tuition fee purposes can normally be considered. Please contact Marco Fazzi for any questions.

Deadline: flexible. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Leverhulme Studentship

The Leverhulme studentship will be under the supervision of Albrecht Klemm for PhD work on the Leverhulme Trust project Quantum geometry and arithmetics. This position is only available for students having "home status" for tuition fee purposes (long-term residents of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland). Please contact Albrecht Klemm for any questions.

Deadline: flexible. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

How to apply

Please use the University online system to submit your application, and see general guidance on how to apply. 

The application form is in two parts. Part one needs to be filled out with your personal details.

Part two contains your choice of course applications as well as supporting documents. For this part, please refer to the following instructions and required documents specific to our group.

• Under "Course details":

  • Select "Standard PhD", "Full time", "School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences" in the first three fields.

  • Indicate "High-Energy Theoretical Physics" as your research topic of choice.

  • Tick "yes" by the field "Do you know how you want to fund your studies?", and then from the drop-down menu choose "Scholarship or studentship"

  • Choose "I am thinking about funding my studies this way" from the last drop down menu.

• Under "References": upload two reference letters, or contact details of two referees who can provide you with a reference.

• Under "Supporting statement": refer to the guidance notes on the webpage for what to include.

• Under "Research Course Supporting Documents": we require you to upload a CV in this section. If available, please also upload your transcripts and your Master thesis work.

PhD Life In The High-Energy Theory Group

There is a growing number of PhD students working on a variety of areas in the High-Energy Theory, Algebraic Geometry & Mathematical Physics, and Gravitation & Cosmology groups. In the School there are many other PhD students to talk to working in Algebraic Topology, Number Theory, General Relativity, Quantum Field Theory, String Theory, Category Theory and Differential Geometry.

The Sheffield math & physics department is quite an active one. Each week there is ample opportunity to attend a variety of seminars run by various research groups. The PhD students of the above-mentioned groups themselves organize weekly reading groups and journal clubs on many diverse topics where they work through a set of lecture notes or academic papers.