PhD opportunities

Applying for a PhD

For prospective applicants wishing to start a PhD in our group in 2025/26, there are a few 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 (DLA).

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

3. Two studentships under the supervision of Albrecht Klemm funded by his Leverhulme Trust grant.

EPSRC DLA and WD Collins Endowement Studentships

The EPSRC DLA studentships and the W. D. Collins Endowment studentships in Applied Mathematics 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 tuition fees (applicable to nationals or long-term residents of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland).

Deadline (ESPRC DLA): please apply by January 15, 2026 at 5PM GMT for full consideration. More information can be found on the School website here.

Deadline (WD Collins Endowement): please apply by January 23, 2026 at 5PM GMT for full consideration. More information can be found on the School website here.

Feel free to have a look at our research interests and members section to choose potential supervisor(s).

How to apply

There are different application forms depending on whether you want to apply for an EPSRC DLA/Derek Collins studentship, or a studentship on a grant. These are described below. You will have to submit two different applications if you want to be considered for both an EPSRC DLA studentship and a studentship funded from a different source (FoS or LH).

EPSRC DLA/WD Collins Endowement Studentships

For the DLA Studentships, please strictly refer to the guidance on how to apply on the University's DLA webpage (especially the part on project types and relevant codes). Our projects (which you can find also find on FindAPhD) are considered student-led proposals for the purposes of the DLA studentship, and are identified by code S3.5-MPS-Open. Make sure to include the name of your proposed supervisor and give a brief motivation for what types of projects you would consider and why.

For the WD Collins Endowement Studentships, please refer to the guidance on the University's page. When applying, clearly specify the "WD Collins Studentship" as the funding source.

PhD Life In The High-Energy Physics Theory Group

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

The Sheffield math & physics School 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.