Applications are invited for a PhD studentship on a project to study colloidal self-assembly in computer simulations with Dr Dwaipayan Chakrabarti in the School of Chemistry at the University of Birmingham, named University of the Year 2014 in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide.

Self-assembly of colloidal building blocks has enormous potential as a means of structure fabrication because of the scope for tuning their interactions under laboratory conditions. The recent increase in availability of an exotic variety of colloidal building blocks, different in terms of shape, composition, pattern, and functionality, has provided a great boost to this bottom-up strategy. However, design rules for engineering their assembly into target structures are rather limited. The challenge is to encode the target structure into the building blocks. The project seeks rational design of colloidal building blocks for programmed assembly into functional structures. To this end the successful candidate will develop, adapt, and apply computational methods. A key element of the computational approach will be to map and analyse the underlying potential and free energy landscapes for the system of interest in close connection with contemporary experimental research. The Computational Materials Research Group led by Dr Chakrabarti maintains active collaboration with a number of research groups in Europe and North America.

Person specification:

Applicants must have a Masters in chemistry/physics/materials science or in a related discipline at the upper second class level, the normal requirement being at least 65% overall degree mark, and an interest in theoretical and computational studies. Programming experience is desirable, but not essential.

How to apply:

For further details on the project and informal enquiry please visit http://www.stchem.bham.ac.uk/~dchakrabarti/ and contact Dr Chakrabarti at d.chakrabarti@bham.ac.uk. For general information on PhD in Chemistry at the University of Birmingham, please visit http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/postgraduate/courses/research/chemistry/chemistry-phd.aspx

Apply online for the year 2014/15 at https://pga.bham.ac.uk/lpages/EPS006.htm.

Application deadline:

Applications will be evaluated on an ongoing basis until the position is filled. Applications will be given full consideration if received by February 14, 2014. The starting date is October, 2014.