PhD Studentship: Irradiation Damage Resistant Refractory High Entropy Alloys for Advanced Modular Reactors with UKNNL
Overview
The School of Metallurgy and Materials at the University of Birmingham has a funded four-year PhD or EngD studentship in the group of Prof Sandy Knowles, on irradiation damage resistant refractory high entropy alloys for advanced modular reactors. The project is linked to the UK National Nuclear Laboratory, which provides industrial steer and co-supervision, and the studentship includes the PANDA DFA training programme as part of the 2026 cohort.
The host group, Materials for eXtremes, studies new alloys for extreme environments, from fusion and fission reactors to aerospace gas turbines and concentrated solar power. High-entropy alloys contain at least four elements each above 5 atomic percent and show excellent corrosion and oxidation resistance, high strength and resistance to radiation damage, especially at 500 to 1000 degrees Celsius. Alloys based on 3d transition metals and refractory metals are promising for next-generation liquid metal cooled or fast reactors, where components will see much higher neutron doses than today's fleet. Data on how these alloys respond to irradiation is limited.
The student will investigate the properties of reactor-relevant high-entropy alloys under irradiation. Alloys can be fabricated at Birmingham and irradiated in the new High Flux Accelerator-Driven Neutron Facility and cyclotron proton accelerator, including in-situ testing. Samples are also being neutron irradiated at JRC Petten, and post-irradiation examination, benchmarked against ion and proton irradiations, is a key part of the PhD. Effects will be measured with small-scale techniques such as small punch testing, with microstructural characterisation to understand the mechanisms behind the alloys' behaviour.
What you get
The tax-free stipend is 26,805 pounds per year.
How to apply
Applications go through the PANDA programme's application process.
Key dates
The closing date is 6 November 2026.
Links in this posting
- A funded 4-year UK PhD/EngD studentship is available in the group of Prof Sandy Knowles within the School of Metallurgy and Materials at the University of Birmingham, with a tax-free stipend of £26,805 per year, and includes the PANDA DFA training programme as part of the 2026 Cohort (https://www.bangor.ac.uk/panda).
- https://more.bham.ac.uk/M4X/
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2025.116733
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115529
- The project will be supervised by Professor Sandy Knowles (a.j.knowles@bham.ac.uk).
- For details on how to apply, please see here: https://panda.ac.uk/apply/
- https://panda.ac.uk
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2019.01.006 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2025.116733 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115529 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2025.121891
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2019.01.006 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2025.116733 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115529 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2025.121891