The Grantham Institute - Climate Change and the Environment invites PhD applications that support projects in some of our priority research areas. In addition to this call, two Grantham lecturers are also currently recruiting for a PhD student (Dr Adrien Lefauve, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Dr Xiangkun (Elvis) Cao, Department of Mechanical Engineering).

Details on the studentship, the Grantham Institute and Imperial can be found underneath the project table. For details of each project and how to apply, please see each project pdf below. The deadline for student applications is close of business on Monday, 12 January 2026.

For any general, non-project related queries, please email granthamphd@imperial.ac.uk.

Supervisor Department Project title
Professor Firat Guder Department of Bioengineering Low cost, high-throughput electrochemical plant phenotyping platform for pesticide screening (pdf)
Professor Firat Guder Department of Bioengineering Biomarker sensing and monitoring for agricultural health (pdf)
Dr Sonja Billerbeck Department of Chemistry Next-gen biological crop protection using antifungal proteins and peptides from
Dr Adrien Lefauve Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Laboratory investigation of ocean mixing by stratified turbulence (pdf)
Dr Alex Whittaker Department of Earth Science and Engineering Fingerprinting the impact of extreme rainfall, floods and storms using Night-Time Light (NTL) Data
Dr Tiago Dias da Costa Department of Life Sciences Harnessing Phage Satellites for Next-generation Biological Crop Protection (pdf)
Dr Giorgio Gilestro Department of Life Sciences Behavioral Toxicology Fingerprinting: A High-Throughput Framework for Assessing Sub-Lethal Pesticide Effects Across Drosophilidae to Protect Beneficial Insects (pdf)
Professor Tolga Bozkurt Department of Life Sciences AI-guided genetic and cellular immunity for pesticide-free crop protection (pdf)
Dr Jingwen Weng Department of Materials (from December 2025) Geothermal–Phase Change Materials Integrated Systems for Energy-Efficient and Cl
Dr Xiangkun (Elvis) Cao Department of Mechanical Engineering   Design of smart, multifunctional photonic systems for solar-driven carbon capture and conversion (pdf)
Professor Ralf Toumi Department of Physics Developing a global tropical cyclone model (IRIS) (pdf)
Dr Judite Goncalves School of Public Health Assessing Population Health Impacts of Pesticide Use in Latin America: The Role of International Maximum Residue Limits (pdf)

 

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About the Grantham Studentships

The award will provide 3.5 years of funding as follows:
· Home tuition fees at UKRI indicative rate (£5,006 per annum for 2025/26)
· A maintenance stipend, paid in equal monthly instalments directly to your bank account (£22,780 per annum for 2025/26)
· A total of £5,000 is available during the duration of the project to contribute towards research expenses associated with the project, including conference costs, consumables, and travel for research purposes 

We welcome home and international candidates to apply. However, for international applicants, any costs over those mentioned above will need to be covered by applicants or in exceptional cases by the department where the student is registered.

About the Institute

The Grantham Institute is Imperial’s hub for climate and environment research, innovation and education. We fund PhD studentships and run an interdisciplinary PhD network, encompassing the NERC-funded Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet Doctoral Training Partnership (SSCP DTP), bringing together researchers from across Imperial for training and cohort opportunities.

About Imperial

Imperial is a world–leading university for science, technology, engineering, medicine and business (STEMB), where scientific imagination leads to world-changing impact.
- 2nd in the world (QS World University Rankings 2025)
- 1st in Europe and the UK (QS World University Rankings 2025)
- University of the Year (Daily Mail University Guide 2024)
- University of the Year for Graduate Employment (The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024)
- Greater proportion of world-leading research than any other UK university (Research Excellence Framework)
- Gold Award (Teaching Excellence Framework 2023)