Studentships in the mathematics of solid and liquid crystals (Oxford Centre for Nonlinear PDE and Queen's College)
Applications are invited for four 4-year postgraduate studentships, to work on problems in the Mathematics of Solid and Liquid Crystals under the supervision of Professor Sir John Ball FRS. These DPhil studentships will start on 1 October 2012, and will be based in the Oxford Centre for Nonlinear PDE (OxPDE). They will be funded by a European Advanced Investigator grant awarded to Professor Ball, and their availability is subject to completion of the related contract, expected by the end of 2011. The students will form part of a team funded by the grant which will include four postdoctoral fellows. The studentships are attached to the Queen’s College. The studentships cover full stipend together with university and college fees.
It is intended that two of the students will work on projects connected with the prediction and analysis of microstructure arising from solid phase transformations, and that the other two will work on projects related to the Landau – de Gennes theory of liquid crystals. The projects involve the development and application of tools of nonlinear PDE and nonlinear analysis for the understanding of the behaviour of solid and liquid crystals, the possible projects being detailed in the further particulars.
OxPDE was launched in 2007 (funded by an EPSRC Science & Innovation award of £2.5 million) and is one of the largest research groups in the Mathematical Institute. It aims to promote the study of nonlinear PDE in order to provide a sharper focus for fundamental research in the field in the UK. Areas of interest include the calculus of variations, nonlinear hyperbolic systems, free boundary problems, inverse problems, homogenization, infinite-dimensional dynamical systems, geometric analysis for PDE arising in solid and fluid mechanics, materials science, liquid crystals, biology and relativity. Further information on the group’s activities and members is available at http://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/groups/oxpde/ .
Applications can be made online at www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/postgraduate_courses and should include a CV, covering letter, names and email addresses of three referees and a transcript of your undergraduate degree. If you are unable to apply online, you can request a paper form from https://uni-of-oxford.custhelp.com/app/ask/. Applications must arrive by the end of Friday 16 March 2012. The reference for this application is BK/11/018 make sure that you state this in the covering letter. Referees should send references using the online system, but if they have problems with that, they can send them directly to the Graduate Studies Assistant (fax or e-mail is sufficient) by the closing date. For further details about the projects, including the application process, please see www.maths.ox.ac.uk/notices/vacancies, or contact Graduate Studies, email graduate [dot] studies [-at-] maths [dot] ox [dot] ac [dot] uk .
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