PhD Studentship - Untangling Disorder in Amorphous Pharmaceuticals using Artificial Intelligence

The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Modelling of Heterogeneous Systems (HetSys) training programme is designed to enable students to become high-quality computational scientists who are comfortable working in interdisciplinary environments, have excellent communication skills, and are well prepared for a wide range of future careers in areas where there is demonstrable need.

The four-year training programme consists of PhD project and integrated taught modules, leading to the award of a postgraduate diploma.

We are looking for enthusiastic students from across the physical sciences who enjoy using their mathematical skills and thinking flexibly to solve complex problems. We require at least a 2(i) honours degree at BSc or an integrated masters degree (e.g. MPhys, MChem, MSci, MEng etc.) in a physical sciences, mathematics or engineering discipline.

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/hetsys/projects/2021/

Untangling disorder in amorphous pharmaceuticals using artificial intelligence

The best pharmacologically active compound may have been found, but its function, properties and processability are heavily dependent on the solid form. Solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and diffraction experiments, coupled with quantum mechanical calculations are powerful tools to elucidate the atomic structure, which is needed to understand and control macroscopic properties. The challenge in amorphous systems is that experiments only provide globally averaged measurements, while large length scales are needed to capture the disorder, which render quantum mechanical calculations unfeasible. In this project, machine learning models will be used to bypass the need for these costly computations, allowing interpretation of experimental data and structure determination with unprecedented accuracy.

Funding:

HetSys provides funding for the four-year programme to UK students.

We expect a small number of fully funded international places to be available on a competitive basis to exceptional students of any citizenship. Applications must be submitted by 21 January 2021.

Please see the website for further information: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/hetsys/apply/

The studentships pay a stipend to cover maintenance as well as paying the university fees and research training support. The stipend is at the standard UKRI rate (for 2020/21 that is £15,285 per annum).

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