PhD Studentship in Solar System Science

Project title:  Solar Wind – Magnetosphere Coupling at the Giant Planets

Supervisors: Dr Luke Barnard, Dr James O’Donoghue, Professor Mathew Owens

Project Overview:

The dynamic solar wind is an important factor in understanding auroral processes on planets throughout the solar system. We have a good understanding of the link between the solar wind and auroral processes at Earth. But we have a much poorer understanding of both solar wind dynamics and auroral processes farther out into the solar system, at the gas giants of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. 

There are very few solar wind monitoring spacecraft in the outer heliosphere, so typically the solar wind environment needs to be simulated with numerical models. However, we have a knowledge and capability gap in solar wind modelling that limits the representivity of simulations in the outer heliosphere.

Neutral interstellar gas flows into our solar system and a fraction is photoionised into “Pick-up Ions”. In the outer heliosphere, the solar wind speed begins to slow with radial distance from the Sun, as these Pick-up Ions exert a drag on the flow. This  process is poorly characterised in solar wind numerical models and it limits our ability to simulate solar wind dynamics in the outer heliosphere and our ability to generate the necessary contextual information to interpret auroral observations on the gas giants.

This PhD project will:

• - Develop a new parameterisation of solar wind-Pick-up Ion interactions for University of Reading’s SURF solar wind model.
• - Validate this parameterisation using observations from missions such as NASA’s Voyager and New Horizons.
• - Use the improved simulations to look at auroral processes at the gas giants using data from e.g. the Keck telescope and James Webb Space Telescope.

Eligibility: 

• This project is suitable for students with at least a 2:1 degree in physics, mathematics or a closely related environmental or physical science.
• Due to the nature of the funding this studentship is open to UK/Republic of Ireland applicants.

Funding Details:   

• Starts September 2026
• 3.5-year award
• Funding covers full Home tuition fees plus UKRI stipend (£21,805 for 2026/27).

How to apply:  

To apply click the 'Apply' button above and create your account, and use the link sent by email to start the application process. During the application process please select the PhD in Meteorology

*Important notes*

• 1) Please quote the reference ‘DRC26-032’ in the ‘Scholarships applied for’ box which appears within the Funding Section of your on-line application.
• 2) If the application system prompts you to submit a research proposal, please paste in the project title and move on to the next step in the application.

Application Deadline:  12^th June 2026

Further Enquiries:  

Please note that, where a candidate is successful in being awarded funding, this will be confirmed via a formal studentship award letter; this will be provided separately from any Offer of Admission and will be subject to standard checks for eligibility and other criteria. 

For further details please contact l.a.barnard@reading.ac.uk

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