PhD Studentship - Process Industries: Net Zero - Designing the Net‑Zero Polymer Factory: Energy Efficiency, Recovery and Novel Process Technologies

Award Summary

100% fees (UK home only), a minimum tax-free annual living allowance of £21,805 (2026/27 UKRI rate), and a research training support grant of £20,000.

Overview

At Victrex, as an innovative world-leader in high-performance PEEK and PAEK based polymer solutions, we have a validated 1.5 °C Science Based Target to reduce operational (Scope 1 and 2) emissions by 50.4% by 2032 from a 2022 baseline. We have also committed to achieve net zero by 2050, which involves a 90% reduction in absolute emissions across our operations and value chain.

As an energy-intensive manufacturer, delivering on these targets to meet the requirements of our external stakeholders and contribute towards our customers’ decarbonisation targets, will require moving beyond sourcing renewable energy, to transformation of our processes so that our overall energy requirements are much lower, using new technologies, increasing energy efficiency and recovering waste energy.

This project will evaluate the potential opportunities to transform our use of energy and begin the transition towards net zero at our monomer and polymer manufacturing sites in the UK. This will involve:

• Reviewing currently available data and work, compile a full and detailed energy map of our processes, identifying opportunities for potential energy recovery and inefficiencies 
• Modelling and optimisation of suitable energy recovery strategies 
• Research into alternative innovative technologies which could deliver our chemical processes in a more efficient way (for example, alternative separation technologies) 
• The potential to design “real” systems to deliver energy efficiency improvements, which could be implemented at Victrex, potentially within the project time frame 
• Extrapolation of findings to other Victrex sites globally 

The student will have full access to our Hillhouse site for the purposes of energy auditing, data collection and discussions with polymer experts. 

The advert will close at midnight on 1 July 2026, but may close earlier if applications from good candidates are received ahead of this date.

Number Of Awards

1

Start Date

1 October 2026

Award Duration

4 years

Application Closing Date

1 July 2026

Sponsor

EPSRC

Supervisors

Richard Law (Richard.law@newcastle.ac.uk); Adam Harvey (adam.harvey@newcastle.ac.uk)

Eligibility Criteria

You must have, or expect to gain, a minimum 2:1 Honours degree or international equivalent in a subject relevant to the proposed PhD project. Due to nature of this project, the candidate should have a strong background in Engineering, especially chemical engineering or another closely related engineering subject. Enthusiasm for research, the ability to think and work independently, excellent analytical skills and strong verbal and written communication skills are also essential requirements.

This studentship is available to UK home students only.

How To Apply

You must apply through the University’s Apply to Newcastle Portal. Once registered select ‘Create a Postgraduate Application’. 

Use ‘Course Search’ to identify your programme of study: 

• Search for the ‘Course Title’ using the programme code: 8856F 
• Leave the 'Research Area' field blank 
• Select ‘PhD in Process Industries; Net Zero (PINZ’) as the programme of study

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