Sustainable production of high-value compounds using cyanobacteria

We are recruiting new Doctoral Researchers to our EPSRC funded Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) PhD studentships starting 1 October 2023. Applications are invited for the project Sustainable production of high-value compounds using cyanobacteria

Successful applicants will receive an annual stipend (bursary) of approximately £19,668, including inner London weighting, plus payment of their full-time home tuition fees for a period of 42 months (3.5 years).

You should be eligible for home (UK) tuition fees there are a very limited number (no more than three) of studentships available to overseas applicants, including EU nationals, who meet the academic entry criteria including English Language proficiency.

You will join the internationally recognised researchers in the Department of Chemical Engineering research and PhD programmes | Brunel University London

The Project

The aim of this project is to explore the use of cyanobacteria as a way of producing valuable compounds for the food, cosmetic and nutraceutical industries in a carbon neutral or carbon negative fashion. Different species will be evaluated, with the most promising being selected for scale-up and further evaluation.

Please contact Dr Dale McClure at Dale.Mcclure@brunel.ac.uk for an informal discussion about the studentships.

Eligibility

Applicants will have or be expected to receive a first or upper-second class honours degree in an Engineering, Computer Science, Design, Mathematics, Physics, Biotechnology or a similar discipline. A Postgraduate Masters degree is not required but may be an advantage.

Skills and Experience

The candidate must have an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering, biotechnology or similar.

Experience working with microorganisms in a laboratory environment would be highly valued. Skills in extraction and analytical chemistry would also be desired.

You should be highly motivated, able to work independently as well as in a team, collaborate with others and have good communication skills.

How to apply

There are two stages of the application:

1.Applicants must submit the pre-application form via the following link https://brunel.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/epsrc-dtp-23-24-pre-application-form-brunel-university-lon-3 by 16.00 on Friday 26th May 2023.

2.If you are shortlisted for the interview, you will be asked to email the following documentation in a single PDF file to cedps-studentships@brunel.ac.uk within 24hrs.

Your up-to-date CV;
Your Undergraduate degree certificate(s) and transcript(s) essential;
Your Postgraduate Masters degree certificate(s) and transcript(s) if applicable;
Your valid English Language qualification of IELTS 6.5 overall (minimum 6.0 in each section) or equivalent, if applicable;
Contact details for TWO referees, one of which can be an academic member of staff in the College.

Applicants should therefore ensure that they have all of this information in case they are shortlisted.

Interviews will take place in June 2023.

Meet the Supervisor(s)

Dale McClure - I joined the Chemical Engineering Department at Brunel University in May 2021, after moving from the University of Sydney where I was employed at the Centre for Advanced Food Engineering, working in the area of industrial biotechnology. Prior to that I completed my PhD at the University of Sydney in 2014 and my undergraduate degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering in 2010. My research is in the area of industrial biotechnology, with a focus on the safe, sustainable and cost-effective production of high-value compounds for the food, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries. A key focus of my work is sustainability and transforming what would be otherwise considered wastes to valuable products. I have extensive experience in the design, scale-up and modelling of bioreactors, and have developed advanced computational models of industrial systems. I have worked extensively with industry and many of the projects I have worked on have been successfully commercialised. Awards and Honours: 2018 Science and Innovation Award for Young People in Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry 2016 Winner of European Society of Biochemical Engineering Bioprocess Engineering Design Prize 2011 Australian Postgraduate Award 2009 MIPPs Scholarship 2008 Dean’s List of Excellence in Academic Performance 2008 Amcor Prize for Greatest Proficiency in Chemical Engineering Practice 2007 Dean’s List of Excellence in Academic Performance

Related Research Group(s)

Wolfson Centre for Sustainable Materials Development and Processing - Research into the development and processing of new materials including nano-materials, nano-phosphors and nanostructured carbon, biofuels, polymers and bio-polymers.