Our Programme
An interdisciplinary PhD for complex sustainability challenges
At the CSCT, our integrated four-year PhD programme combines interdisciplinary research, systems thinking and advanced scientific training to tackle major sustainability challenges in chemical technologies. Beginning with a foundational MRes year that broadens expertise through taught study and research projects across different disciplines, students then progress into focused doctoral research aimed at developing practical, impactful solutions for a more sustainable future.
At a glance
Your four-year journey
Our integrated MRes + PhD programme combines research, interdisciplinary training and professional development to give you the skills and experience to tackle real-world challenges in sustainable chemical technologies.
Year 1
Build your interdisciplinary foundation
In your first year you will study taught modules and undertake two research projects, helping you broaden your expertise before moving into your main PhD research.
Years 2–4
Develop your PhD research
From Year 2, you focus primarily on your individual PhD research project, supported by advanced technical training and a multidisciplinary advisory team.
Throughout the programme
A range of activities run across all four years, helping you develop the wider skills and experience you need for a successful career in academia, industry or policy.
How your work is assessed
Your PhD programme is assessed across research, technical training and wider professional development.
Explore your Year 1 training
Browse the units by semester, or use the filters to narrow the programme by requirement or training area. Expand a unit to see more detail.
Core training is compulsory. For cross-disciplinary training, choose 1 optional unit.
Synopsis
Your research project will act as platform for you to identify, explore and interpret aspects at the forefront of sustainable chemical technologies and systems thinking. Under the guidance of an academic supervisor, you will plan, manage and conduct your own project using skills and knowledge developed during the course and disseminate your research outcomes.
Learning outcomes
- Implement and critically evaluate novel research in the context of existing literature.
- Consider ethical and sustainable issues which may impact on your project outcomes.
- Select appropriate methodology, justifying and evaluating chosen methods.
- Critically discuss the results generated during the project and develop evidence-based conclusions and recommendations.
- Effectively communicate the outcomes in the form of a report.
- Exercise initiative and personal responsibility
Content
- Under the guidance of an academic supervisor, you will undertake a research project focused on sustainable chemical technologies and system thinking. During the first stage, you will undertake the necessary background reading, carry out appropriate safety assessments and devise a programme of work. At the end of the first stage, you will submit a short, formative report to your project supervisor. During the second stage of the project, you will carry out the research according to your work programme in consultation with your supervisor.
Assessment
Perspective paper (CWRI 50%)
Communications paper (CWRI 50%)
Synopsis
Explore the social, economic, cultural, ethical, and political context of sustainable chemical technologies and assess their sustainability. You will gain an understanding how to consider and respond appropriately to sustainable development needs in your decision-making. Working in multi-disciplinary groups you will conduct a case study to explore motivations and priorities of different stakeholders.
Learning outcomes
- Discuss the evolution of thinking and policy about sustainable development, recognising the diversity of perspectives and opinions which are relevant to the subject; and
- Interpret and apply sustainable development principles in a business or other organisational context using recognised guidelines and standards, metrics, reporting and concepts of social responsibility and organisational culture appropriately.
Content
- Sustainable development ideas, definitions and interpretations
- Legislation and guidance including international treaty law relevant to sustainable development
- Corporate social responsibility principles and practice
- Organisational culture
- Sustainable development metrics and reporting.
Assessment
Essay (CWES 100%)
Synopsis
Explore the principles and practices of the circular economy and its application to sustainable chemical technologies and resource management. Taking a whole systems approach, you will get an insight how to design resource efficient chemical processes that minimise raw material consumption and waste or use waste as a resource.
Learning outcomes
- Understand the principles of circular economy.
- Recognise the importance of minimising raw material consumption and waste.
- Evaluate how your decisions impact production and consumption patterns in sustainable chemical technologies.
Content
- Introduction to the circular economy
- Resource efficiency in chemical processes
- Waste valorisation
- Circular design and innovation
Assessment
Group report (CWRG 50%)
Poster (CWPI 50%)
Synopsis
Industrial Ecology is the quantification of material and energy flows through industrial systems, from \'cradle to grave\'. This allows us to evaluate and minimise the environmental footprint of our technologies and activities. In this unit, you will explore the principles and practice of industrial ecology for the development of sustainable molecules, materials, and processes.
Learning outcomes
- Understand the principles of industrial ecology
- Select and apply appropriate modelling approaches for a given context
- Quantitatively and qualitatively analyse options to reduce resource use and/or environmental impacts
- Interpret an analysis, identifying uncertainties and limitations, and make recommendations
- Critically assess the environmental claims of others
Content
- Introduction to methods in industrial ecology
- Calculating and reporting system-wide resource use and environmental footprints
- Key initiatives and developments in reducing environmental footprints
Assessment
Individual report (CWRI 100%)
Synopsis
Explore the principles and practices of chemical engineering and chemical engineering processes. Using case studies from chemical and biochemical engineering, you will learn about material and energy balances as well as the principles of reaction engineering and their application to chemical and biological reactor design preparing you to work effectively in multidisciplinary teams.
Learning outcomes
- Formulate and solve material and energy balances for chemical engineering processes.
- Describe reactor types and explain their applications in chemical and biochemical processes.
- Apply material and energy balances to simple reactor design.
Content
- Introduction to process systems & synthesis of process flowsheets
- Material balances on non-reacting and reacting systems
- Energy balances on single and multiphase systems with and without reaction
- Fundamentals of reaction engineering
- Reactor types and basic design equations.
Assessment
Coursework (CWSI 100%)
Synopsis
You will develop core knowledge of organic, inorganic, physical and analytical chemistry.
Learning outcomes
- Understand trends across the periodic table, the fundamentals of chemical bonding and molecular shape.
- Relate chemical structure to physical properties and chemical reactivity.
- Apply nomenclature, notation and diagrams to describe chemical reactions.
- Understand key concepts of catalysis and explain the mechanisms and reagents required for key transformations.
- Describe a range of spectroscopic techniques and understand experimental data derived from spectroscopic experiments
Content
- Fundamentals of atomic structure and bonding
- Molecular structure and orbital theory
- Periodic trends and reactivity of the elements
- Stereochemistry and reactivity of organic molecules
- Chemical characterisation via spectroscopic techniques such as NMR, IR, mass spectrometry, X-ray, UV
- Principles and applications of catalysis
Assessment
Coursework (CWSI 100%)
Choose 3 units from the optional units below.
Students may be permitted to take a Director of Studies approved option as an alternative to one of the units from this list.
Read moreSynopsis
Working individually and in teams, you will use software tools to learn core AI and ML methods and apply workflows to prepare, process, and analyse data. You will explore how to harness AI and machine learning to tackle sustainability issues in key areas such as energy, environmental pollution, circular economy, and decarbonisation.
Learning outcomes
- Recognise AI and ML techniques applied to sustainable chemical technologies, and their relevance in addressing global sustainability goals
- Apply selected AI and ML techniques and analyse complex data systems
- Critically evaluate the impact of AI applications on sustainability efforts in the context of chemical technologies, considering ethical, social, and economic implications
Content
- Introductions to AI and ML concepts and approaches
- Machine learning workflows including data collection, preparation, model training and validation, interpretation of results
- Applications of AI and ML in sustainable chemical technologies
- Sustainability impacts of using AI such as energy requirements
- Software tools
Assessment
Presentation (CWPG 50%)
Report (CWRI 50%)
Synopsis
Develop your knowledge and understanding of how catalysis can provide lower cost, less energy-consuming and more environmentally friendly processes both an industrial and laboratory scale using industrial and academic examples.
Learning outcomes
- Critically evaluate major industrial processes that use catalysis for sustainable processes, with particular emphasis on the synthesis of pharmaceuticals.
- Apply and interpret the principles of atom economy and recognise how this is important in multi-step reaction pathways.
- Analyse reactions for their use in sustainable chemical processes and propose more sustainable alternative for conventional reactions
Content
- Fundamental concepts of catalysis and the properties of a catalyst that allow reactions to be performed under milder conditions
- Different types of catalysts such as transition metal catalysts, biological catalysts, organocatatlysts and non-transition metal catalysts
- Recent advances and innovations
- Industrial applications
Assessment
Report (CWRI 50%)
Presentation (CWPI 50%)
Synopsis
Explore how the skills of chemists and engineers contribute to the development of materials and processes for sustainable energy solutions. You will study materials storage and conversion technologies such as batteries, fuel cells or hydrogen storage and explore challenges in their synthesis, fabrication, and application.
Learning outcomes
- Understand the development of materials for energy storage and conversion technologies
- Understand fundamental principles of chemistry and engineering related to energy materials
Content
- Fundamentals of energy storage and conversion technologies
- Materials for different applications such as batteries, fuel cells, hydrogen storage and energy efficiency
- Synthesis, characterisation and fabrication of energy materials
- Materials challenges and innovations
- Industrial case studies
Assessment
Presentation (CWPG 50%)
Report (CWRG 50%)
Taught by: Alexei Lapkin
Synopsis
Develop a detailed understanding of scientific methodologies for the qualitative and quantitative assessment of chemical processes in terms of environmental, economic, and social impacts. Through case studies you will develop practical skills in defining appropriate system boundaries and selecting, applying and evaluating key sustainability metrics.
Learning outcomes
- Compare reactions and analyse synthetic routes in terms of efficiency and environmental footprint
- Develop an understanding of the different green chemistry and sustainability metrics
- Embed process design and route development into wider systems thinking
Content
- Fundamentals of indicators and metrics
- Synthetic chemistry metrics
- Process chemistry metrics
- Mass and energy efficiency
- Reaction optimisation tools
- Analysis of stakeholder relevance and development of multi-objective approaches
- Industrial case studies
Assessment
Presentation (CWPG 50%)
Conference paper (CWRI 50%)
Synopsis
Study the impact of human populations on the global environment, focusing specially on water resources. You will explore water as a limited resource, methodologies for water resource management and the importance of water research for human population health.
Learning outcomes
- Synthesise advanced knowledge to investigate issues relating to water as a limited resource;
- Critically evaluate water management technologies in the context of system thinking;
- Critically assess the impact of regulation and policy on water quality and / or of water on human health.
Content
- Water as a limited resource in the context of globalisation, urbanisation and population growth.
- Water quality and its resource management: emerging water quality threats.
- Sensing and management.
- Current water management technologies including innovative monitoring approaches and drinking and wastewater treatment.
- Regulation, policy and risk assessment in the context of water quality and chemical management.
- Role of water research in combating disease and increasing population health.
Assessment
Essay (CWES 50%)
Presentation (CWPG 50%)
MN52059Commercialisation of New Technology
Unit Convener: Rossella Salandra
Commercialisation of New Technology
Unit Convener: Rossella Salandra
Synopsis
Discover how to transform an idea into a viable business concept and a marketable product. You\'ll learn the techniques and tools needed to analyse the different pathways for new technologies to be effectively commercialised.
Learning outcomes
- Discuss the range of mechanisms through which different technologies can generate commercial value
- Describe the role of intellectual property in determining appropriate commercialisation strategies
- Compare and evaluate tools for understanding new markets and how to operate in markets for technology
- Develop and assess strategies to effectively bring new technologies to markets.
Content
- The ability to realise meaningful commercial value from new technologies is a core source of advantage for individual entrepreneurs, organisations, and national/regional economies. This unit serves as a practical introduction to key commercialisation concepts and tools, equipping students with an understanding and appreciation of the potential pathways for new technologies to create value. Students will consider a range of strategic issues in the commercialisation of technology, as well as the practical challenges of understanding and developing markets for these new technologies.
Assessment
Discussion of a commercialisation process (CWES 70%)
Presentation of a commercialisation plan (CWOG 30%)
Complete the compulsory dissertation-period units.
Taught by: Tom Pringle
Synopsis
Introduction to basic concepts of public and policy engagement (PPE) with science, technology, engineering and maths and the contexts in which it takes place. You will cover a wide range of approaches to PPE and audiences for PPE. As part of this unit, you will have opportunities for engaging in practical PPE work to help you build your skills and confidence when embarking upon PPE activities.
Learning outcomes
- Demonstrate how to effectively communicate science and engineering research to diverse audiences
- Create different outputs for PPE activities
- Plan a PPE activity
Content
- Political contexts
- Audience research
- Formats for engagement
- Evaluation of PPE activities
- Promotion and marketing
- Planning for a PPE activity.
Assessment
Portfolio (CWPF 100%)
Synopsis
Your research project will act as platform for you to identify, explore and interpret aspects at the forefront of sustainable chemical technologies and systems thinking. Under the guidance of an academic supervisor, you will plan, manage and conduct your own project using skills and knowledge developed during the course and disseminate your research outcomes.
Learning outcomes
- Implement and critically evaluate novel research in the context of existing literature.
- Consider ethical and sustainable issues which may impact on your project outcomes.
- Select appropriate methodology, justifying and evaluating chosen methods.
- Critically discuss the results generated during the project and develop evidence-based conclusions and recommendations.
- Effectively communicate the outcomes in the form of a report and oral presentation.
- Exercise initiative and personal responsibility
Content
- The second research project will normally be executed in a different discipline and on a different topic compared to Research Project 1 to foster a better appreciation of the interdisciplinary aspects of research in sustainable chemical technologies. Research project 2 could be close to the topic of your PhD or at least in the same research group. You will select the topic for Research Project 2 at the start of Semester 2. It is compulsory to have a different supervisor for Project 2 to that of Project 1. You will present your findings in the form of a report and a poster.
Assessment
Report (CWDI 80%)
Poster (CWPI 20%)
No units match these filters.
