PhD in the Physics

PhD studentship in the Experimental Particle Physics group (2026)

What you get

• Fully-paid tuition fees for three and a half years at the home fee status.
• A tax-free bursary for living costs for three and a half years (£20,780 per annum in 2025/26).
• Additional financial support is provided to cover short-term and long-term travel.
• If you are not a UK national, nor an EU national with UK settled/pre-settled status, you will need to apply for a student study visa before admission.

Type of award

Postgraduate Research

PhD project

The University of Sussex Experimental Particle Physics group plays a critically important role in a number of experiments at the frontiers of our knowledge of particle physics. We expect to be able to offer one or more studentships for September 2026 admission in our research areas:

• the ATLAS experiment and its upgrades and FASER(2) at the CERN Large Hadron Collider,
• the SNO+ neutrinoless double beta decay experiment at SNOLAB (Canada),
• the NOvA, DUNE, and SBND neutrino oscillation experiments at Fermilab (USA), and
• the XLZD dark matter observatory.
• The group is also very active in detector development R&D for future experiments, particularly developing novel opaque scintillator detectors (LiquidO).

For projects and contacts see:

https://www.sussex.ac.uk/epp/vacancies/postgraduate

Eligibility

Applicants must hold, or expect to hold, at least a UK upper second class degree (or non-UK equivalent qualification) in Physics, or a closely-related area, or else a lower second class degree followed by a relevant Master's degree.

This award is open to UK and International students.

Deadline

28 February 2026 23:45

How to apply

Apply through the University of Sussex on-line system. 

https://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/phd/apply/log-into-account

Select the PhD in Physics, with an entry date of September 2026.

In the Finance & Fees section, state that you wish to be considered for an STFC PhD studentship in Experimental Particle Physics reference EPP/STFC/2026

Due to the high volume of applications received, you may only hear from us if your application is successful.

Contact us

If you have practical questions about the progress of your on-line application or your eligibility, contact FoSEM-PGR@sussex.ac.uk

For academic questions please contact the coordinator of EPP PhD admissions, Dr. Elisabeth Falk: E.Falk@sussex.ac.uk

Timetable

Deadline for applications is:

28^th February 2026