Theoretical Particle Physics

PhD Studentships

We welcome applications from potential PhD students at any time.

Application Process

Applications should be submitted through the University application pages. For more general details on postgraduate studies at Sussex see the University Postgraduate Study page.

Timetable for Applications

Applications are accepted all year round and admission is possible in January, May and September each year.

However, interviews for STFC-funded studentships are expected to begin in early February 2024. To ensure full consideration, you are advised to submit your application as early as possible, bearing in mind that it can take time for supporting references to be applied and an application to be reviewed ahead of shortlisting. 

Any offers will be issued with an acceptance deadline of no earlier than the end of March 2024. 

Funding

We expect to have funding for one or more STFC PhD studentships each year, see here for more details on funding.

We are happy to explore other funding opportunities on a case-by-case basis. In particular, we are happy to support eligible candidates for Commonwealth Scholaship Council , CONACYT, or China Scholarship Council studentships.

Projects and Supervisors

Our group is active in major areas of particle theory, in particular collider and low-energy phenomenology, particle astrophysics and cosmology, and quantum gravity. A detailed description of the current topics of our reseach can be found at http://www.sussex.ac.uk/tpp/research, and more information can be found on individual staff member web pages

A list of possible PhD research projects can be found below. We are also open to discussion of modifying these projects or developing ideas that candidates may have themselves. You are encouraged to contact any of the individual members of staff in relation to potential research projects with them. 

  Supervisor
 Projects
Beyond the Standard Model with holography
The matter anti-matter asymmetry
Gravitational waves from first-order cosmic phase transitions
Tree-loop duality for NNLO computations
BSM searches at the LHC via electroweak standard candles
Exploring the top-Higgs connection with precision
  Ennio Salvioni
Higgs and top physics beyond the Standard Model at the LHC and future colliders
Light dark sectors and their signatures at accelerator experiments
Probing the particle nature of dark matter with the Large Scale Structure of the Universe
 

Contacts

For practical questions about applications and/or funding please contact our research student support team at mpsresearchsupport@sussex.ac.uk.

For academic questions please contact the PhD Admissions tutor (Prof Andrea Banfi). Please also feel free to contact any of the individual members of staff in relation to potential research projects with them.