Project Vacancies
The CDT in Applied Photonics welcomes applications from all suitably-qualified candidates. We particularly encourage applications from people who are currently under-represented in our CDT.
We are now open for applications to join the programme in September 2025. Please check this page regularly for new projects.
Please note we can only accept a very small number of international students (projects open to international student will include the 
symbol). The deadline for international applications to be submitted is Friday 31st January 2025 to be considered for projects starting September 2025.
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Novel laser sources in the mid-infrared spectral region for security and sensing applications
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PhD
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EngD
Company: Fraunhofer
University: University of Strathclyde
Supervisor: Professor Alan Kemp
Project DescriptionThis project will address the urgent requirement for new photonics tools in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectral region to police stricter greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards and to progress imaging capabilities in poor visibility for security applications.The majority of the so-called “fingerprint” absorption bands for GHGs are in the mid-IR...
Slotted photonic crystal waveguides as a platform for surface enhanced Raman detection of hydrogen🌐
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PhD
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EngD
Company: AWE
University: University of St Andrews
Supervisor: Professor Andrea Di Falco
Project DescriptionThe detection of hydrogen gas is important in many industries (petrochemical, civil nuclear, transport etc) due to its highly flammable nature. This need is likely to grow in the near future as hydrogen is used as the fuel of choice in many applications to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Typically,...
Next generation long range laser rangefinders based on single photon detectors and new laser technologies
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PhD
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EngD
Company: Thales
University: Heriot-Watt University
Supervisor: Professor Gerald Buller and Dr Aongus McCarthy
Project Description Laser Rangefinders are a key element of modern sensor systems and can range up to 20km with an accuracy of less than 1m. Thales UK produced the first in-service laser rangefinder in 1965, just a few years after the invention of the laser, and have been designing and...
uLED-based lab-on-chip platform
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PhD
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EngD
Company: Fraunhofer
University: University of Strathclyde
Supervisor: Dr Nicolas Laurand
Project DescriptionThe Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics (CAP) has several vacancies for exciting, varied and challenging applied R and D studentships in photonics, lasers and optical systems. We welcome applications from all students with the relevant qualifications – a strong undergraduate degree in Physics or Engineering with possible photonics or...
Beam steering systems for remote sensing applications
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PhD
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EngD
Company: Fraunhofer
University: Heriot-Watt University
Supervisor: Professor Robert Thomson
Project DescriptionThis project seeks to investigate novel beam steering techniques for use in remote sensing applications. Remote sensing covers a wide range of industrial applications, such as automotive Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR), over-the-fence pollutant monitoring, stand-off chemical sensing, underwater imaging, and many more. Free space optical communications also has...
Novel Fibre Sensing Technologies for Restrictive Engineering Environments
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PhD
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EngD
Company: AWE
University: Heriot Watt University
Supervisor: Dr Bill MacPherson
Project DescriptionAdvanced engineering systems often contain multiple components for which knowledge of the alignment, or exact component position, is critical to better understand the state of the system. In this project, the systems are sealed with limited access routes, and therefore a miniaturised, minimally invasive sensor solution is ideal. Optical...
Advance diversity techniques for underwater optical communication and sensing
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PhD
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EngD
Company: Fraunhofer
University: University of Strathclyde
Supervisor: Dr Sujan Rajbhandari
Project Description The emergence of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), combined with the expansion of underwater infrastructure has led to a huge opportunity for underwater optical communication and sensing. Surveying and monitoring now create huge quantities of data and being able to wirelessly transfer them to...
Automation of the spectroscopic characterisation of OLED materials 🌐
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PhD
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EngD
Company: Edinburgh Instruments Ltd
University: University of St Andrews
Supervisor: Professor Eli Zysman-Colman
Project DescriptionAn OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) is a type of light-emitting diode where the light-emitting layer is made of organic compounds. These compounds emit light in response to an electric current and are widely used in digital displays such as TVs and smartphones.The efficiency of the device is inextricably linked...
Hybrid manufacturing of photonic devices for advanced sensing applications
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PhD
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EngD
Company: Fraunhofer
University: Heriot Watt University
Supervisor: Dr Richard Carter
Project DescriptionThis project will develop new hybrid photonic devices using two emerging rapid prototyping techniques to translate breakthrough optical sensing techniques to practical field portable sensing systems. Ultrafast laser inscription exploits the incredibly high fields found when a train of femtosecond pulses is focused inside a transparent material to create...
Shortcut mitigation for medical imaging foundational models for segmentation
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PhD
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EngD
Company: Canon Medical Research Europe
University: University of Edinburgh
Supervisor: Professor Sotirios Tsaftaris
Project Description Imaging foundational models (IFM) are often defined as versatile deep learning models performing a task-agnostic feature extraction using a robust backbone pre-trained via self-supervised, semi-supervised or fully supervised methods on a large-scale, diverse dataset. They are often initially developed for a wide range of clinical use-cases or downstream...
Remote, range-resolved ultra-violet Raman spectroscopy for safety in hydrogen fuel and nuclear industries
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PhD
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EngD
Company: Fraunhofer
University: University of Strathclyde
Supervisor: Dr David Li
Project Description The detection and monitoring of substances from a distance is extremely important to several industrial production and safety processes. This project will be focused on remote gas sensing in air using Raman scattering for safety applications in nuclear and hydrogen fuel industries. The Raman scattering signal, albeit weak,...
