Postgraduate research
School of Engineering Les Booth PhD Studentship
Qualification: PhD
Department: School of Engineering
Application deadline: 12 September 2025
Start date: 5 January 2026
Overview
Overview
The Les Booth Scholarship provides four years of PhD funding in areas of engineering that involve aspects of heat transfer. This call is for a January 2026 start. Only one scholarship will be awarded for this call.
*Applicants from outside the UK should check their eligibility with the project’s lead supervisor. Not all of our projects are accepting international applicants.
Projects - select one.
1 Dr Benjamin Bugeat - bb283@le.ac.uk Resolvent analysis of supercritical fluids with heat transfer (word doc 140kb)
2 Dr Khaled Laib - kl314@leicester.ac.uk Analysis and Control of Aircraft Bleed Air Systems with Heat Dynamics (word doc 797kb)
3 Dr Ali Haghiri - ah794@leicester.ac.uk Gas Turbine Blade Cooling: High-Fidelity Simulations and Bayesian Uncertainty Quantification of Low-Fidelity CFD Models (word doc 272kb)
4 Dr Xuefang Wang - xw259@leicester.ac.uk Thermal-Aware Decision-Making for Autonomous Low-Altitude Economy Systems (word doc 198kb)
5 Dr Muhammad Zubair - Muhammad.Zubair@leicester.ac.uk AI-Driven Design of Metasurfaces for Enhanced Radiative Heat Transfer in High-Efficiency Solar-Thermal Photovoltaic Systems (word doc 177kb)
6 Dr. Essam Abo-Serie - e.aboserie@leicester.ac.uk Optimised lattice structure in HPDC mould for better conformal cooling (word doc 541kb)
7 Dr Audrius Bagdanavicius - ab746@leicester.ac.uk Multifunctional Thermal Energy Storage (word doc 272kb)
Funding
Funding
The scholarship is for 4 years and provides:
- Tuition fees at UK (Home) rates*
- Annual stipend, (UKRI rate, currently set at £20,780.00 per year for 2025/26)
- £2,100 Research training support grant (RTSG) per year
Entry requirements
Entry requirements
Applicants must have or expect to obtain a first-class or upper-second-class BSc and/or M-level degree (or an equivalent overseas qualification) in a relevant subject.Applicants who hold a lower second-class honours degree (or an equivalent overseas qualification) in a relevant subject may be considered for admission, provided that they also hold a Master’s degree in a relevant subject.
University of Leicester English language requirements apply.
Informal enquiries
Informal enquiries
We recommend you contact the project supervisor in the first instance. Contact details are on the project listing.
Application enquiries to pgrapply@le.ac.uk please specify the funding you want to apply for.
How to apply
How to apply
To apply please use the Apply link at the bottom of this page and select January 2026.
With your application, please include:
- CV
- Personal statement explaining your interest in the project, your experience and why we should consider you
- Degree certificates and transcripts of study already completed and if possible transcript to date of study currently being undertaken
- Evidence of English language proficiency if applicable
- In the reference section please enter the contact details of your two academic referees in the boxes provided or upload letters of reference if already available. Referees should not be anyone on the PhD supervisory Team
- In the funding section please specify Les Booth Studentship
- In the proposal section please provide the name of the supervisor and project title for the project you want to be considered for (a proposal is not required*).
Applications will be considered after the closing date. We will advise you of the outcome by email.
Incomplete applications may not be considered.
Eligibility
Eligibility
The scholarship is open to all applicants* who meet the academic requirements (at least a 2:1 at UK BSc level or at least a pass at UK MSc level or overseas equivalent).
*Applicants from outside the UK should check their eligibility with the project’s lead supervisor. Not all of our projects are accepting international applicants.
International students will normally require a student visa in order to be able to study in the UK. There are costs associated with the visa application process, which must be met by the student; approximately £2,500 for the visa and healthcare surcharge. Please ensure you have the means to meet these costs before you apply to the programme.
EU applicants who hold EU settled or EU pre-settled status please provide PGR Admissions with a share code (the one that starts with S) so we can verify your fee status email to pgrapply@le.ac.uk.
