MASAUTO PhD Studentship position

MASAUTO, MAterials for Smarter AUTonomous sensOrs

The start date of each post is between 1 March and mid- October 2025.

The grant provides training for doctoral candidates in cutting-edge advanced materials fabrication, simulation and characterization to address the pressing challenge of achieving a sustainable IoT ecosystem. The doctoral candidates will acquire a solid multidisciplinary scientific training, from basic science to industrial applications, which will enable them to generate new scientific knowledge of the highest impact. MASAUTO will also deliver practical training on transferable skills in order to increase employability prospects and to provide the researchers with access to highly skilled employment opportunities in the private and public sectors. MASAUTO will push forward the current technological limits of materials properties and material heterostructures for this particular challenge, as well as, to advance the adoption of these techniques in key industrial sectors, namely in materials and electronics.

Under this project, University of Cambridge will work on:

• i) New resistive switching mechanisms in HfO2 based films (with Prof. Judith Driscoll in Dept. Materials Science and Metallurgy Dept. contact: jld35@cam.ac.uk).
• ii) Development of ternary halide indoor photovoltaics for sustainably powering IoT electronics (with Prof. Akshay Rao in Physics, contact: ar525@cam.ac.uk).

The overarching aim of the network is to position Europe as a leader in autonomous sensors for smart healthcare, automotives, industry and agriculture. The research training is implemented through strong relationships between 6 Universities/Research Institutes and 3 industrial partners across the EU. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 101168161.

Note: Potential doctoral candidates for each institution needs to be, at the date of recruitment not already in possession of a doctoral degree. They must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the recruiting beneficiary for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the recruitment date — unless as part of a compulsory national service or a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention.