PhD in Continuum Mechanics

Location: Manchester/nThe successful candidate will join the PhD programme of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Manchester. This 42-month PhD position (funded by the University of Manchester) is a full scholarship which will cover tuition fees for UK-based students and provide an annual stipend in line with EPSRC recommended levels (£20,780 for 2025/26), with an expected start date of 1st January 2026. This scholarship is available only to UK students eligible for home fee status./nProject focus: Study solution landscapes and inverse problems in the Landau-de Gennes theory for Liquid Crystals. Study prototype LC systems (e.g., LCs inside shells, cylinders, cuboids) within the Landau-de Gennes variational framework. Study qualitative properties of solution landscapes (including stable and unstable solutions). Use topology and shape optimisation methods to compute optimal domain shapes that stabilise solutions with desired properties. Use methods from inverse problems to reconstruct material properties from given solutions or experimental data. The project connects mathematical analysis, topology, mechanics, PDEs and scientific computing, with applications to design of liquid crystal technologies.