A new collaboration between Queen's University Belfast and Seagate Technology has created eight new PhDs in the area of advanced materials.
The studentships are currently being advertised following a £47.3m investment by Seagate in its Springtown plant, enhanced with £12.7m in grants from Invest Northern Ireland.
The new PhD positions will be based in Queen's state-of-the-art Centre for Nanostructured Media within the School of Maths and Physics. As part of the investment, researchers are establishing a new research facility at the University with a dedicated laboratory of large area depositions systems, magnetometers, focused ion beam and atom probe microscopes. The new facility will be launched in the early summer.
Professor Robert Bowman is Director of Research at Queen's Centre for Nanostructured Media. He said: "Seagate's Springtown operation is already recognised as the United Kingdom's most advanced nanotechnology scale manufacturing facility. PhD studentships offering the type of opportunities created by this partnership do not come along very often. Their creation as part of this large investment will create real leaps forward in the area of data storage and related fields and ensure Queen's and Seagate remain at the forefront of developments in these areas. Through our new program we intend to also apply the expertise to other comme rcial sectors that rely on advanced materials. "
Steve Luczo, Chairman, CEO and President of Seagate Technology said: "We are looking forward to further developing our strong and mutually productive association with Queen's University Belfast. Queen's has a worldwide reputation for excellence and innovation in digital electronics and related fields and we hope that this collaboration and the establishment of a new research facility at the University's School of Maths and Physics, will be a catalyst for many more positive developments for the future"
The eight PhD studentships are focusing on engineered magnetic alloy thin films, advanced magnetoresistive thin film systems, thin film magnetic shielding and plasmonics for magnetic recording. Two positions are available in each area and four studentships are available immediately. The remainder will begin in October 2010.
More details on how to apply for the PhDs can be found online at: www.qub.ac.uk/home/ProspectiveStudents/PostgraduateStudents/