PhD student position with ATLAS at University of Manchester

Institute and supervisor information

The University of Manchester

Manchester’s mission is to be a world leader in the quality of higher education offered, the excellence and impact of the research undertaken and the value of the contributions made to the economic, social and cultural life and environmental sustainability of the wider society. It is currently ranked 40th in the Jiao Tong Academic Ranking of World Universities.

The University has four faculties, twenty academic schools and hundreds of specialist research groups undertaking pioneering multi-disciplinary teaching and research of worldwide significance. More than 5500 academic and research staff, and a further 5000 support staff spearhead the research and teaching activity in the university. Manchester has the largest student community in the UK, with more than 28000 undergraduates and 11000 postgraduates attracted by the high international standing of the academic staff, by the superb research and teaching facilities, and by the cultural assets both of the university and the city of Manchester itself.

The University of Manchester strives to make our community a welcoming, caring and enthusiastic one, fuelling ambition with opportunities and support to help us all achieve our personal and professional goals.

Our diverse job opportunities include an attractive benefits package with family-friendly policies that provide for flexible working. We care deeply about career and personal development, offering a structured induction programme for new staff, an annual performance and development review, staff training for all career stages and mentoring opportunities to support your career development. We have a genuine commitment to equality of opportunity for our staff and students, which is also reflected in the ATLAS group.

School for Physics and Astronomy

The School of Physics and Astronomy is one of the largest and most active in Britain with 80 academic staff, 70 postdoctoral research associates, 820 undergraduate/postgraduate students and 180 research/support staff. A tradition of excellence has been established by many eminent teachers and research workers, including eleven Nobel Prize winners, such as Rutherford, Bohr, Bragg and Blackett, and most recently Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov, who were awarded the honour in 2010 for their pioneering work on graphene. The School is also very active in public engagement, with Professors Tim O’Brien, Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw featuring regularly in the scientific and popular media. Manchester is the only UK Physics department to be both in the top five for the volume of world-leading and internationally excellent research, and to have the maximum rating for teaching and student support, and is currently ranked 16th in the subject- specific Jiao Tong Academic Ranking of World Universities.

The Manchester Particle Physics and ATLAS group

The successful candidate will work with the ATLAS group at The University of Manchester. The Manchester ATLAS group comprises more than 30 members, with six academic members of staff, and around ten research staff and fifteen PhD students.  The Manchester group is strongly involved in many areas of ATLAS, including the study of events containing Higgs, W, and Z bosons, and top quarks, as well as searches for new phenomena. Manchester has also major roles in the ATLAS trigger, as well as in upgrades to the tracking detectors and trigger.

The Manchester High-Energy Physics group is one of the largest UK particle physics groups and is also involved in the ATLAS, BESIII, SuperNEMO, DarkSide, DUNE, g-2, MicroBooNE, Mu2e, and SBND experiments. It has a strong theory group with involvement in QCD, BSM, particle cosmology and quark flavour phenomenology.