PhD and MScR positions at the IPPP

Supervisors and projects for STFC-funded particle theory PhD positions within the IPPP beginning in October 2026 are listed below. Information on how to apply for these positions can be found here. These studentships are open to both home and international students, and provide tuition fees and a standard tax-free stipend for a duration of 3.5 years.  Candidates are strongly encouraged to submit their application by 15 December for full consideration for STFC and other studentships.  

Separate from the PhD programme, the IPPP also welcomes applications for the Masters by Research (MScR) degree. These positions are self-funded, and projects can be tailored to a student’s interests in collaboration with prospective supervisors, who should be contacted before applying. Sample MScR projects are listed at the bottom of this page, but applicants are encouraged to reach out to any IPPP staff member with project proposals or general expressions of interest. Information on how to apply can be found  here. 

Note that in addition to the IPPP, a separate particle theory group exists within the mathematics department.  Candidates are welcome to submit applications to both groups, more details on positions in the mathematics department  are available here.

PhD projects beginning in October 2026

Accurate predictions for LHC Processes at the highest partonic energies

Two recent papers by ATLAS analysing data collected at the highest collision energies at the LHC have highlighted the necessity of developing methods to systematically tackle the intricate behaviour of large logarithmic corrections in the perturbative series to all orders in the perturbative coupling in order for predictions to be accurate and useful in developing the understanding of the underlying theory describing the collisions. Specifically, the analysis of the processes of the production of at least two jets ($pp\to jj$ [https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.20206]) and the production of a hard photon or an electroweak vector boson in association with at least two jets ($pp\to {\gamma,Z,W}+jj$ [https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.02793]) all indicate systematic deviations from data with increasing partonic collision energy for e.g. fixed order perturbative predictions. Perturbative predictions taking into account the source of the large logarithmic corrections at high energies on the other hand obtain stable predictions of data [https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.02793,
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.17438].
 
Stable predictions at high energies are required in order to utilise data to study directly e.g. the coupling of the Higgs boson to the electroweak gauge bosons.
 
The project would improve the predictions further by deriving the full set of next-to-leading logarithmic corrections for the processes under study. Furthermore, the predictions are now sufficiently precise that effects from e.g. the requirements of isolated photons need to be incorporated at higher logarithmic accuracy. There project can be taken in several directions according to interests and skills.

 

Supervisor: Jeppe Andersen

Axion-like particles

This project focuses on one of the key low energy predictions of string theory – the existence of numerous light “axion-like particles” (ALPs) interacting very weakly with the Standard Model particles.  Searching for these ALPs is a unique challenge and could require different theoretical and experimental approaches than previous searches targeting just one or two new particles.
 
This project will develop new searches for the string axiverse, with the following strategies as a starting point:
 
  1. Extending existing codes and statistical techniques to simulate the effects of multiple ALPs on light propagating through astrophysical systems such as stars, galaxies and galaxy clusters. We will then use X-ray and gamma ray telescope data to search for string axiverse models. As well as new searches for ALPs, this would also lead to a publicly available python package.
  2. Developing new theoretical techniques to study black hole superradiance, an effect in which a bosonic field may exponentially grow around a rotating black hole. We will develop an approach to black hole superradiance that includes the effect of the accretion disk, using thermal field theory techniques to model the interaction of the superradiant boson with the disk. We will then apply this theoretical work to ALP searches.

Supervisor: Francesca Chadha-Day

Searching for New Physics Phenomena beyond and within the Standard Model

In the last decades, the Standard Model of particle physics evolved to the most precise theory of fundamental interactions and the elementary constituents of matter. Despite its great success, there remain open questions: the Standard Model cannot account for the dark matter content of the universe, it does not explain why the Higgs boson mass is so much smaller than the Planck mass or why QCD does not break CP-symmetry. It also does not explain the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe, which must have been present shortly after the Big Bang, and this remains one of the major outstanding questions in modern physics.

And even within the Standard Model itself, there exist fascinating quantum and non-perturbative phenomena that are predicted by Quantum Field Theory, but have never been observed in any particle physics experiments. These are related to semiclassical field configurations such as instantons which describe quantum tunnelling effects, monopoles, skyrmions and other soliton-like configurations.

This project will develop theoretical and phenomenological approaches to search for fundamental new physics phenomena in the Standard Model itself and in Beyond-the-Standard-Model formulations to address these exciting issues.

Supervisor: Valya Khoze

Parton showers at the frontier

Direct comparison of the complicated final states observed by high-energy particle physics experiments with theoretical calculations relies on sophisticated simulations of the hadronic final state. There are a number of areas where improvements to the theoretical calculations and models are needed in order to understand the latest measurements from the LHC and make predictions for future colliders.

In Durham we are currently working on developments in a number of areas required in these simulations as part of the international Herwig collaboration. These include improving the parton shower approximation for radiation from heavy particles, the bottom and top quarks, and the radiation of weak bosons, developments of the parton shower algorithm for future experiments at the Electron Ion Collider, developments of models for photon photon collisions in leptonic and hadronic collisions, improvements to the simulation of electromagnetic radiation and studies of low energy processes to better understand hadronization, amongst others. The precise project would be decided based on the interests of the student and what topics are most interesting when the research commences.

Supervisor: Peter Richardson

MScR Projects

Heavy flavours in SHERPA

This project is concerned with the analysis of weak and/or rare decays of heavy flavours, which provide unique opportunities to either measure fundamental parameters of the Standard Model such as elements of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix or to constrain new physics beyond the Standard Model.  We will simulate some of these decays and compare the results of the simulation with recent data from LHC and BELLE.  Where necessary, the project will then improve the theoretical description  of these decays, for example through the inclusion of QED higher-order corrections.

Supervisor: Frank Krauss

Investigating co-production of PBHs and UCMHs

Current and future observations, including gravitational microlensing and gravitational wave searches, offer promising avenues for constraining dark matter (DM) models. This project investigates the co-production of ultracompact minihalos (UCMHs) and primordial black holes (PBHs) — two potential DM objects — by exploring how different primordial power spectra and inflationary scenarios influence their formation. The joint production of these objects provides crucial insights into the early universe. We will use a suite of semi-analytic techniques and investigate their applicability. By refining our understanding of their formation mechanisms, we aim to provide predictions that can guide future observational searches and help determine if these objects could be significant components of DM. 

Supervisor: Djuna Croon