PhD Students

The School of Physical Sciences has the largest cohort of Postgraduate students in the Open University, with postgrads studying across all of our research areas of Astronomy, Physics, Physics Education, Planetary and Space Science, and Space Instrumentation.

Each year we advertise typically 30 defined research projects and expect to recruit full-time postgraduate students to typically 10 of those projects, on fully-funded studentships (providing fees and stipend). Part-time, self-funded postgraduate students on self-defined projects are only appointed in exceptional circumstances, where the projects closely match the interests and activities of staff members. The usual start date for new postgrads is 1st October, but we sometimes have projects and studentships avaialble for start on 1st February too. The current projects for which studentships are available are listed under the heading to the right of the screen.