Research Studentship in Control Engineering

3.5-year DPhil studentship 

Project: Integrated Control Architectures for Next-Generation Synchrotron Light Source

Supervisors: Prof Idris Kempf

Next-generation synchrotron light sources require unprecedented electron and X-ray beam stability. At the same time, increasingly diverse feedback systems—including fast and slow orbit feedback, radio-frequency systems, electron beam position monitors, and X-ray beam diagnostics—act on different aspects of the same underlying accelerator dynamics. These systems are traditionally designed largely independently, despite increasingly strong interactions between them.

This DPhil will develop new control and architecture design methods to integrate and coordinate multiple feedback systems with different actuator and measurement modalities. The key challenge is that these systems operate at different sampling rates and bandwidths, influence common variables, and may pursue overlapping or competing objectives. Moreover, their physical and computational distribution makes fully centralised control impractical. The project will therefore develop structured, distributed, and hierarchical control methods that exploit relationships between feedback systems while allowing individual systems to retain a degree of autonomy. Possible directions include structured system decomposition and representation methods, such as multi-array matrix and tensor factorisations; system shaping methods, including disturbance-observer-based approaches; and emerging Control Architecture Theory for the principled design of distributed and multi-rate feedback architectures. The work will be developed in collaboration with Diamond Light Source and evaluated on realistic accelerator models and, where possible, experimental systems. There will also be opportunities to collaborate with synchrotron light sources worldwide.

Eligibility

This studentship is open to both UK and overseas students (full award – home/overseas fees plus stipend).

Award Value

Course fees are covered at the level set for home or overseas students. The stipend (tax-free maintenance grant) is provided at the UKRI minimum stipend for the first year, and at least this amount for a further two and a half years.

Candidate Requirements

Prospective candidates will be judged according to how well they meet the following criteria:

• A first class or strong upper second class undergraduate degree with Honours in Engineering, Maths, Computer Science, Physics, or a related discipline

• Excellent English written and spoken communication skills.

It is desirable that candidates possess expertise in some (but not all, or even most) of the following areas:

• A strong mathematical background

• Ability to program in MATLAB, Python, or a similar scientific programming language

• Knowledge of relevant areas such as systems and control, signal processing, optimisation, or numerical linear algebra

• Previous research experience, for example through a final-year project, internship, or Master's project

• Experience with real-time or embedded control systems.

Application Procedure

Informal enquiries are encouraged and should be addressed to Prof Idris Kempf (idris.kempf@eng.ox.ac.uk).

Candidates must submit a graduate application form and are expected to meet the graduate admissions criteria. Details are available on the course page of the University website.

Please quote 27ENGCO_IK in all correspondence and in your graduate application.

Application deadline: noon on Tuesday 2nd December 2026 (In line with the December admissions deadline, set by the University)

Start date: October 2027