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Please get in contact with us to find out more about ECFP and whether we can help you.
Formulated consumer products, such as cosmetics or snack foods, are complex multi-component mixtures. Optimising performance, or replacing components to help achieve environmental sustainability, is a substantial challenge as the varied components can interact with both each other and how the product is processed, stored or used. To facilitate predictive reformulation, i.e. without exhaustive and time-consuming testing by variation over a wide ranging parameter space, it is vital to understand the components’ roles at a microphysical level in terms of general soft-matter science principles, for example, emulsion stabilisation or gel formation. This offers the opportunity to translate science to industrial impact, but also to inform new soft matter science that could have application across multiple sectors.
This fully funded project starting from September 2025 is in collaboration with Croda as a four year EPSRC industrial doctoral landscape award (with stipend, £20,780 from 2025/26) and is focussed on understanding the multifaceted formulation interactions of mineral UV filters in sunscreens from the microscale up to bulk properties. The project will begin by developing various simplified formulations based on a subset of the components in a commercial formulation to disentangle the multiple potential roles. This approach would particularly suit a curiosity-driven student, with multiple potential avenues for the lab-based development of model systems. These systems will be mechanically and structurally characterised using a suite of rheological and imaging techniques based within the Soft Matter Physics Group. Novel techniques developed include contactless interfacial rheology, rheo-microscopy and differential dynamic microscopy. These will be leveraged to investigate the interaction of a concentrated suspension of solid particles with the interface of an immiscible liquid drawing on the research areas of the academic supervisors, Dr James Richards (suspensions and rheology) and Dr Job Thijssen (particle-stabilised interfaces). Over the course of the project, it is envisioned that correlative models between simplified and commercial formulations will be developed. This offers the scope for a host of data science or multi-scale physical modelling approaches, an aspect of the project that may suit students with a strong mathematical foundation or programming interest.
The studentship will be based at The University of Edinburgh School of Physics and Astronomy in the Soft Matter Group, which has wide ranging experimental and theoretical research in suspensions, emulsions, gels and also biological materials, such as bacterial biofilms. This specific project will be in close connection with the Edinburgh Complex Fluids Partnership a group of researchers and academics focussed on knowledge exchange with industry across multiple sectors from food and cosmetics to wastewater treatment. Close collaboration with Croda scientists, industrial supervisor Aline Souza, is an key part of the project following agreements on data sharing and intellectual property. As such, three months, spread flexibly over the project timeline, are to be spent embedded within Croda laboratories.
We are interested in hearing from students who are highly motivated to work in a multi-disciplinary scientific team with close industrial collaboration and have, or be on track to achieve, II.I or above (or international equivalent) integrated masters or undergraduate degree in physics, chemistry, chemical engineering or related subject. Initial enquiries should be directed to Dr James Richards (james.a.richards@ed.ac.uk) with a short CV attached.
Please get in contact with us to find out more about ECFP and whether we can help you.
ECFP delivers fundamental product insight enabling improved formulation and processing for a more sustainable future.
ECFP delivers fundamental product insight enabling improved formulation and processing for a more sustainable future.
ECFP delivers fundamental product insight enabling improved formulation and processing for a more sustainable future.
