PhD Studentship: Turning Up the Heat: Modelling and Scale-Up of Thermochemical Energy Storage
Heating accounts for nearly half of global energy use and 40% of energy-related CO2 emissions, making it a critical target for global decarbonisation efforts. A highly promising technology for energy storage to support a low-carbon energy grid is thermochemical energy storage (TCES), in which heat is stored and released through reversible chemical reactions.
This PhD research project focuses on NaOH water TCES systems, which utilize cheap and abundant materials. The project aims to develop advanced modelling tools that combine physics-based and data-driven methods to enable the design, optimization, and scale-up of these energy storage systems. By developing these multi-scale computational tools, the research will reduce reliance on expensive experimental testing, improve predictions for system scaling, and establish confidence intervals to guide effective engineering and design decisions.
The project is supervised by Dr. Ferran Brosa Planella and hosted by HetSys (Centre for Doctoral Training in Modelling of Heterogeneous Systems) within the School of Engineering at the University of Warwick. HetSys is an interdisciplinary PhD programme combining mathematics, science, and engineering to apply advanced computational and mathematical techniques to complex real-world challenges.
Eligibility Criteria
Open to UK students (funding specific to UK applicants).
Applicants must hold or expect to obtain a strong undergraduate or Master’s degree in Physics, Engineering, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Materials Science, or a related quantitative discipline.
Required expertise/skills
Strong interest and background in computational modelling, simulation, and data science.
Familiarity or aptitude for combining physics-based mathematical models with data-driven techniques.
Analytical ability in data evaluation, quantitative problem-solving, and uncertainty estimation.
Interdisciplinary collaboration capabilities across physics, engineering, computer science, and applied mathematics.
Excellent technical communication and research skills.
Salary details Fully funded PhD Studentship for UK applicants, covering full University tuition fees, a research training budget, and a tax-free stipend to cover living costs (standard UKRI rate of £21,805 per annum in 2026/2027, equivalent to the national living wage).
Application Deadline 28th August 2026