Interdisciplinary research to address global challenges

Project ID: 2228cd1283 (You will need this ID for your application)

UCL Lead department: Chemical Engineering

Project Summary:

Global challenges are increasingly visible, whether it is the environment, food security, justice, education, healthcare, poverty, or national security. These challenges are complex and dynamic, and solutions to those challenges must address risk, uncertainty, the science/society interface, and the role of human societies. Interdisciplinary approaches that bring together technical innovation and cultural understanding are key to finding solutions that will result in transformational change and a more equitable future.

This student-led (or co-created with the supervisors) interdisciplinary PhD studentship offers the opportunity to develop interdisciplinary research that draws on an engineering discipline in concert with another discipline(s) (from Arts and Humanities, Bartlett (Built Environment), Brain Sciences, IoE, Laws, Life Sciences, Maths and Physical Sciences, Medical Sciences, Population Health Sciences or Social and Historical Sciences) to address complex challenge(s).

Candidates must bring demonstrable expertise from at least one discipline and a willingness and ability to build collaborative research across traditional disciplinary borders.

Candidates will need to • Articulate the key challenge the research will address, and problem statements may refer to the UCL Grand Challenges and/or the UN Sustainable Development Goals. • Outline the key methods and tools that are proposed to address that challenge, • Describe what the potential and anticipated impact of the research will be.
• Nominate the proposed supervisory team (with the first supervisor being part of the Faculty of Engineering and the supervisory team being demonstrably interdisciplinary).

This studentship is designed to be part of our broader activities that seek to position UCL as a world pioneer in interdisciplinary research through innovative approaches to crossing traditional siloes that deliver holistic solutions by incorporating both technologies and an understanding of society. This studentship offers a rare opportunity for research that can take a creative approach to achieving meaningful engagement across disciplines and between research and broader society.