PhD Studentship under Supervision of Dr Jenny Zhang

PhD in Bioelectrode Engineering for Sustainable Energy Conversion

A PhD studentship (international or UK nationality) is available starting October 2026 or sooner to join a highly collaborative project within the ‘SOLARSPOON’ consortium funded by the European Innovations Council. The project will be based primarily within Dr Jenny Zhang’s laboratory at the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, working closely with Prof Erwin Reisner’s team at the same department, in additional to four other international organisations. The project aims to develop an all-in-one biohybrid device for the solar-driven production of food ingredients, with a focus on developing a biophotoanode comprised of microorganisms that are compatible in food production conditions. See here more more details: http://ch.cam.ac.uk/news/cambridge-lead-%E2%82%AC4m-eu-funded-sunlight-food-technology-project-european-partners

The student will explore a number of bioelectrochemical and materials fabrication techniques, and later will work with world experts in additive manufacturing (Prof Stephan Keller’s team from DTU) to incorporate it into new devices. This work will build on previous studies in our teams (doi: 10.1038/s41563-022-01205-5). The student will also be expected to carry out bioelectrode fabrication and indepth characterisation, using techniques including 3D-printing, electrochemistry, spectroscopies and microscopies. They will be expected to work in multi-disciplinary teams, in particular, they will work closely with materials scientists and engineers to test the output of the electrodes with the context of biohybrid devices. More information about the Zhang Lab can be found here: https://zhang.group.ch.cam.ac.uk/

Applicants should have (or be about to obtain) a Masters or Honours degree in Science or Engineering, with relevant multi-disciplinary experience in microbiology or materials engineering being highly desirable. The candidate will gain a wide range of technical experience relevant to biotechnology development, as well as personal development and leadership skills.