University Doctoral Landscape Award (UDLA)
Advancing innovations in response to climate change and health inequalities
Project title: University Doctoral Landscape Award (UDLA)
Project duration: 2025–2031
University of Plymouth staff:
Professor Lars Johanning
The University Doctoral Landscape Award aims to nurture a new generation of researchers in offshore renewable energy and health and medical technologies. Supported by a grant exceeding £1.7 million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the initiative will build upon established areas of research excellence led by the University’s
Centre for Decarbonisation and Offshore Renewable Energy
and
Centre for Health Technology
, tackling climate change challenges and health inequalities.
The UDLA programme aims to create a vortex of expanding research activities through its studentships, fostering the development of transformative technologies that benefit the economy, environment, and society.
By focusing on interdisciplinary themes, the UDLA will educate world-class researchers in an inclusive, connected, and resilient environment, encouraging deep and lasting academic engagement.
By collaborating with industry and non-academic organisations, the UDLA will co-produce net-positive solutions essential for a healthy and stable economy, in turn providing solutions for a sustainable, equal, and just society.
The UDLA programme will cultivate skills that underpin and promote multidisciplinary research and yield economic growth while attracting and retaining the next generation of global research leaders.
Research themes
Our research will be focused on priorities, supporting the thematic areas of decarbonisation and offshore renewable energy (ORE) and health and medical technologies (HMT), such as:
- Engineering net zero
- AI, digitalisation and data: driving value and security
- Transforming health and healthcare
Explore current postgraduate research opportunities
. PhD/EngD studentship applications are now open
EngD studentships
PhD studentships
-
A surrogate model for the analysis of blood flow through compliant, size-mismatched arterial anastomoses in reconstructive surgery -
Metamaterials-based microwave devices for simultaneous wireless information and power transfer -
Generative AI for image and video reconstructions from brain signals -
Quantum computing in strong electromagnetic fields -
Multi-Objective Generative Model × Reinforcement Learning based autopilot for cleaner maritime navigation -
Human-AI Collaborative Framework for Deepfake Detection: Integrating Perceptual-Cognitive Mechanisms with Deep Learning Models -
Resource optimal link scheduling scheme for data delivery in marine applications using Space-Air-Ground-Sea Integrated Networks SAGSIN -
Federated Learning-Driven Decentralized AI Systems for Secure and Scalable Operations in Vehicular Networks -
Exploration of incremental knowledge addition for human activity analysis in open-world scenarios for public safety and surveillance -
Enhancing AI Performance with AMD's Neural Processing Units -
Multimodal AI-based Diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) -
Origami-Inspired Wave Energy Converter Through Dielectric Fluid Generator -
Improving floating offshore wind platform survivability using artificial intelligence to inform active control strategies -
Drone-Assisted Vision for Advanced Offshore Wind Turbine Maintenance -
Safety from wandering with enhanced privacy for people with mild dementia -
Developing a data science pipeline to extract high resolution models of eyes from MRI scans
UDLA studentships with a focus on decarbonisation and offshore renewable energy will be supported by the Centre for Decarbonisation and Offshore Renewable Energy and have access to our outstanding facilities such as the
Coastal, Ocean and Sediment Transport (COAST) laboratory
and a wide range of expertise available across the University.
UDLA studentships with a focus on health and medical technologies will be supported through the Centre for Health Technology, and extensive experience from our MSCA Innovative Training Networks supporting early career researchers to research blood-based diagnostics of early-Alzheimer’s disease and brain tumours. Interdisciplinary research in the field of biomedical engineering and medical devices is led by the
Biomedical Research Group
and the
MAterials and STructures (MAST) Research Group
as well as the
Brain Research & Imaging Centre (BRIC)
.
Centre for Decarbonisation and Offshore Renewable Energy
In response to climate change imperatives, we are bringing together a critical mass of leading research and expertise from across the University of Plymouth. Through co-creation and collaboration with partners from business, government and key communities from across the globe, the Centre aims to be a beacon for the University’s whole-system transdisciplinary approach to solutions-oriented research, accelerating sustainable developments in decarbonisation and renewable energy.
Centre for Health Technology
The Centre for Health Technology unites digital health and technology expertise from across the University to drive the development, evaluation, and implementation of innovative technologies, products, services, and approaches aimed at transforming health and social care and creating a sustainable economy wellbeing.
Focusing principally on digitally-enabled innovations, our researchers work with a network of cross-sector partners, including NHS, industry, health and social care organisations and patient groups, to deliver research and development of international importance, enabled by the unique population and geographical characteristics of the South West region of England.
