Work with us!

The DVU group is a creative, positive and stimulating research group. We nurture your talent with 1-2-1 weekly or fortnightly meetings, regular fortnightly group meetings, quarterly review group meetings and dedicated technical and soft skills training opportunities. We celebrate diversity, success, and most importantly, we openly chat about setbacks and learn from things that inevitably do not go as planned. We provide flexible working patterns and direct access to a network of international collaborators. We value your time off, your personal space, and your technical contribution. 

The DVU group's core values are: curiosity, innovation, integrity and well-being.

We are always looking for brilliant and motivated new additions to the DVU Group! 

General things you should know about doing a PhD at the Cambridge University Engineering Department (CUED):

• PhD in Cambridge can start in October or in January of each academic year  - you cannot start the PhD at any time of the year*. 

• the PhD is between 3 years to 4 years maximum, by the end of which you are expected to "to have produced original work making a significant contribution to knowledge in the field of engineering. At the same time, the Department expects that students will leave with the wider skills necessary to be successful in either an academic or a non-academic career."

• During the first year of your PhD you will have to attend lectures and take exams for two modules that are relevant for your research project. Moreover, you will have to attend some dedicated training sessions. 

• at the end of the first year you will have to take a formal exam to assess your research progress and your research plan forward to complete the PhD within 3-4 years. This exam will decide if you can continue with your PhD research or otherwise. 

• during the PhD you DO NOT have to teach,  as you are expected to solely focus on research!
  If you would like to do lab demonstrations or small group teaching (supervisions), you can do that. You will be paid separately for that (and there is a limit to the maximum number of hours you can dedicate to teaching per week), and these teaching activities are coordinated by CUED and/or colleges. 

• during your PhD you will be also affiliated to a college. This is important, since colleges organize many social and sport activities, but also because it will help you engage in exciting conversations from completely different backgrounds!  Colleges offer: 

  • facilities, such as a library, dining hall, and sports and fitness spaces

  • social, cultural and recreational activities to enhance your personal development

  • accommodation in College-owned properties (availability and location can vary)

  • welfare and practical support like:

  • financial support in cases of unforeseen financial difficulties

  • opportunities to teach undergraduate students, where applicable

• Aside of your supervisor (that will be me!), you will be assigned an advisor in CUED  (an academic with an interest in your work who is not involved in your daily research) and a tutor (advising on pastoral matters) in the college you will be admitted to. 

• If you wish to do so, the CUED offers also the opportunity to take foreign language courses. 

• The academic year in Cambridge is divided into three terms each of 8 weeks (called Michaelmas, Lent and Easter) where the lectures, labs, supervisions, seminars, and most of the training activities occur. However, you are expected to carry out research all year around... and you are also expected to take holidays! 

• During term time, we will have a 1-2-1 meeting every week, and every other week you will share your progress, challenges and plan forward in a DVU group meeting.  

• Your PhD plan would not include a visiting period to another institution - unless already specified in the job advert. However, depending on the nature of your project a visiting period to another institution might be considered (typically between few weeks to a maximum of 3 months). 

• Trainings and conferences: Your PhD project might have a small budget to attend (i) training relevant to your PhD topic that might not be offered in Cambridge; (ii) Conferences where you will present your innovative work.

 You can find out more about a PhD at CUED here

You can find out more about the role of a college during your PhD here

Note: given the large volume of emails if a PhD position is advertised within the group:

• applications via email for the PhD position will NOT be considered (please apply through the Cambridge portal, as specified in the advert for the position). 

• more info about a PhD project will be shared only with the people that are shortlisted, and not via email, nor via "informal meetings".

*some people prefer to apply to short term internship or research assistant posts which are advertised within the University of Cambridge, so that they are already in Cambridge before starting their PhD. Please note: (i) you will have to go through a separate interview process for these positions; (ii)  the work that you will do during your internship or research assistant posts cannot be considered as part of your PhD. 

VISITING THE DVU GROUP

 Each academic year, we accept a limited number of visiting Master and PhD students, visiting Researchers and Academic visitors. If you would like to visit us at the University of Cambridge, please do get in touch with us!

We have reached the max number of visitors for the academic year 2024-25 and for 2025-26! 

Some funding schemes for visiting researchers (for short term research projects)

• DAAD for researchers from Germany

• Rubicon for researchers who recently obtained their PhD in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

• BayFOR for researcher from the Bavarian state, Germany

• Fulbright Scholarship - for US citizens 

DVU Group Postal Addresses