The MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology is New Zealand’s premier research organisation in materials science and nanotechnology. Applications are currently invited from suitably qualified candidates for a number of different full-time funded PhD scholarships based at different universities across New Zealand, to start before 31st December 2025. Successful candidates will become members of the MacDiarmid Institute and given exciting collaborative opportunities and a thriving environment within which to work.
Our alumni are working all over New Zealand and the world in many different fields and are having real impact. As a MacDiarmid Institute PhD student, you will be encouraged and financially supported to take advantage of the many opportunities we provide to broaden your experience and skills.
Opportunities available for PhD scholarship students include:
- 3-month paid industry and government internships (post PhD)
- Annual multi-day workshops on specialist topics such as communication, commercialisation and leadership
- Intensive annual multi-day bootcamps (held in remote and beautiful locations) where experts share their knowledge in an important current research area
- Outreach events , working with schoolteachers or children
- Membership of the MacDiarmid Emerging Scientists Association (MESA ), run by students and postdocs, which organises additional activities. Each scholarship is worth NZD$38,500 per annum (not taxed), plus all student fees.
Research areas and projects:
The Institute currently has 25 scholarships available across four research programmes. The individual PhD projects are under the following three research programmes:
Reconfigurable Systems research programme
In this research programme we are:
- reimagining the use and reuse of materials themselves, for example working towards the kind of controlled reactions that occur in 'artificial cells' that self-regulate and reconfigure for synthetic biology and other functions; and
- creating circular materials for commercial applications, and exploring natural materials, especially from waste streams for their use as smart materials.
Reconfigurable Systems research projects:
Future Computing research programme
In this research programme we are developing materials and technologies for:
- computers able to process information more like the brain, studying how to reproduce some of the properties of biological neurons and synapses using networks of molecules and nanostructures, and other materials; and
- computing that uses far less energy compared to conventional electronics, based on quasiparticles using superconductivity, spin order (magnetism), or topological order, with applications for superconducting electronics in quantum and cryogenic computing.
Future Computing PhD projects:
Catalytic Architectures research programme
In this research programme we are exploring new materials that will:
- catch CO2 from air and waste streams, through clever chemistry that attracts CO2 to the surfaces of 3D spongelike materials (such as metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs); and
- decarbonise the energy sector by designing new catalysts that will transform captured CO2 into green fuels using renewable energy inputs. In addition, we will explore catalysts for zero-carbon fuels (hydrogen and ammonia) that can remove carbon from energy systems.
Catalytic Architectures PhD projects:
Pūtaiao Māori research programme
In this programme we are exploring new and innovative knowledge, materials, techniques, approaches and tools to explore and grow pūtaiao Māori. This programme has environmental sustainability as a key value/principle at its core, through kaitiakitanga. The programme intersects with several of our other research programmes where we explore and develop pūtaiao Māori at the interface.
Pūtaiao Māori PhD project:
Application process:
To apply, please send a CV, academic record, and the names and contact details of two referees to the project supervisor (contact details available via the links above), with the PhD project title in the subject line.
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