Closing date: 2 February 2026
Open to: UK and international applicants
Funding providers: EPSRC IDLA and Dyson Institute
Subject area: Data Driven Microgrid Control
Project start date: October 2026 ** (Please see the note below regarding potential later start dates.)
(Earlier start dates may be available upon request subject to ATAS and Visa processing and UKVI timelines)
Swansea Supervisors:
Dyson Institute supervisors:
Aligned programme of study: PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Mode of study: Full-time
Project description:
To combat climate change and achieve the UK's target of Net Zero, it is expected that the integration of renewable energy sources (RESs) at the distribution/consumption level will keep increasing. The volatile and intermittent nature of RESs causes significant difficulties for the network operator to balance generation with demand and maintain power quality, which makes the network prone to instability and blackouts. In addition to their volatile nature, RESs cannot provide the ancillary services (such as voltage and frequency control) that conventional synchronous generators naturally deliver, exacerbating the situation as the penetration of RES increases, especially at the distribution level.
In this context, microgrids (MGs) refer to clusters of consumers, prosumers (consumers + producers), energy storage systems (ESSs), and electric vehicles (EVs) that collectively form a local energy community (EC). ECs are supposed to facilitate direct peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading mechanisms to optimize objectives such as reduced bills, reduced emissions, or minimization of the exchanged energy with the grid. Such ECs can also potentially provide ancillary services to the grid, such as power balancing, peak shaving/shifting, voltage and frequency support, and virtual inertial response.
Due to the volatile and intermittent nature of RESs, in this project, machine learning (ML) methods are used to accurately forecast local generation and demand. To do so, historic local data (e.g., the active buildings in Swansea University) and Met Office data will be used to train and validate the proposed ML model. These forecasted data will then be used to propose and optimize an energy management strategy for an EC comprising a number of prosumers, consumers, ESSs, and EVs. Different vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-community energy trading strategies will also be proposed and investigated to achieve optimized P2P trading within the EC.
The project will be done using MATLAB coding and modelling in Simulink environment.
Funding duration: 4 years
For more details please see here: https://www.swansea.ac.uk/postgraduate/scholarships/research/electrical-electronic-engineering-su-dyson-phd-2025-rs908.php
Applicants for PhD must hold an undergraduate degree at 2.1 level and a master’s degree. Alternatively, applicants with a UK first class honours degree (or non-UK equivalent as defined by Swansea University) not holding a master’s degree, will be considered on an individual basis.
Note for international and European applicants: details of how your qualification compares to the published academic entry requirements can be found on our Country Specific Entry Requirements page.
English Language: IELTS 6.5 Overall (with no individual component below 5.5) or Swansea University recognised equivalent. For further information, please see the Swansea University English Language Entry Policy.
If you have any questions regarding your academic or fee eligibility based on the above, please email [email protected] with the web-link to the scholarship(s) you are interested in.
Please note that the programme requires some applicants to hold ATAS clearance, further details on ATAS scheme eligibility are available on the UK Government website.
ATAS clearance IS NOT required to be held as part of the scholarship application process. Successful award winners (as appropriate) are provided with details as to how to apply for ATAS clearance in tandem with a scholarship course offer.
Funding
This scholarship covers the full cost of tuition fees and an annual stipend at UKRI rate (currently £20,780 for 2025/26) with an enhanced stipend payment of £3000 per annum.
EPSRC IDLA studentships are available to home and international students. Up to 30% of our cohort can comprise international students. Once the limit has been reached, we are unable to make offers to international students.
We are still accepting applications from international applicants.
International students will not be charged the fee difference between the UK and international rate. Applicants should satisfy the UKRI eligibility requirements.
To apply, please complete the entire application form:
In order to be considered for this scholarship award the following steps are also required.
1) In section ‘Programme Related Information’ please input the relevant RS Code for the scholarship award i.e. RS908
2) In section ‘Research’ you will see ‘Proposed project title/studentship title’* (Mandatory)
3) In section ‘Funding information’ please choose the option ‘Scholarship Funding’ only. Please ensure no other options are selected.
*It is the responsibility of the applicant to list the above information accurately when applying, please note that applications received without the above information listed will not be considered for the scholarship award.
If you’ve previously applied for this programme, the system will display an “Application Submitted” warning and block a new submission. In this case:
One application is required per individual Swansea University led research scholarship award; applications cannot be considered listing multiple Swansea University led research scholarship awards.
NOTE: Applicants for PhD/EngD/ProfD/EdD - to support our commitment to providing an environment free of discrimination and celebrating diversity at Swansea University you are required to complete an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Monitoring Form in addition to your programme application form.
Please note that completion of the EDI Monitoring Form is mandatory; your application may not progress if this information is not submitted.
As part of your online application, you MUST upload the following documents (please do not send these via email):
Informal enquiries are welcome; please contact Dr Meghdad Fazeli [email protected]
*External Partner Application Data Sharing – Please note that as part of the scholarship application selection process, application data sharing may occur with external partners outside of the University, when joint/co- funding of a scholarship project is applicable.
** In exceptional circumstances, and subject to the discretion of the University and/or the relevant funding body, a deferral of offer may be granted to the next available enrolment period. Such deferral will typically not exceed a duration of three calendar months from the originally stipulated commencement date. Please note that only one deferral may be considered, and any such deferral is not guaranteed.
Open to: UK and international applicants
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