Postgraduate research

As one of the world’s leading engineering companies, it is our ability to innovate that sets us apart – allowing us to respond to the challenges of our markets, and meet the ever-evolving expectations of our customers.

To remain competitive, we constantly strive to implement new and better technologies, processes, design tools and manufacturing methods – the majority of which are the fruit of prior research work.

As such, we are prepared to make a significant investment in individuals whose Doctoral work will help us maintain and enhance our position at the forefront of industry.

Specifically:

• We support existing staff to undertake Doctorates
• We recruit people who already have Doctorates
• We seek to employ those Doctorates who have worked on our problems
• We fund Doctoral research work (see below).

Receiving Doctoral sponsorship

If you’d like to undertake Doctoral research in a field that’s of interest to Rolls-Royce, we may be able to provide support.

We do this through a network of University Technology Centres, Research Centres and universities with whom we have close relationships. Review this list of institutions to see whether one of them might suit you.

If you identify an opportunity, your next step is to apply directly to your chosen university department, expressing your interest in the relevant research field and in potentially receiving our support.

Once the university has selected you as a candidate for their research team, they will approach us for sponsorship of your chosen piece of research work.

At no point should you contact Rolls-Royce directly.

Sponsorship can take several forms – direct funding by Rolls-Royce, direct funding by a government body, or a combination of these – and includes access to our technical experts, analytical tools and technology.

For example, in the UK, we actively support the following research schemes for Doctoral studies:

• CASE (Collaborative Award in Science and Engineering via the EPSRC)
• DHPA (Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Awards)
• Industrial Doctorate Centres.

These lead to either a PhD or an EngD.

More details about these awards can be found on the websites of the relevant government agencies in the chosen country of study, and candidates are strongly advised to refer to these (e.g. EPSRC in the UK).

Why align yourself with Rolls-Royce?

We firmly believe that there has never been a more exciting time to join Rolls-Royce.

• Nuclear (technical services, safety assessments)
• Gas turbines for civil and military aerospace
• Marine (prime movers, specialised ship design, propulsors, motion control and auxiliary machinery)
• Static applications (gas turbine based gas/liquid pumping and electricity generation)
• Solid oxide fuel cells
• Tidal generation.

In addition, we are constantly exploring further opportunities in alternative energy such as offshore wind power and carbon sequestration (CO₂ pumping).

All of which means an environment that is geared towards expanding the range of our specialist technical expertise – not to mention yours.