PhD positions
The group is continuously seeking PhD candidates, in particular with top class degrees in Physics, Materials Science, Chemistry or Engineering. Our group is very international, with students from the UK and other EU countries, USA, India, Japan, China etc. Please keep in mind that we receive many more excellent applicants than we can admit. We are looking for candidates that share our passion for research and successful applicants often have some research experience in semiconductor & nanomaterials fabrication/processing/characterisation or related areas.
The graduate admission process may appear somewhat involved but we hope worth the effort. There are essentially three parts:
♦ Administrative part: an official application form must be submitted with supporting material to the University of Cambridge Graduate Admissions Office. Therein you would name Prof Hofmann as potential supervisor. General information on this process is available online from the Graduate Studies Office – Department of Engineering.
♦ Scientific part: We must support your application thereby giving you a formal “offer subject to funding”. We prefer you contact us separately from the formal application described above so that we can evaluate your application as early as possible. Prospective candidates are invited to send their CV directly to Prof. Hofmann (sh315@cam.ac.uk). We typically would then schedule a phone interview.
♦ Funding part: An “offer subject to funding” means that funding needs to be secured. Funding for PhD students is available from many sources including the Cambridge Trusts for international students, CHESS for students from the EU, and EPSRC doctoral training awards for UK students. To be eligible for such funding it is important to apply early (see here – current deadlines are mid October for US students, and early December for others). Also make sure you tick the boxes on the official application saying you wish to be considered for funding! Please be aware that there might be a range of other funding schemes available to you, to which you have to apply separately. So it is worth keeping your eyes open for those as well. We do not give preference to “self-funded” students.
Please note that graduate students usually start their PhD studies in October.
Post-doctoral Research Positions
The group seeks in particular top applicants with a background in advanced (nano)metrology and growth/processing/device fabrication of novel (nano)materials. Although we have funds to support some postdoctoral positions (all specific openings will be officially advertised), we often encourage applicants to apply for their own funding.
There are number of fellowships available for postdoctoral research at Cambridge. Each has a variety of eligibility requirements. Schemes include (see their respective www pages) the Newton International Fellowship, EU Marie Curie Fellowships (International Incoming Fellowships, for applicants from outside the EU; Intra-European Fellowships, for applicants from within the EU), Royal Society Fellowships, various EPSRC fellowships, and Cambridge College Research Fellowships. The latter are all advertised in the “College Notices” part of the Cambridge University Reporter which comes out weekly during term.
Most of these fellowships require a research proposal submitted with the support of the host organisation (Cambridge University, in this case). Please contact Prof. Hofmann (sh315@cam.ac.uk) directly about specific research opportunities. Please include your CV.
Specific open Research Assistant/Associate positions will all be advertised under University of Cambridge job pages and under: http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/
Short term placements
Please note that we give priority to local students for summer/short term placements and therefore it is exceedingly rare for us to take external students for short term placements.