IDLA studentship: Power electronics rich distribution network design
This fully-funded project will investigate how power electronics can be best incorporated as a core design component for future distribution networks.
Key facts
Application deadline
12:00 midday UK time on Tuesday 3rd March 2026
Applications may remain open after this deadline if places are still available.
Places available
1
Academic supervisor
Professor Thomas Morstyn
Funding (fully-funded scholarship)
This project will be offered as a fully-funded scholarship, which will include:
- all course fees for the duration of your course; and
- a living stipend.
This project is funded by an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Industrial Doctoral Landscape Award (IDLA).
The industrial partner for this project is Scottish Power.
Expected start date
Expected duration
Full time: 3-4 years
Part time: 6-8 years
About this project
The net-zero transition simultaneously makes distribution network design increasingly important and challenging. Distributed renewables and home/community batteries introduce bi-directional power flows and make voltage levels more variable. Distribution networks also need to accommodate ambitious electric vehicle and heat pump rollout targets.
These challenges, along with recent advances in material science, thermal management and control systems, have led to a variety of new distribution-network focused power electronic devices, including solid-state and hybrid transformers, soft-open points and distribution-static compensators. These devices provide a dynamic range of control capabilities across power flow management, voltage regulation, power factor correction, phase balancing, and harmonic control, and motivate a fundamental reassessment of how distribution networks are designed.
The project will investigate three main research questions:
- How can we best model power electronics-rich distribution networks to balance model fidelity and computational complexity? A key goal here is to bridge the gap from the device-level and switching timescales up to distribution network-scale coordination.
- How can we optimise across system objectives including network efficiency, resilience, and the hosting capacity for renewables and electric transport/heating? A new framework is needed which can holistically assess the full variety of power electronic device types, siting/sizing options, network configurations, and network operator regulated incentives.
- What value can power electronics rich design offer if scaled out across the UK, and what commercial barriers need to be overcome? This will motivate the future commercialisation and deployment of the methods developed through the project.
The successful candidate will develop an in-depth understanding of power electronics and distribution network design. They will investigate multiscale modelling and optimisation approaches to overcome the computational challenges of integrating fast timescale device-level interactions into distribution network-level coordination. They will also explore robust decision making in the face of the weather- and behaviour-dependent uncertainty inherent to renewables and electric transport/heating. During the project, the student will also have the opportunity to join Oxford’s vibrant and interdisciplinary energy research community, which includes the ZERO Institute and the Oxford Energy Network.
The student will be based in the Power Systems Architecture Lab within Oxford’s Department of Engineering Science. The studentship will be supervised by Professor Thomas Morstyn, who leads the Power Systems Architecture Lab, and Professor Dan Rogers who leads Oxford’s Power Electronics Group. The project will also be supported by industry advisor Dr Agustí Egea-Àlvarez, Network Operational Performance Manager at SP Energy Networks.
Course details
Unless stated otherwise, this project information is subject to the more detailed information provided on the page of the offering course.
Course offering this project
You should familiarise yourself with the details of this course before applying for this project.
Entry requirements
This studentship project is funded by UKRI.
In addition to the entry requirements for the main course, prospective candidates for this project will be judged according to how well they meet the following criteria:
- a first class or strong upper second-class undergraduate honours degree in Engineering or related area;
- experience with mathematical modelling and optimisation;
- programming experience (preferably in Python); and
- excellent English written and spoken communication skills.
- experience with power electronics modelling, design and simulation;
- experience with power systems modelling, design and simulation;
- experience with machine learning; and
- power industry experience.
Please refer to the DPhil in Engineering Science course page for all other entry requirements, including the required level of English language proficiency.
College preference
If you have the option of stating a college preference for this project, the available colleges will be confirmed within the application form.
For some projects, including all of those offered after the standard course has closed to applications, the department will assign your application to a college.
How to apply
The guidance for this project may differ from the standard course - please read it carefully.
Application fee waivers (for all applications via this page)
Applications to this project should be made only via this page and not the related course page.
The application fee will be waived for all applications made via this page.
Contacting the department before making an application
It is recommend that you contact the project supervisor, Professor Thomas Morstyn, ahead of submitting your application
Guidance for completing the application form
After you have started an application via this page, please refer to the application instructions on the main course page.