Fusion DTN: Introduction

What is the Fusion Doctoral Training Network?

The Fusion Doctoral Training Network is a collaboration of academic and government research institutions working together to provide a world-leading, fusion energy postgraduate training programme for UK scientists and engineers leading to the award of PhD degrees.

Who is involved?

The Universities of Durham, Liverpool, Manchester, Oxford and York, in collaboration with the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE) and the Central Laser Facility, and with funding support from the EPSRC.

Why is it important and exciting?

Fusion could provide effectively limitless energy in a safe, environmentally friendly way, with no greenhouse gas emissions. But there are a number of scientific and technical challenges that scientists and engineers must tackle. Exciting new facilities will address these issues over the next two decades:

  • JET in Oxfordshire is the world's largest tokamak, and is undergoing a ~€100M upgrade
  • MAST, also in Oxfordshire, also has advanced plans to be upgraded
  • Construction of ITER, the biggest international collaborative science project on Earth, has begun in the South of France (to start operating towards the end of the next decade)
  • The Orion laser facility at AWE Aldermaston for inertial confinement fusion studies
  • The Vulcan and Gemini laser facilities at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory; Vulcan has recently been upgraded, and was listed until recently in the Guiness Book of Records as the world's most powerful laser system at around 1 PetaWatt.

To benefit from these world-leading facilities, the UK must create a cadre of highly trained scientists and engineers across the wide range of disciplines that come together in fusion energy research. The network brings together the breadth of expertise necessary to provide an effective internationally-leading training programme.

What skills are needed?

The training programme covers a broad range of disciplines. You will need a good undergraduate degree in engineering, physics, mathematics or related subject. Research projects span a diverse range of fields: engineering, plasma physics, nuclear physics, materials science, control systems, detector development, theory and computational science, etc. While a given student will work predominantly in one area, collaboration between students in related areas is expected and encouraged.