Pre Doctoral Fellow (Marie Curie)

Salary: £42,702.19 per annum

Plus mobility allowance: £5,926.92 per annum

Plus potential family allowance subject to criteria: £5,509.56 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 07 August 2026

The Role

Applications are invited for a fully funded PhD position at Newcastle University, as part of UNVEIL (Unified Nondestructive Evaluation of Historical Artifacts), a European Doctoral Network funded under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), Horizon Europe programme. The network brings together academic, industrial and cultural institutions across Europe to transform the diagnostics and preservation of cultural heritage.

The network offers 12 fully funded PhD positions across Europe at the intersection of advanced imaging, data fusion and cultural heritage. More information on the UNVEIL Project Website: https://unveil-dn.eu/

Duration 36 month full time role commencing October 2026 (flexible).

Experts in Heritage Science and Conservation & Restoration work with large, diverse diagnostic datasets, yet integrating this information to create accurate Digital Twins remains a major challenge. This project aims to bridge this gap by fusing and visualising data from advanced NDE techniques to improve feature extraction, diagnostics, and generate precise Digital Twins.

How to apply?

The UNVEIL recruitment process involves two stages:

Stage 1 – Demonstration of Interest (UNVEIL Website)

Upload the following documents in English on the UNVEIL website (https://unveil-dn.eu/):

• Academic certificates and full transcripts

• A detailed CV – must include all academic degrees (with dates and institutions) to verify eligibility and must clearly indicate the country of residence and main activity during the 36 months prior to recruitment

• A motivation letter

Uploading documents on the UNVEIL website constitutes a Demonstration of Interest only.

Stage 2 – Formal Application (Newcastle University)

Formal applications must be submitted through the University's Apply to Newcastle Portal:

Apply via: https://applyto.newcastle.ac.uk/

Contact for the role is supervisor Dr Kabita Adhikari, email: kabita.adhikari@newcastle.ac.uk

Key Accountabilities

The doctoral candidate (DC10) will focus on developing innovative feature extraction (FE), selection (FS) and fusion (FF) methods to process high-dimensional, noisy and heterogeneous datasets from complementary sensing modalities, including terahertz (THz), pulsed thermography, ultrasound and multispectral imaging. These methods reduce complex datasets to meaningful, physically interpretable variables, preserving important insights while minimising artefacts such as emissivity and surface variations.

The candidate will design adaptable local–global FE algorithms that integrate spatial, temporal and spectral information to extract, align and fuse multidimensional NDE measurements. Possible applications include:

• Depth alignment for painting stratigraphy

• Co-registration of subsurface features in 3D artworks

• Feature-based multimodal fusion without predefined reference frames

The extracted features will bridge surface and subsurface details, deepening understanding of material properties and artistic techniques. The work will significantly enhance anomaly and defect detection and open new possibilities for monitoring subsurface damage over time. The candidate will also implement and extend unsupervised deep feature-fusion algorithms, including encoder–fusion–decoder architectures previously applied to THz images.

Training, Support, and Development

• 36-month full-time employment contract and PhD enrolment (Doctoral Candidate position)

• Structured training programme: network-wide schools, workshops, seminars and transferable skills training

• International and intersectoral experience through secondments (academia, industry, museums/restoration centres)

• Access to real artworks, mock-ups and state-of-the-art imaging and computation facilities across Europe

• Close supervision and a Career Development Plan (CDP) tailored to your research and career goals

Foreseen Secondments

The candidate will undertake secondments at partner organisations as part of the UNVEIL network:

• Profilocolore Srl (PCO), Rome, Italy

• Fraunhofer IKTS (FRAU-IKTS), Dresden, Germany

The Person

Applicants must satisfy all MSCA Doctoral Network eligibility requirements:

• You must NOT have been awarded a doctoral degree at the date of recruitment

• MSCA mobility rule: you must not have resided or carried out your main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the United Kingdom for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately prior to recruitment Short stays such as holidays are not taken into account

• Researchers of any nationality are eligible

• You must be enrolled (or eligible to enrol) in the doctoral programme at Newcastle University

• You will be recruited under a full-time employment contract and must work exclusively on the UNVEIL project during the contract period

Academic requirements:

• A strong background in physics, electrical engineering or applied computer science is recommended

• You must have, or expect to obtain, a minimum 2:1 Honours degree (or international equivalent) in a relevant subject such as physics, electrical engineering, computer science, applied mathematics or a related discipline

• Enthusiasm for research, the ability to think and work independently, excellent analytical skills and strong verbal and written communication skills are essential

• Home and international applicants (including EU) are welcome to apply. Applicants whose first language is not English require an IELTS score of 6.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in all sub-skills

• International applicants may require an ATAS (Academic Technology Approval Scheme) clearance certificate prior to obtaining their visa and to study on this programme

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a Gold Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC. We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.

Requisition ID: 29544