PhD Studentship in Proton Therapy: Development of a Calorimeter for Clinical Proton Therapy Beams (Ref: 1411494)
Duration of Studentship: 3 years
Stipend: £15,863 + fees
Studentship Start Date: September 2014.
Vacancy Information
The UCL High Energy Physics Group, in conjunction with the Department of Medical Physics & Bioengineering, is inviting applications for a studentship in the area of Proton Therapy.
Studentship Description
Proton therapy uses protons in place of X-rays to provide more accurate radiotherapy with fewer risks of side effects. To support the new treatment centre at University College London Hospital we have a new research programme to develop a high-speed, high resolution proton calorimeter to form part of a proton CT imaging system. The project will be in collaboration with the Radiation Dosimetry group at the National Physical Laboratory (www.npl.co.uk/science-technology/radiation-dosimetry).
The instrumentation will be based upon technology developed by the High Energy Physics group and will use Optical Modules developed for the electromagnetic calorimeter of the SuperNEMO neutrinoless double beta decay experiment.
Preliminary beam tests at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre demonstrated that a high resolution measurement of proton energy can be made at 60 MeV: the challenge is now to modify the detector and optimise it for use in proton imaging.
In collaboration with the National Physical Laboratory we are also looking into the use of this calorimeter for neutron detection and dosimetry in order to monitor the levels of neutron radiation within the proton therapy treatment room.
Person Specification
Applicants are expected to have a good first degree in a physics or engineering based subject passed at 2:1 level or above.
Eligibility
Only UK/EU applicants are eligible for the funding associated with these studentships.
If you have any scientific queries please contact Dr Simon Jolly at s.jolly AT ucl.ac.uk.
Applications (including a covering letter, CV and names of two referees) should be sent to the Medical Physics graduate tutor, Professor Gary Royle at g.royle AT ucl.ac.uk.
Closing Date: 23:55 on 2nd May 2014.