Application closing date: 20th November 2026
Interviews dates: Approximately two to three weeks after the application closing date.
Expected PhD start date: January-March 2027
About the Project
Malt and malt-based ingredients represent key raw materials for a range of industries, including (amongst others): brewing, distilling, the baked goods sector, and food ingredients manufacturers. The consistent supply of such malt ingredients is at risk due to issues of barley supply sustainability (e.g. challenges of climate change). For instance, the 2026 harvest of malting barley in the UK was reduced by approximately 20 % as compared to typical yields. Malting and brewing co-products such as rejected malting barley, malt rootlets, malt residual pellets and brewers spent grain have promising nutritional profiles but are currently limited in their application for the food industry due to poor organoleptic properties and potential mycotoxin contamination.
There has been considerable research success investigating the use of some malt-product co-streams (e.g. brewers’ spent grains) for biofuel production, but co-product materials are diverse in composition and there exists substantial scope for further applications to produce value-added food products and ingredients. Production and processing of a single malt product might result in materials that are protein rich (e.g. malt rootlets), lignocellulosic (e.g. spent grain), and starch rich (e.g. out of specification barley) and when faced with increasingly unpredictable harvests, it is vital that each stream is used optimally.
This project will seek to enhance sustainability of the cereal product supply chain, exploring fermentation as a technique to create sustainable, nutritious, and safe food ingredients through valorisation of malt and malt-processing co-products. The successful candidate will develop optimal fermentation solutions to produce commercially relevant and sustainable future food products/ingredients.
The project is fully funded for 3.5 years and will be based at the globally recognised International Centre for Brewing and Distilling based at Heriot-Watt University’s Edinburgh campus.
Informal enquiries can be directed to Dr. Calum Holmes (c.holmes@hw.ac.uk).
Supervision and training
The project will be supervised by:
· Dr. Calum Holmes – International Centre for Brewing and Distilling
· Dr. Jane White - International Centre for Brewing and Distilling
· Prof. Stephen Euston - International Centre for Brewing and Distilling
The project will offer the candidate an opportunity to develop skills across a range of disciplines related to fermentation science, industrial biotechnology, sustainability, and co-product valorisation. Specific skills in which the student will gain experience are:
· Compositional characterisation of grain, grain products, and grain-processing co-products.
· Malt production.
· Industrial sustainability analysis and the circular economy.
· Optimisation/development of co-product fermentations for production of value-added food and ingredient products.
· Analytical chemistry, including GC-MS, GC-FID, and HPLC.
· Data handling and scientific communication.
This project is in collaboration with a leading food ingredients company, producing 290,000T ingredients annually. The successful candidate will benefit from access to support from sector experts and opportunity for placement/industrial trial work across the project’s duration.
Candidate requirements
This project would be appropriate for candidates with a background in the following: food science, chemistry, biological sciences, fermentation science, malting, brewing, or distilling.
Candidates will hold a MSc degree or 1st/2:1 (or equivalent) BSc undergraduate degree in biological sciences, food science, chemistry, or other related and relevant scientific discipline.
Experience of laboratory practice and analytical chemistry would be beneficial, but training is available for key techniques where necessary.
The candidate must be eligible for “Home” fees.
Funding
The successful candidate will receive UK tuition fees and a tax-free stipend based on UKRI recommended levels. The project further has an allocated budget for consumables, training, and conference attendance.
How to apply
Please use the Heriot-Watt online system to submit your CV, Academic Transcript and a cover letter outlining your suitability for this project.
When completing your application, please ensure you also provide the following information:
in ‘Study Option’: You will need to select ‘Edinburgh’ and ‘Postgraduate Research’. ‘Programme’ presents you with a drop-down menu - Choose ‘Bioengineering PhD’ and select ‘January 2027’ for the study option (this can be updated at a later date if required)
in ‘Research Project Information’: You will be provided with a free text box for details of your research project. Enter Title of the project for which you are applying and also enter the supervisor’s name (Dr Calum Holmes). In addition, applicants are also welcome to submit a short research proposal outlining their initial ideas and perspectives on the project. This is encouraged but is not essential.
This information will greatly assist us in tracking your application.