Queen's University is advertising eight new PhD positions in ‘nanotechnology’ in a partnership with technology company Seagate.

The positions in Queen’s School of Maths and Physics follow January’s announcement by Seagate of a £47.3m investment in its plant in Springtown, Londonderry, backed up by £12.7m from Invest Northern Ireland.

Researchers in the university’s centre for nanostructured media will set up a new facility with a laboratory of large area depositions systems, magnetometers, focused ion beam and atom probe microscopes.

Professor Robert Bowman, director of research at Queen’s centre for nanostructured media, said: “Seagate’s Springtown operation is already recognised as the UK’s most advanced nanotechnology scale manufacturing facility.

“PhD studentships offering the type of opportunities created by this partnership do not come along very often.

“Their creation as part of this large investment will create real leaps forward in the area of data storage and related fields and ensure Queen’s and Seagate remain at the forefront of developments in these areas.

“Through our new program we intend to also apply the expertise to other commercial sectors that rely on advanced materials. “

Steve Luczo, who is head of Seagate Technology, said: “We are looking forward to further developing our strong and mutually productive association with Queen’s University.

“Queen’s has a worldwide reputation for excellence and innovation in digital electronics and related fields and we hope that this collaboration and the establishment of a new research facility at the University’s School of Maths and Physics, will be a catalyst for many more positive developments for the future.”