Career

The Intelli-Ingest Doctoral Network is an EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA) initiative is a network bringing together leading academic, clinical, and industrial partners to train a new generation of experts in ingestible medical technologies. These orally delivered, minimally invasive devices are designed to traverse the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, enabling diagnostics, therapy, sampling, or intervention using electronic, mechanical, or smart material systems.

This particular PhD studentship, based at the School of Engineering, University of Birmingham, focuses on developing a microfabricated triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) to sustainably power ingestible medical devices. The aim is to harness mechanical energy from natural intestinal peristalsis to enable battery-free operation of autonomous systems inside the body. The TENG will be fully self-contained, biocompatible, and designed for safe excretion. This research addresses a key challenge in the field, reliable energy sources for miniaturised devices, and offers the potential to advance long-duration in-body diagnostics and therapeutic monitoring.

The doctoral candidate will lead the design, fabrication, and characterisation of the TENG, and integrate it with energy storage and low-power electronics. The system’s performance will be validated in physiologically relevant in-vitro environments. Throughout the project, the candidate will receive structured training in microengineering, energy harvesting, tribology, and biomedical device design. In addition to local supervision, they will benefit from cross-network collaboration, secondments to industrial and clinical partners, and participation in international training events.

Find out more and apply.