PhD Studentship: NERC Resilient Flood Futures (FLOOD-CDT). Understanding In-stream Runoff Attenuation Features

Award summary

100% of home fees covered, and a minimum tax-free annual living allowance of £19,237 (2024/25 UKRI rate), plus research project costs.

Overview

The Centre for Doctoral Training for Resilient Flood Futures (FLOOD-CDT) will train the next generation of research practitioners who will make a tangible difference to future flood management in the UK and internationally. Our goal is to provide a nurturing and inspiring training environment to develop the independent future leaders we need who can translate research and innovation into practice. Find out more here: flood-cdt.ac.uk

Flooding is a major problem worldwide and it is difficult to solve. Land use change and a growing population increase flood risk year on year. Climate change, resulting in wetter winters and more intense summer storms, will exacerbate these effects. In recent years there has been a move away from traditional large, engineered structures to manage flooding to many small-scale interventions distributed across the landscape, an example of which are in-stream leaky barriers (LBs), which can take many forms from completely natural (e.g. beaver dams, fallen trees in waterways) to highly engineered designed barriers. LBs can play a part in mitigating flood risk and provide other benefits such as reducing diffuse pollution. Yet, while LBs have become popular features in flood management schemes, it is notoriously difficult to quantify how much work they do.

This project combines physical and mathematical modelling to improve understanding of how LBs behave individually and in combination. New models of individual features of different design will be developed and a network model will be used to investigate how they compare in order to answer fundamental questions about the aggregate effects of clusters of LBs.

Number of awards: 1

Start date: 15/09/2024

Award duration: 3.5 years

Sponsor: NERC

Supervisors: Caspar Hewett, Newcastle University

Eligibility criteria

You must have, or expect to gain, a minimum 2:1 Honours degree or international equivalent in a subject relevant to the proposed PhD project (inc. Geography, environmental science, engineering etc.). Enthusiasm for research, the ability to think and work independently, excellent analytical skills and strong verbal and written communication skills are also essential requirements.

Home and international applicants (inc. EU) are welcome to apply and if successful will receive a full studentship. 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. 

How to apply

Please visit our main funding advert for information on how to apply for this studentship Search Funding | Postgraduate | Newcastle University.

You will then need to provide the following information in ‘Further Details’:

• A ‘Personal Statement’ (include your research interests in flooding and rationale for your choice of project)
• The studentship code FLOOD253 in the ‘Studentship/Partnership Reference’ field
• When prompted for how you are providing your research proposal - select ‘Write Proposal’. You should then type in the title of the research project from this advert. You do not need to upload a research proposal.

In the ‘Supporting Documentation’ section please upload:

• Your CV giving details of your academic record and stating your research interests

In your application you will also need:

• The name two current academic referees together with an institutional email addresses
• Academic transcripts and degree certificates (translated if not in English)
• Language certificate (IELTS/TOEFL), if applicable.

You must submit one application per studentship, you cannot apply for multiple studentships on one application.

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