EPSRC PhD Studentship in: Monitoring and Evaluation of Vegetated Stormwater Infrastructure

The University of Sheffield, Sheffield Water Centre in collaboration with Severn Trent Water and the Centre for Doctoral Training in Water Infrastructure and Resilience. 

This is a unique, fully funded opportunity to work alongside and learn from the team delivering the award-winning Mansfield Sustainable Flood Resilience project, the UK’s most ambitious Sustainable Drainage (SuDS) retrofit programme. Your role will be to monitor and evaluate the potential for SuDS to provide climate-resilient infrastructure to help mitigate the adverse effects of Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO) and future flood risk. 

Core Project Objectives

As part of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Water Infrastructure and Resilience (CDT WIRe), your PhD journey will begin with a semester of foundational learning in Water Systems at Cranfield University. Following this, you will be embedded within the Severn Trent team in Mansfield with academic supervision provided by Prof. Virginia Stovin and Dr Simon De-Ville at The University of Sheffield. You will primarily be working alongside the Innovation and Quality Assurance teams as they conduct a comprehensive monitoring programme to collect critical evidence on the performance of SuDS. With the upcoming implementation of Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act, this evidence is urgently needed to inform Government policy, future water industry investment, and the development and validation of SuDS design tools. Beyond the already planned Severn Trent monitoring programme, your work will provide novel contributions toward:

• Understanding the initial development of SuDS performance through regular site visits to monitor the evolution of infiltration performance;
• The creation of critical hydrological performance datasets through intensive instrumentation of vegetated SuDS features;
• The validation and development of globally-utilised open-source hydrological modelling tools.

These activities will provide a varied and diverse PhD programme that will equip you with the necessary skills to pursue future academic and industry opportunities. 

Eligibility Criteria

This studentship is supported by EPSRC WIRe CDT and the University of Sheffield. It is open to all students with UK residency. 

To be successful in the role, you should possess the following:

• A good honours degree (or equivalent experience) in Engineering, Physical Science, Geography, Environmental Sciences or a related subject.
• Enthusiasm for independent research and problem-solving.
• Experience in (or willingness to learn) data/time series analysis and/or hydrological/drainage modelling.
• Good written and oral communication skills appropriate for disseminating research and communicating with project partners.
• A willingness to collaborate with other researchers, industry and end-users.
• A full UK driving licence would be desirable as you will be working on a field-based project where there will be mutiple site visits, not easily accessible via public transport. You may also be required to transport equipment.

Enhanced Opportunities

To help maximise your PhD experience, your core studies will be supplemented by CDT WIRe’s bespoke training scheme delivered by work-leading experts from academia and industry, access to world-leading experimental and computational facilities, as well as close and regular contact with industry and end-use partners. For further information on the CDT WIRe scheme, visit the website at: https://cdtwire.com/   

How to Apply

To apply for the position, please email a cover letter—demonstrating how you possess the above required attributes—and a full Curriculum Vitae to Lindsay Hopcroft ([email protected] ). 

If you want to discuss this opportunity informally, please contact Prof. Virginia Stovin ([email protected] ).