Award Summary
Full PhD tuition fees at the UK home student rate (UK students and EU students with settled or pre-settled status). An annual stipend equivalent to the UKRI doctoral stipend.
Overview
Future droughts pose a major threat to UK water security. This PhD will redefine drought assessment through a multi-scenario risk approach, combining state-of-the-art climate and hydrological science with direct collaboration with water companies.
Current UK drought risk assessments face critical limitations:
- Reliance on projections from a single climate model, narrowing the range of possible futures considered.
- The use of change factors to perturb weather generators, which fails to capture the drought risk from increased weather variability and persistence —the key drivers of future droughts.
- Using conceptual river models which are unsuitable for a changing climate, as they are calibrated to historical data.
This PhD will develop a robust, new methodology for assessing future drought risk. It will use a wide range of climate projections (UKCP, CMIP6, and SMILES) and physically-based river models to generate a wide range of possible future river flows.
The direct collaboration with our water company partners will ensure these complex, multi-model outputs are successfully applied to stress-test water resource adaptation options, supporting evidence-based decision-making and enhancing long-term UK water security.
Number Of Awards
One
Start Date
5th January 2026
Award Duration
3 Years
Application Closing Date
28th November 2025
Sponsor
Newcastle University
Supervisors
Selma Guerreiro (Newcastle University)
Elizabeth Lewis (University of Manchester)
Anna Murgatroyd (Newcastle University)
Richard Blackwell (United Utilities, Water Resources West)
Geoff Darch (Anglian Water, Water Resources East)
Eligibility Criteria
You must have, or expect to gain, a minimum 2:1 Honours degree, or international equivalent, in a physical science discipline. Essential attributes include enthusiasm for research, the ability to think and work independently and excellent analytical and communication skills.
The studentship is open to Home and International applicants. Due to the pressing start date, successful international candidates must already have secured funding for the difference between the Home and International tuition fee rates.
How To Apply
You must apply through the University’s Apply to Newcastle Portal
Once registered select ‘Create a Postgraduate Application’.
Use ‘Course Search’ to identify your programme of study:
· search for the ‘Course Title’ using the programme code: 8040F
· Research Area: Civil Engineering
· select ‘PhD Civil Engineering Water Resources (full time)’ as the programme of study
You will then need to provide the following information in the ‘Further Details’ section:
· a ‘Personal Statement’ (this is a mandatory field) – upload a document or write a statement directly in to the application form
· the studentship code ENG158 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.
Contact Details
