About the Project
Summary of Award
100% fees covered, and a minimum tax-free annual living allowance of £20,780 (2025/26 UKRI rate). Additional project costs will also be provided.
Project Description
Poor bathing water quality poses a significant environmental and public health risk in coastal regions of England. The Environment Agency currently issues Pollution Risk Forecasts based on statistical models, however, these models often fail to capture key pollution sources such as combined sewer overflows, leading to frequent inaccuracies and unreliable forecasts. Combined sewer overflows are expected to increase in frequency and intensity as climate change drives more extreme rainfall events, further exacerbating the risk of pollution in coastal waters. This limitation prevents effective early warning, targeted sampling and timely mitigation of pollution events. Furthermore, while real time telemetry from water companies provides valuable data, existing systems lack robust validation and the capacity to predict how pollution plumes evolve. This project addresses this challenge by developing an advanced hydrodynamic and water quality modelling framework capable of accurately predicting pollutant transport and dispersion in coastal waters. By combining high-fidelity numerical simulations with data driven surrogate models, the proposed research aims to enhance both accuracy and computational efficiency, enabling near real time water quality forecasting. This development will provide a more reliable, science-based foundation for environmental decision making and public health protection.
For further information on the project, we will be hosting a ‘Prospective applicant webinar’ at 2:00pm on the 26th of November. Link to the event can be found here: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/376b2195-d8da-47c0-86e2-b18813ec19e3@4a5378f9-29f4-4d3e-be89-669d03ada9d8.
Number of Awards
1
Start Date
1st October 2026
Duration of Award
3.5 years
Sponsor
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
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. computing, mathematics, 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.
International applicants may require an ATAS (Academic Technology Approval Scheme) clearance certificate prior to obtaining their visa and to study on this programme.
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
• The Research Area is: Civil Engineering (Water Resources)
• Select PhD Civil Engineering (full time) as the programme of study
You will then need to provide the following information in the ‘Further Details’ section:
• A ‘Personal Statement’ (include your research interests in flooding and rationale for your choice of project)
• The studentship code FLOOD269 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.
References
[1]Antuono, M., Liapidevskii, V. & Brocchini, M. (2009). Dispersive nonlinear shallow-water equations. Studies in Applied Mathematics, 122, 1–28.
[2] Antuono, M., Colicchio, G., Lugni, C., Greco, M. & Brocchini, M. (2017). A depth semi-averaged model for coastal dynamics. Physics of Fluids, 29(5), 056603.
