Award Summary
100% Home fees covered and a minimum tax-free annual living allowance of £21,805. The Studentship also comes with access to additional funding in the form of a Research Training Support Grant to fund consumables, conference attendance, etc.
Overview
Flooding is one of the most significant natural hazards in the United Kingdom, with increasing frequency and severity driven by climate change and urban expansion. Accurate and timely mapping of flood extent is critical for disaster response, infrastructure resilience, and long-term planning. Traditional flood modelling approaches fall into two broad categories. Physically based hydrodynamic models, such as CityCAT, simulate flood processes with high accuracy but are computationally expensive and difficult to deploy at national scale in real time (Neal et al., 2012; Glenis et al., 2018).
In contrast, remote sensing approaches using satellite imagery, particularly from Sentinel-1, enable rapid and large-scale flood detection but are limited by issues of generalisation, dependence on labelled data, and difficulty capturing underlying hydrological processes (Schumann and Bates, 2018). Within the UK, operational flood mapping by the Environment Agency combines modelling and observations but still relies heavily on precomputed flood risk maps and does not fully exploit real-time satellite data for nationwide dynamic prediction. Recent advances in deep learning have improved performance in flood mapping tasks, yet these models often remain event-specific and struggle to transfer across geographic regions (Bentivoglio et al., 2022).
Number Of Awards
One
Start Date
21st September 2026
Award Duration
4 Years
Application Closing Date
30th June 2026
Sponsor
UKRI – Imago, SDR UK Imagery Data Service
Supervisors
Dr Maria Valasia Peppa, https://www.ncl.ac.uk/engineering/staff/profile/maria-valasiapeppa.html
Dr Vasilis Glenis, https://www.ncl.ac.uk/engineering/staff/profile/vassilisglenis.html
Dr Manuel Herrera Staff Profile | School of Engineering | Newcastle University
Eligibility Criteria
A minimum 2:1 Honours degree or international equivalent in a subject relevant to the proposed PhD project (inc. geospatial engineering, computing, and mathematics).
Enthusiasm for research, the ability to think and work independently, excellent analytical skills and strong verbal and written communication skills are also essential requirements.
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.
The studentship covers fees at the Home rate (UK and EU applicants with pre-settled/settled status and meet the residency criteria). International applicants are welcome to apply but will be required to cover the difference between Home and International fees.
How To Apply
Once registered select ‘Create a Postgraduate Application’.
Use ‘Course Search’ to identify your programme of study:
· Search for the ‘Course Title’ using programme code: 7040F
· Research Area: Civil Engineering
· Select ‘PhD in Civil and Geospatial Engineering discipline’ as the programme of study.
You will then need to provide the following information in the ‘Further Details’ section:
· ‘Personal Statement’ – upload a document or write a statement directly into the application form.
· ‘Research Proposal’ – when prompted for how you are providing your research proposal – select either ‘Write Proposal’ or ‘Upload document’.
· Studentship code ENG163 in the ‘Studentship/Partnership Reference’ field.
In the ‘Supporting Documentation’ section please upload:
· your CV
You must submit one application per studentship; you cannot apply for multiple studentships on one application.
Contact Details
Contact Maria Valasia_Peppa maria-valasia.peppa@newcastle.ac.uk
