The PhD project titles for recruitment to the 3rd student entry cohort commencing September/October 2022 at participating universities were announced on Thursday 4th November 2021 at the COP 26 event held in Glasgow and are listed below.
Studentships are fully funded for 4 years and cover tuition fees and stipend at the UK Research & Innovation recommended levels for each year of study. For the 2022/23 academic session, this is likely to be a slight uplift (1 – 2%) on the 2021/22 amounts which are £4,500 for fees and £15,609 for stipend. Studentships also provide a generous £20,000 individual allowance to cover costs associated with pursuing the PhD over the 4-year study period e.g. conference travel, data collection, equipment purchase, travel to and from CDT training courses. The studentship period is 4 years in order to accommodate the CDT’s bespoke 20-week residential training programme, attendance on which is a condition of acceptance of a funded CDT studentship.
Funding of tuition fees is at the UKRI level above and from January 1st 2021, universities will be able to charge EU as well as other International students different, and usually higher, tuition fees. EU and International students are therefore advised to contact the hosting university to check whether additional funding is available to cover the potential difference in fee level being charged to UK and Overseas students before submitting an application.
Hosting universities set their own application deadlines and conduct their own interview processes. All partners have agreed a common date of 16th March 2022 by which applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application. Successful candidates are asked to respond to offer(s) of a position by early May 2022. Applicants must apply separately to each university hosting project(s) that they are interested in. You can apply for as many projects across as many of the CDT academic partners as you like. Applicants are welcome to contact project supervisors directly for more information about the project.
Before you apply, you might be interested to hear what existing CDT students say about their experience, and the benefits of the transition to the new research themes of the GeoNetZero CDT.
University of Aberdeen (5 approved projects; 2 fully-funded PhD awards available)
- Understanding bias in fracture data collection for improved geoenergy applications Supervisors: Dr Clare Bond, Katrin Löer, Jen Roberts (Strathclyde), Zoe Shipton (Strathclyde)
- Permian Zechstein Facies across the Central North Sea: Reservoir and Subsurface Storage Potential Supervisors: Dr Rachel Brackenridge, Dr Joyce Neilson
- Integrated reservoir characterisation and monitoring of low-enthalpy geothermal resources in flooded mines using hydrogeophysical methods (UKGEOS observatory, Glasgow) Supervisors: Dr Jean-Christophe Comte, Dr Romain Chassagne (Heriot-Watt), Dr Andres Quiros
- Using interferometry to improve seismic reflection imaging and monitoring for renewable energy targets Supervisors: Dr Katrin Löer, Professor David Cornwell, Dr Iraklis Giannakis
- Assessing the viability of the onshore lava fields of the British and Irish Paleogene Igneous Province (BIPIP) in sequestration of Carbon Dioxide Supervisors: Dr Nick Schofield, Professor David Jolley, Dr David Muirhead, Professor Simon Holford (Adelaide), Professor John Underhill (Heriot-Watt)
Contact
Professor Rob Butler
School of Geosciences
ABERDEEN,
AB24 3UE
Email: Rob.Butler@abdn.ac.uk,
Tel: +44 (0)1224 273452
School of Geosciences project webpage
How to Apply: Aberdeen online application portal Application Deadline: 28th January 2022. Only applications from UK citizens are being accepted.
University of Dundee (1 approved project; 1 fully-funded PhD award available)
- Assessing Seabed Integrity under Increased Pressures from Offshore Windfarm Developments Supervisors: Professor Sue Dawson, Dr Alan Cuthbertson
Contact
Professor Sue Dawson
Geography & Environmental Science
Tower Building
University of Dundee
DD1 7HN
Email: S.Dawson@dundee.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (01)382 386783
How to Apply : Dundee online application portal
University of Durham (3 approved projects; 2 fully-funded PhD awards available)
- Understanding the controls on enrichment and mobilisation of critical metals from granite Supervisors: Dr Madeline Humphreys, Dr Catriona Menzies, Professor Jon Gluyas, Dr Alex Iveson
- Experimental and modelling appraisal of underground hydrogen storage: anything but a ‘Rough’ future! Supervisors: Dr Stuart Jones, Dr Julia Knapp, Professor Jon Gluyas, Professor Jeroen Van Hunen
- Understanding the new threat from below – reverse vulnerability assessment of the risk of deep geological storage Supervisors: Professor Fred Worral, Dr Julia Knapp
Contact
Dr Stuart Jones
Department of Earth Sciences
DURHAM
DH1 3LE
Email: stuart.jones@durham.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)191 334 2300
How to Apply : Durham online application portal
University of Exeter (4 approved projects; 2 fully-funded PhD awards available)
- Mechanistic understanding of electro-oxidation processes for the selective recovery of battery technology metals from sulfidic geological minerals in the UK Supervisors: Dr Rich Crane, Professor Karen Hudson-Edwards
- UK Mine waste: a new Critical Metal resource for the Green Economy? Supervisors: Dr Rich Crane, Professor Karen Hudson-Edwards
- Mineralogical Controls on Technology Metals in Copper Ores: Resource Potential, Sustainable Mining and Processing Feasibility in the UK Supervisors: Professor Karen Hudson-Edwards, Dr Hannah Hughes
- Developing new mineralogical and geochemical assessment tools for stream sediments and soils to support exploration for Li, Sn and W in SW England Supervisors: Dr Ben Williamson, Dr Benedikt Steiner, Dr Kathryn Goodenough (British Geological Survey)
Contact
Professor Steve Hesselbo
Camborne School of Mines
Penryn Campus
Cornwall
TR10 9FE
Email: s.p.hesselbo@exeter.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1326 370400
How to Apply : Exeter online application portal
Heriot-Watt University (3 approved projects; 2 fully-funded PhD awards available)
- Data-driven Imaging for Uncertainty Risk Evaluation of CO2 Storage in Saline Aquifers Supervisors: Dr Romain Chassagne, Professor Colin MacBeth, Professor Andreas Busch,
- Analysis of seismic monitoring for CO2 storage in depleted offshore reservoirs Supervisors: Professor Colin MacBeth, Dr Romain Chassagne, Professor Eric Mackay
- The Critical Geological Evaluation of low carbon energy options in the West Shetlands area of the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS)Supervisors: Prof John Underhill, Dr Rachel Jamieson
Contact:
School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure & Society Research Team
EDINBURGH
EH14 4AS
Email: egis-pgr-apps@hw.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)131 451 4603
How to Apply: Heriot-Watt online application portal. Application deadline for projects commencing in September 2022 is 31st January 2022 with interviews expected to be held in mid-February. In the section for project proposal in the application form, please upload a supporting statement documenting your reasons for applying to this particular PhD, why you are an ideal candidate for the position and why the CDT’s combined research and training model is attractive to you.
Keele University (5 approved projects; 2 fully-funded PhD awards available)
- Stratigraphical models for aeolian-marine margins: implications for subsurface fluid migration and trapping Supervisors: Dr Stuart Clarke, A. Mitten (Keele), V. Zuchuat (Oslo), T.Dodd (BGS), D. Cousins (Texas) & D. Sprinkle (USGS)
- The controls upon aeolian cyclicity: implications for reservoir-scale heterogeneity Supervisors: Dr Stuart Clarke, A. J. Mitten (Keele), D. Cousins (Texas) & T. Swanson (Georgia Southern)
- 3D regional thermal modelling of the crust: application to the geothermal potential of the Carboniferous ‘Blocks and Basins’ of northern England Supervisors: Dr Stuart Egan, Dr Graham Leslie (British Geological Survey), Dr Stuart Clarke
- Induced seismicity hazard of mine water geothermal projects – linking coal-measure sedimentology to fracture properties: Implications for the UK’s geothermal prospectivity Supervisors: Dr Ian Stimpson, Dr Billy Andrews (University of Plymouth), Dr Bernard Besly (Independent consultant), Dr Graham Leslie (British Geological Survey)
- Mapping geothermal potential of Carboniferous sandstone aquifers using legacy coal and oil exploration data Supervisors: Dr Ian Stimpson, Dr Bernard Besly (Independent consultant), Dr Graham Leslie (British Geological Survey), Professor Stuart Burley
Contact
Dr Stuart Clarke
School of Geography, Geology & the Environment
William Smith Building
Staffordshire
ST5 5BG
Email: S.M.Clarke@keele.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (01)782 7 33171
How to Apply : Keele online application portal
University of Newcastle (2 approved projects; 1 fully-funded PhD award available)
- Implications of uncertainty in fault geometry from seismic interpretations for modelling reactivation Supervisors: Dr Mark Ireland, Professor Richard Davies, Professor Ken McCaffrey (Durham), Dr Woody Wilson (BP)
- Potential environmental impacts of shallow aquifer geothermal systems in urban areas Supervisors: Professor Yit Arn Teh, Dr Cees van der Land, Dr Ross Stirling, Professor David Manning
Contact
Dr Mark Ireland
School of Natural & Environmental Sciences
NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE
NE1 7RU
Email: mark.ireland@ncl.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)191 208 6900
How to Apply: Newcastle online application portal
University of Nottingham (2 approved projects; 1 fully-funded PhD award available)
- Predicting CO2 permeation through shale rocks Supervisors: Professor Sean Rigby, Professor Joe Wood (University of Birmingham)
- The quantification of carbon credits: An example from Peatland Restoration of upland areas of the UK and the application of the Peatland Code Supervisors: Professor Sean Rigby, Dr David Large, Professor Joe Wood (University of Birmingham), Matt Clark
Contact:
Professor Sean Rigby
Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering
NOTTINGHAM
NG7 2RD
Email: sean.rigby@nottingham.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)115 951 4078
How to Apply
How to apply: NOTTINGHAM Nottingham online application portal
University of Plymouth (1 approved project; 1 fully-funded PhD award available)
- Structural development and fluid flow along strike-slip faults in the Variscan belt of SW England Supervisors: Professor Mark Anderson, Dr Michelle Harris, Dr Catherine Mottram (Portsmouth), Dr David Peacock(Göttingen)
Contact
Dr Michelle Harris
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
PLYMOUTH
PL4 8AA
Email: geesenquiries@plymouth.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1752 584709
How to Apply: Plymouth online application portal
Application deadline: 12 noon on Friday 28th January 2022
Royal Holloway University of London (2 approved projects; 2 fully-funded PhD awards avaliable)
- Testing geochemical feasibility of subsurface electrolyte storage for flow batteries Supervisors: Dr Anirban Basu, Professor Dave Waltham
- The use of mineral-chemical stratigraphy to assess the environmental impact of sediment capture behind hydroelectric dams Supervisors: Dr Amy Gough, Dr Domenico Chiarella
Contact
Dr Nicola Scarselli
Department of Earth Sciences
Egham Hill
Egham
Surrey
TW20 0X
Email: Nicola.Scarselli@rhul.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1784 443597
How to Apply: Royal Holloway online application portal
University of Strathclyde (3 approved projects; 2 fully-funded PhD awards available)
- Understanding Hydrate Formation in Porous Rock for Enhanced Geothermal Systems Applications Supervisors: Dr Andrea Hamilton, Dr Karen Johnston, Professor Jan Sefcik
- Restoring Life and Function to Oil-Impacted and Remediated Soils Supervisors: Dr Christine Switzer, Dr Charles Knapp, Dr Andrea Hamilton
- Effects of rainfall and atmospheric temperature on minewater geothermal prospects: An assessment of minewater resource climate resilience and implications for decarbonising heating and cooling Supervisors: Dr Jennifer Roberts, Dr Scott McGrane, Dr Neil Burnside
Contact
Dr Stella Pytharouli
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
James Weir Building
75 Montrose Street
GLASGOW
G1 1XJ
Email: stella.pytharouli@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 00 44 (0)141 548 3168