Explore our projects lists below to find all available PhD projects. You can choose to view lists ordered by lead supervisor or by funding type to find the right projects for you. Alternatively, you can view our project topic pages where you will find our available PhD projects ordered by research area.

The lists include projects from our funded PhD programmes, including Doctoral Training Programmes (DTP) and Centres for Doctoral Training (CDT).

A number of our PhD projects for self-funded applicants may provide a scholarship or personal funds.

If you are interested in one of the projects listed below, we encourage you to contact the primary project supervisor or the alternative contact person for further information.

Current projects

By primary supervisor

B


Monitoring seismicity at volcanoes with geothermal prospects in Ethiopia [Info Sheet - Bastow Geothermal Prospects]

Supervisors: Dr Ian Bastow, Dr Derek Keir (School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton)


Geological and geophysical investigation of the environmental evolution of the southern North Sea for offshore wind applications [Info Sheet - Bell G&G for Offshore Wind Applications]

Supervisors: Dr Rebecca Bell; Prof. Gary Hampson, Department of Earth Science and Engineering; Dr. Mark Vardy, SAND Geophysics; Mr. Gareth Carter, BGS; Mr. Abdulqadir Cader, GeoTeric


Pore-scale Modelling and Analysis of Reactive Transport in Carbon Storage and Oil Recovery [Info Sheet - Bijeljic Reactive Transport]

Supervisor: Dr Branko Bijeljic


Minimal surfaces in porous materials: wettability design for optimal flow performance [Info Sheet - Blunt Infuse]

Supervisors: Professor Martin Blunt, Dr Branko Bijeljic, Professor Jerry Heng (Department of Chemical Engineering)


Pore-Scale Imaging, Analysis, and Data-Driven Pore-Scale Modelling [Info Sheet - Blunt Pore-Scale Imaging]

Supervisor: Professor Martin Blunt


Topology, wettability and fluid flow in porous materials [Info Sheet - Blunt Topology]‌

Supervisor: Professor Martin Blunt


Coupling Life Cycle Assessment and modelling tools to inform sustainable mineral resource management [Info Sheet - Brito-Parada LCA]

Supervisors: Dr Pablo Brito-Parada, Dr Stephanie Muller (BRGM, France), Jacques Villeneuve (BRGM, France)


Modelling and predicting flotation froth stability [Info Sheet - Brito-Parada Froth Stability]

Supervisors: Dr Pablo Brito-Parada, Professor Stephen Neethling

C


Magmatism and Continental Breakup in the South Atlantic [Info Sheet - Collier South Atlantic Magmatism]

Supervisors: Professor Jenny Collier, Dr Gareth Roberts, Dr Lidia Lonergan 


Structure and tsunamigenic potential of the Lesser Antilles accretionary prism ‌[Info Sheet - Collier Prism]

Supervisors: Professor Jenny Collier, Professor Tim Henstock (Southampton)


Tectonics of the North America/South America plate boundary [Info Sheet - Collier Tectonics]

Supervisors: Professor Jenny Collier, Professor Tim Henstock (Southampton)


Automated Crater Detection and Classification with Machine Learning [Info Sheet - Collins ACDC]

Supervisors: Professor Gareth Collins, Dr Navjot Kukreja (Department of Computer Science, University of Liverpool), Associate Professor Nicholas Warner (Department of Geological Sciences, SUNY Geneseo, USA)


Decoding inner solar system bombardment from impact crater populations [Info Sheet - Collins Crater Scaling]

Supervisor: Professor Gareth Collins‌


Impact Processing of Planetary Crust [‌Info Sheet - Collins Impact Porosity]

Supervisors: Professor Gareth Collins, Mark Wieczorek (IPGP)


Meteoroid fragmentation in planetary atmospheres and the formation of crater clusters on Earth and Mars [Info Sheet - Collins Meteoroid Fragmentation]

Supervisor: Professor Gareth Collins


Modelling the Giant South Pole-Aitken basin [Info Sheet - Collins SPA]

Supervisor: Professor Gareth Collins


Multiscale modeling of compaction of primitive solar system materials [Info Sheet - Collins Multiscale]

Supervisors: Professor Gareth Collins, Dr Tom Davison, Professor Phil Bland (Curtin)


Simulating submarine slide tsunami inundation of the Shetland Islands [Info Sheet - Collins Shetlands]

Supervisors: Professor Gareth Collins, Professor Matthew Piggott, Professor Sue Dawson (Dundee)

D


The evolution of the Kasei Valles outflow channel: A window into the changing palaeo-climate of Mars [Info Sheet - Davis UKSA Kasei Studentship]

Supervisors: Dr Joel Davis, Professor Sanjeev Gupta, Dr Peter Grindrod (Dept. of Earth Science, Natural History Museum), Assistant Professor Gaia Stucky de Quay (Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

F


Anisotropic Geoelectrical Imaging - can Artificial Intelligence (AI) replace conventional resistivity inversion approaches? [Info Sheet - Fang Anisotropic Geoelectrical Imaging]

Supervisors: Dr Fangxin Fang, Professor Christopher Pain, Dr Paul Wilkinson (British Geological Survey), Dr Oliver Kuras (British Geological Survey), Dr Jorg Herwanger (MP Geomechanics)


New generation data assimilation and rapid response models for urban flooding [Info Sheet - Fang Flooding]

Supervisors: Dr Fangxin Fang, Professor Christopher Pain


Optimisation of sensor locations for observation of air flows/pollutions [Info Sheet - Fang Sensor]

Supervisors: Dr Fangxin Fang, Professor Christopher Pain


Rapid Response Modelling for Assessment of Pollution and Toxic Releases in Complex Urban Environments [‌‌‌‌Info Sheet - Fang ROM]

Supervisors: Dr Fangxin Fang, Professor Christopher Pain

G


Microspherules in the geological record [Info Sheet - Genge Microspherules]

Supervisor: Dr Matthew Genge


Using Terrestrial Basalts as Analogues for Extra-terrestrial Volcanism; implications for off-world construction & in-situ resource utilisation [Info Sheet - Genge Terrestrial Basalts Analogues for Extra-terrestrial Volcanism]

Supervisors: Dr Natasha Stephen (The Geological Society of London), Dr Matthew Genge (Imperial College London)


Mapping thermal and compositional structure of cratons [Info Sheet - Goes Cratons]

Supervisors: Professor Saskia Goes, Dr Ian Bastow


Seismotectonics of the Lesser Antilles Arc (LAA) [Info Sheet - Goes LAA]

Supervisors: Professor Saskia Goes, Professor Jenny Collier


Structure and Evolution of the African Plate from Geophysical Observations [Info Sheet - Goes Africa Joint Tomography]

Supervisors: Professor Saskia Goes, Dr Gareth Roberts


Understanding how subduction has shaped Circum-Pacific tectonics using 3D numerical models [Info Sheet - Goes Subduction Dynamics]

Supervisors: Professor Saskia Goes, Dr Gareth Roberts


Redundancy, retiming and data flow in compiling finite-difference applications for many core architectures [Info Sheet - Gorman OPESCI]

Supervisors: Dr Gerard Gorman, Professor Paul Kelly (Department of Computing), Dr Fabio Luporini

H


Applying Dimensionality Reduction to Solutions on Finite Element Meshes with Autoencoders [Info Sheet - Heaney Autoencoders]

Supervisors: Dr Claire Heaney, Professor Christopher Pain


Large Scale AI Modelling for Environmental Flows [Info Sheet - Heaney Environmental Flows]

Supervisors: Dr Claire Heaney, Professor Christopher Pain


Simulation of geo-thermal wells with reduced order modelling and data assimilation [Info Sheet - Heaney ROM DA NORMS]

Supervisors: Dr Claire Heaney,  Professor Christopher Pain, Professor Matthew Jackson

J


Developing the world’s largest geobattery: ultra-hightemperature underground thermal energy storage for large-scale electricity storage in the UK [Info Sheet - Jackson Geobattery]

Supervisors: Professor Matthew Jackson, Professor Gary Hampson, Dr Marko Aunedi, (Electrical and Electronic Engineering)


Efficient numerical modelling of subsurface hydrogen storage for low carbon energy [Info Sheet - Jackson Subsurface Hydrogen Storage]

Supervisors: Professor Matthew Jackson, Professor Gary Hampson


Electrokinetic enhanced in-situ resource utilisation (EK-ISRU) for green copper production [Info Sheet - Jackson EK-ISRU]

Supervisors: Professor Matthew Jackson, Dr Pablo Brito-Parada, Professor Stephen Neethling


Fluid dynamics of magma reservoirs [Info Sheet - Jackson CFD]

Supervisors: Professor Matthew Jackson, Dr Haiyang Hu, Professor Jon Blundy (University of Oxford)


Rapid modelling of reactive flow using machine learning and dynamic mesh optimisation [Info Sheet - Jackson Reactive Flow]

Supervisors: Professor Matthew Jackson, Professor Chris Pain, Dr Claire Heaney


Storage and transport of microplastics in groundwater [Info Sheet - Jackson Microplastics]

Supervisors: Professor Matthew Jackson, Professor Gary Hampson, Professor Alexandra Porter (Department of Materials), Dr Geoff Fowler (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering)

K


Earth-based Geophysical Investigation of the Near Subsurface Structures for Future in situ Resource Utilization on the Moon [Info Sheet - Kim Planetary Analog ISRU Moon]

Supervisors: Dr Doyeon Kim, Dr Ian Bastow, Associate Professor Nick Schmerr (University of Maryland)


Exploring origin and composition of the lowermost mantle structures with machine learning methods and seismology [Info Sheet - Kim Lower Mantle Structures]

Supervisors: Dr Doyeon Kim, Dr Frederick Richards, Professor Ved Lekic (University of Maryland)


Lunar seismology: from Apollo mission to the Farside Seismic Suite and beyond [Info Sheet - Kim Lunar Seismology]

Supervisors: Dr Doyeon Kim, Professor Gareth Collins, Professor Tom Pike (EEE), Dr Mark Panning (JPL)


Monitoring Global groundwater change using seismic methods [Info Sheet - Kim Groundwater Seismology]

Supervisors: Dr Doyeon Kim, Professor Matthew Jackson


Probing Mars’ interior structure and planetary seismicity/tectonics [Info Sheet - Kim Mars Interior Seismicity]

Supervisors: Dr Doyeon Kim, Dr Ana-Catalina Plesa (DLR), Dr, Mark Wieczorek (IPGP)


Global CO2 storage capacity: Modeling limitations of geography and injectivity [Info Sheet - Krevor CO2 Storage Capacity]

Supervisor: Dr Sam Krevor


Reservoir characterisation and modelling of CO2 storage underground [Info Sheet - Krevor CO2 Storage Modelling]‌‌

Supervisor: Dr Sam Krevor and others TBA


Assessing the sustainability of lithium brine extraction in high Andean salars [Info Sheet - Hughes BGS Lithium Brine Extraction]

Supervisors: Dr Andrew Hughes (British Geological Survey), Professor Anna Korre, Dr Evi Petavratzi (British Geological Survey)

L


Modelling the physics of granular rock compaction for characterisation of flow in reservoirs [Info Sheet - Latham Compaction Modelling]

‌Supervisors: ‌Dr John-Paul Latham, Dr Jiansheng Xiang, Professor Martin Blunt

M


Developing time-series InSAR for understanding changes to the ground surface, subsurface, biosphere and environment [Info Sheet - Mason Time-Series InSAR]

Supervisors: Dr Philippa Mason, Dr James Lawrence (Civil Engineering, Imperial College London), Professor Richard Ghail (Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway UK)


Understanding surface processes on Venus: in support of the EnVision mission [Info Sheet - Mason Surface Processes Venus]

Supervisors:‌ Dr Philippa Mason, Professor Richard Ghail (Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway UK), Dr Gareth Roberts


Submarine channels, deformation, and routing of sediment and plastics to the deep ocean [Info Sheet - Mayall Sediment Routing]

Supervisors: Professor Mike Mayall, Dr Alex Whittaker, Professor Gary Hampson, Dr Lidia Lonergan


 

Experimentally determining the role of Low Pressures (< 1 GPa) on the fidelity of Magnetic Recording in Rocks and Meteorites [Info Sheet - Muxworthy Determining Magnetic Recording in Rock and Meteorites]

Supervisors: Prof. Adrian Muxworthy (Imperial) and Prof. Tom Mitchell (UCL)


 

Determining ancient field intensities from Chemical Remanent Magnetisations in Rocks and Meteorites [Info Sheet - Muxworthy Chemical Remanent Magnetisations in Rocks and Meteorites]

Supervisors: Prof. Adrian Muxworthy (Imperial College), Prof. Dominik Weiss (Imperial College) and Prof. David Heslop (ANU, Canberra)


Magnetically Quantifying urban dynamic exposure to Nanoparticulate [Info Sheet - Muxworthy Dynamic Exposure to Nanoparticulate]

Supervisors: Prof. Adrian Muxworthy (Imperial College), Prof. David Green (Public Health, Imperial College) and Prof. Dominik Weiss (Imperial College)


Quantifying the role of Low Pressures (< 1 GPa) on the Fidelity of Magnetic Recording in Rocks and Meteorites [Info Sheet - Muxworthy Quantifying Magnetic Recording in Rocks and Meteorites]

Supervisors: Prof. Adrian Muxworthy (Imperial), Prof. Wyn Williams (Edinburgh) and Prof. Tom Mitchell (UCL)


Using the Magnetic Signature of former Hydrocarbon rich Environments to test for the Suitability of Carbon Sequestration a Numerical Approach [Info Sheet - Muxworthy Carbon Sequestration Numerical Approach]

Supervisors: Prof. Adrian Muxworthy (Imperial) and Prof. Wyn Williams (Edinburgh)


Cadmium enrichment in cocoa beans – a stable isotope investigation of Cd sources and mitigation strategies [Info Sheet - Rehkämper Cd in Cocoa]

Supervisors: Dr Rebekah Moore, Professor Mark Rehkämper


Novel applications of trace metal stable isotopes in medical research [Info Sheet - Rehkämper Isotopes Medical Research]

Supervisors: Dr Rebekah Moore, Professor Mark Rehkämper


Biomagnetic Monitoring as an Urban Air Quality Assessment [Info Sheet - Muxworthy Green Dust]

Supervisors: Professor Adrian Muxworthy, Dr David Green (School of Public Health, Imperial)

N


Simulation of charge-slurry interactions in tumbling and stirred mills [Info Sheet - Neethling Simulation of Mills]

Supervisor: Professor Stephen Neethling


The impact of mineral texture on the relationship between particle size, surface exposure and mineral liberation: A key to coarse particle flotation [Info Sheet - Neethling Coarse Particle Flotation]

Supervisor: Professor Stephen Neethling

P


AI modelling of underground water for heating buildings [Info Sheet - Pain Underground Water Heating]

Supervisors: Professor Christopher Pain, Dr Claire Heaney


PhD Studentship: Numerical Modelling of Cycling Subsurface Fluid Storage [Info Sheet - Paluszny Numerical Modelling]

Supervisors: Dr Adriana Paluszny and Dr Ronny Pini


Teleseismic full-waveform imaging of active volcanoes [Info Sheet - Paulatto TSFWI]

Supervisors: Dr Michele Paulatto, Dr Lluis Guasch, Professor James Hammond (Birkbeck University of London)


Accelerating Scientific Discovery of Complex Scientific Applications with Process-Guided Deep Learning: Aquatic Eco-Dynamics in Lakes [Info Sheet - Piggott Lakes]

Supervisors: Professor Matthew Piggott, Dr R. Iestyn Woolway (University of Reading), Professor Stephen Maberly (UK CEH)


Understanding and minimising the potential environmental impacts of tidal range (lagoon) based renewable energy generation via advanced numerical modelling [Info Sheet - Piggott Tidal Lagoons]

Supervisor: Professor Matthew Piggott


Exploiting the GEOTRACES toolbox to characterize ocean biogeochemical processes: trace elements, isotopes and new quasi-conservative tracers [Info Sheet - Plancherel GEOTRACES]

Supervisors: Dr Yves Plancherel, Professor Mark Rehkamper, Professor Tina van de Flierdt


Modeling the global Pb cycle: from industrial emissions to the bottom of the ocean [Info Sheet - Plancherel Pb Cycle]

Supervisor: Dr Yves Plancherel


Tracking Illegal Gold Mining Safely with Earth Observations and Machine Learning [Info Sheet - Plancherel Illegal Gold Mining]

Supervisors: Dr Yves Plancherel, Dr Pablo Brito-Parada, Dr Philippa Mason

R


Mixing and Volatile Depletion in the Early Solar System [Info Sheet - Rehkämper Mixing Volatile Depletion ESS]

Supervisor: Professor Mark Rehkämper


Sources and climate impacts of Indian Ocean aerosols – constraints from trace metal concentrations and isotope compositions [Info Sheet - Rehkämper Indian Ocean Aerosols]

Supervisors: Professor Mark Rehkämper, Professor Tina van de Flierdt, Dr Rebekah Moore, Dr Priyanka Banerjee (Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science)


The origin of Earth’s volatiles – new constraints from isotopic analyses of meteorites [Info Sheet - Rehkämper Origin Earth Volatiles]

Supervisor: Professor Mark Rehkämper


Integrating Geochemistry and Geophysics to Make Critical Metal Treasure Maps [Info Sheet - Richards Treasure Maps]

Supervisors: Dr Fred Richards, Dr Gareth Roberts, Professor Saskia Goes, Dr Mark Hoggard (Australian National University), Dr Karol Czarnota (Geoscience Australia)


Biodiversity and the Evolving Earth: New Data, New Methods, New Insights [Info Sheet - Roberts Biodiveristy]

Supervisors: Dr Gareth Roberts, Dr Conor O'Malley, Dr Philip Mannion (UCL), Dr Mark Sutton, Dr Jan Hackel (Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew)


Continental Uplift and Erosion From Drainage Patterns: Predicting Sedimentary Flux to Passive Margins  [Info Sheet - Roberts Drainage Patterns]

Supervisors: Dr Gareth Roberts and Professor Matthew Piggott


Hard Rock to Heavy Metal: Data and tools for geochemical baselines and chemical fluxes through landscapes [Info Sheet - Roberts Hard Rock to Heavy Metal]

Supervisors: Dr Gareth Roberts, Dr Yves Plancherel, Dr Alex Whittaker, Charles Gowing (British Geological Survey), Dr Alex Lipp (University of Oxford, Earth Sciences)


Histories of mantle convection: Constraints from Arabia's landscape [Info Sheet - Roberts Arabia]

Supervisors: Dr Gareth Roberts, Dr Alex Whittaker and Dylan Rood


Mapping pollutants and biodiversity throughout drainage basins [Info Sheet - Roberts Mapping Pollutants]

Supervisors: Dr Gareth Roberts, Dr Leon Barron (School of Public Health), Professor Guy Woodward (Life Sciences), Dr Alex Lipp (Earth Sciences, University of Oxford)


Modeling landscape evolution through space and time [Info Sheet - Roberts Landscape Evolution]

Supervisors: Dr Gareth Roberts, Professor Matthew Piggott, Professor Gareth Collins and Dr Alex Whittaker


Exploring terrestrial geological evidence for past glaciation and volcanism in the Thwaites Glacier catchment, Antarctica [Info Sheet - Johnson Thwaites Glacier]

Supervisors: Joanne Johnson (British Antarctic Survey), Dr Dylan Rood, Associate Professor Brent Goehring (Tulane University), and Stephen Roberts (British Antarctic Survey)


Using Cosmogenic Surface Exposure Dating to Reconstruct Late-Holocene Glacier and Climate Stability to Determine Precedence for Recent Declines in Snowpack and Water Resources in the American Pacific Northwest [Info Sheet - Rood Cosmogenic Surface Exposure]

Supervisor: Dr Dylan Rood


Validating Earthquake Hazard Models For Critical Engineered Structures Using Geologic Data And Cosmogenic Isotopes [Info Sheet - Rood Earthquake Engineering]

Supervisors: Dr Dylan Rood, Dr John-Paul Latham and Dr Peter Stafford


Will climate change make coastal erosion rates faster?: Comparing historic and Holocene cliff retreat rates using cosmogenic isotopes with numerical models [Info Sheet - Rood Coastal Erosion]

Supervisor: Dr Dylan Rood

S


Astrobiology and meteorites from the early Solar System [Info Sheet - Sephton Astrobiology]

Supervisors: Professor Mark A. Sephton, Dr Jonathan Watson, with collaboration opportunities (Dr Christian Potiszil, Okayama University Japan)


Capture Carbon Dioxide on Shales [Info Sheet - Sephton Shales]

Supervisors: Professor Mark A. Sephton, Professor Craig Smalley, Professor Al Fraser


Extracting Records of Life on Mars [Info Sheet - Sephton Life on Mars]

Supervisors: Professor Mark A. Sephton, Dr Jonathan Watson


Forensic Detection of Microplastics [Info Sheet - Sephton Microplastics]

Supervisors: Professor Mark A. Sephton, Dr Simon Davis, David Bell (Protium)


Life Detection at Jupiter's Icy Moon Europa [Info Sheet - Sephton Europa]

Supervisors: Professor Mark A. Sephton, Dr Jonathan Watson


Organic Preservation in Jezero Crater – Site of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover [Info Sheet - Sephton Jezero Crater]

Supervisors: Professor Mark A. Sephton, Dr Jonathan Watson


Recognising Life in Samples Returned from Mars [Info Sheet - Sephton Life Detector]

Supervisors: Professor Mark A. Sephton, Dr Simon Davis, David Bell (Protium)


Leveraging emerging numerical models from engineering to support coral reef conservation [Info Sheet - Sutton Coral Reef Conservation

Supervisors: Dr Mark Sutton, Dr Yves Plancherel, Dr Catherine Head (ZSL)

V


Understanding Modern Biogeochemical Cycles in the context of the international GEOTRACES project – Lead, cadmium, neodymium [Info Sheet - Rehkämper GEOTRACES]‌

Supervisors: Professor Tina van de Flierdt, Professor Mark Rehkämper

W


Arsenic Contamination of Drinking Water [Info Sheet - Weiss Arsenic Contamination]

Supervisor: Professor Dominik Weiss


Geochemistry of Non-Traditional Stable Isotopes [Info Sheet - Weiss NTSI]

Supervisor: Professor Dominik Weiss


Human and Natural Control on Global Atmospheric Trace Element Cycles [Info Sheet - Weiss Atmosphere]

Supervisor: Professor Dominik Weiss


Micronutrient cycling in submerged soils and uptake into rice [Info Sheet - Weiss Micronutrient Cycling]

Supervisor: Professor Dominik Weiss


Nuclear Waste – How to deal with it safely [Info Sheet - Weiss Nuclear Waste]

Supervisor: Professor Dominik Weiss


The Aqueous Chemistry of Actinides and Metalloids [Info Sheet - Weiss Actinides and Metalloids]

Supervisor: Professor Dominik Weiss


Tectonics from topography in Central Greece: decoding the history of fault growth and landscape evolution in the Corinth Rift [Info Sheet - Whittaker Corinth Rift]

Supervisors: Dr Alex Whittaker, Dr Rebecca Bell


Detrital mineral records of magmatism and fertility in porphyry copper districts [Info Sheet - Wilkinson Porphyry Copper Districts]

Supervisor: Professor Jamie Wilkinson, Dr Pieter Vermeesch (University College London)


Development of UV-fluorescence spectroscopy as a tool for mineral exploration [Info Sheet - Wilkinson UV Fluorescence]

Supervisor: Professor Jamie Wilkinson


Developing a chemical audit approach for characterisation of mine site material [Info Sheet - Wilkinson Chemical Audit]

Supervisor: Profesor Jamie Wilkinson


Residence and mobility of metals in the alteration zones of porphyry ore systems [Info Sheet - Wilkinson Detrital accessories porphyry]

Supervisor: Professor Jamie Wilkinson

By funding eligibility

Scholarships awarded through these funded programmes will cover home (UK-resident) tuition fees, and a bursary and RCUK rates, for a period of 3.5 years. These scholarships usually include a small award for research costs. Project lists below are updated in October each year and are indicative of the types of projects that are possible under the remit of the various DTPs and CDTs. The lists are not exhaustive, nor are the projects listed guaranteed funding.

See further information about the availability, deadlines and eligibility criteria of all scholarships.

 

EPSRC


Pore-scale Modelling and Analysis of Reactive Transportin Carbon Storage and Oil Recovery [Info Sheet - Bijeljic Reactive Transport]

Supervisor: Dr Branko Bijeljic


Minimal surfaces in porous materials: wettability design for optimal flow performance [Info Sheet - Blunt Minimal Surfaces InFUSE]

Supervisors: Professor Martin Blunt, Dr Branko Bijeljic, Professor Jerry Heng (Department of Chemical Engineering)


Pore-Scale Imaging, Analysis, and Data-Driven Pore-Scale Modelling [Info Sheet - Blunt Pore-Scale Imaging]

Supervisor: Professor Martin Blunt


Topology, wettability and fluid flow in porous materials [Info Sheet - Blunt Topology]‌

Supervisor: Professor Martin Blunt


Coupling Life Cycle Assessment and modelling tools to inform sustainable mineral resource management [Info Sheet - Brito-Parada LCA]

Supervisors: Dr Pablo Brito-Parada, Dr Stephanie Muller (BRGM, France), Jacques Villeneuve (BRGM, France)


Modelling and predicting flotation froth stability [Info Sheet - Brito-Parada Froth Stability]

Supervisors: Dr Pablo Brito-Parada, Professor Stephen Neethling


Simulating submarine slide tsunami inundation of the Shetland Islands [Info Sheet - Collins Shetlands]

Supervisors: Professor Gareth Collins, Professor Matthew Piggott, Professor Sue Dawson (Dundee)


New generation data assimilation and rapid response models for urban flooding [Info Sheet - Fang Flooding]

Supervisors: Dr Fangxin Fang, Professor Christopher Pain


Optimisation of sensor locations for observation of air flows/pollutions [Info Sheet - Fang Sensor]

Supervisors: Dr Fangxin Fang, Professor Christopher Pain


Rapid Response Modelling for Assessment of Pollution and Toxic Releases in Complex Urban Environments [‌‌‌‌Info Sheet - Fang ROM]

Supervisors: Dr Fangxin Fang, Professor Christopher Pain


Redundancy, retiming and data flow in compiling finite-difference applications for many core architectures [Info Sheet - Gorman OPESCI]

Supervisors: Dr Gerard Gorman, Professor Paul Kelly (Department of Computing), Dr Fabio Luporini


Applying Dimensionality Reduction to Solutions on Finite Element Meshes with Autoencoders [Info Sheet - Heaney Autoencoders]

Supervisors: Dr Claire Heaney, Professor Christopher Pain


Large Scale AI Modelling for Environmental Flows [Info Sheet - Heaney Environmental Flows]

Supervisors: Dr Claire Heaney, Professor Christopher Pain


Simulation of geo-thermal wells with reduced order modelling and data assimilation [Info Sheet - Heaney ROM DA NORMS]

Supervisors: Dr Claire Heaney,  Professor Christopher Pain, Professor Matthew Jackson


Global CO2 storage capacity: Modeling limitations of geography and injectivity [Info Sheet - Krevor CO2 Storage Capacity]

Supervisor: Dr Sam Krevor


Modelling the physics of granular rock compaction for characterisation of flow in reservoirs [Info Sheet - Latham Compaction Modelling]

‌Supervisors: ‌Dr John-Paul Latham, Dr Jiansheng Xiang, Professor Martin Blunt


Simulation of charge-slurry interactions in tumbling and stirred mills [Info Sheet - Neethling Simulation of Mills]

Supervisor: Professor Stephen Neethling


The impact of mineral texture on the relationship between particle size, surface exposure and mineral liberation: A key to coarse particle flotation [Info Sheet - Neethling Coarse Particle Flotation]

Supervisor: Professor Stephen Neethling


PhD studentship in Next-Generation Fracture Modelling [Info Sheet - Paluszny Fracture Modelling]

Supervisor: Dr Adriana Palusznyincluding interaction with Professor Robert Zimmerman


Accelerating Scientific Discovery of Complex Scientific Applications with Process-Guided Deep Learning: Aquatic Eco-Dynamics in Lakes [Info Sheet - Piggott Lakes]

Supervisors: Professor Matthew Piggott, Dr R. Iestyn Woolway (University of Reading), Professor Stephen Maberly (UK CEH)


Understanding and minimising the potential environmental impacts of tidal range (lagoon) based renewable energy generation via advanced numerical modelling [Info Sheet - Piggott Tidal Lagoons]

Supervisor: Professor Matthew Piggott


Forensic Detection of Microplastics [Info Sheet - Sephton Microplastics]

Supervisors: Professor Mark A. Sephton, Dr Simon Davis, David Bell (Protium)


Nuclear Waste – How to deal with it safely [Info Sheet - Weiss Nuclear Waste]

Supervisor: Professor Dominik Weiss

 

SSCP


Geological and geophysical investigation of the environmental evolution of the southern North Sea for offshore wind applications [Info Sheet - Bell G&G for Offshore Wind Applications]

Supervisors: Dr Rebecca Bell; Prof. Gary Hampson, Department of Earth Science and Engineering; Dr. Mark Vardy, SAND Geophysics; Mr. Gareth Carter, BGS; Mr. Abdulqadir Cader, GeoTeric


 

Coupling Life Cycle Assessment and modelling tools to inform sustainable mineral resource management [Info Sheet - Brito-Parada LCA]

Supervisors: Dr Pablo Brito-Parada, Dr Stephanie Muller (BRGM, France), Jacques Villeneuve (BRGM, France)


Anisotropic Geoelectrical Imaging - can Artificial Intelligence (AI) replace conventional resistivity inversion approaches? [Info Sheet - Fang Anisotropic Geoelectrical Imaging]

Supervisors: Dr Fangxin Fang, Professor Christopher Pain, Dr Paul Wilkinson (British Geological Survey), Dr Oliver Kuras (British Geological Survey), Dr Jorg Herwanger (MP Geomechanics)


Mapping thermal and compositional structure of cratons [Info Sheet - Goes Cratons]

Supervisors: Professor Saskia Goes, Dr Ian Bastow


Seismotectonics of the Lesser Antilles Arc (LAA) [Info Sheet - Goes LAA]

Supervisors: Professor Saskia Goes, Professor Jenny Collier


Developing the world’s largest geobattery: ultra-hightemperature underground thermal energy storage for large-scale electricity storage in the UK [Info Sheet - Jackson Geobattery]

Supervisors: Professor Matthew Jackson, Professor Gary Hampson, Dr Marko Aunedi, (Electrical and Electronic Engineering)


Efficient numerical modelling of subsurface hydrogen storage for low carbon energy [Info Sheet - Jackson Subsurface Hydrogen Storage]

Supervisors: Professor Matthew Jackson, Professor Gary Hampson


Electrokinetic enhanced in-situ resource utilisation (EK-ISRU) for green copper production [Info Sheet - Jackson EK-ISRU]

Supervisors: Professor Matthew Jackson, Dr Pablo Brito-Parada, Professor Stephen Neethling


Exploring origin and composition of the lowermost mantle structures with machine learning methods and seismology [Info Sheet - Kim Lower Mantle Structures]

Supervisors: Dr Doyeon Kim, Dr Frederick Richards, Professor Ved Lekic (University of Maryland)


Monitoring Global groundwater change using seismic methods [Info Sheet - Kim Groundwater Seismology]

Supervisors: Dr Doyeon Kim, Professor Matthew Jackson


Assessing the sustainability of lithium brine extraction in high Andean salars [Info Sheet - Hughes BGS Lithium Brine Extraction]

Supervisors: Dr Andrew Hughes (British Geological Survey), Professor Anna Korre, Dr Evi Petavratzi (British Geological Survey)


Developing time-series InSAR for understanding changes to the ground surface, subsurface, biosphere and environment [Info Sheet - Mason Time-Series InSAR]

Supervisors: Dr Philippa Mason, Dr James Lawrence (Civil Engineering, Imperial College London), Professor Richard Ghail (Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway UK)


Submarine channels, deformation, and routing of sediment and plastics to the deep ocean [Info Sheet - Mayall Sediment Routing]

Supervisors: Professor Mike Mayall, Dr Alex Whittaker, Professor Gary Hampson, Dr Lidia Lonergan


AI modelling of underground water for heating buildings [Info Sheet - Pain Underground Water Heating]

Supervisors: Professor Christopher Pain, Dr Claire Heaney


Teleseismic full-waveform imaging of active volcanoes [Info Sheet - Paulatto TSFWI]

Supervisors: Dr Michele Paulatto, Dr Lluis Guasch, Professor James Hammond (Birkbeck University of London)


Exploiting the GEOTRACES toolbox to characterize ocean biogeochemical processes: trace elements, isotopes and new quasi-conservative tracers [Info Sheet - Plancherel GEOTRACES]

Supervisors: Dr Yves Plancherel, Professor Mark Rehkamper, Professor Tina van de Flierdt


Tracking Illegal Gold Mining Safely with Earth Observations and Machine Learning [Info Sheet - Plancherel Illegal Gold Mining]

Supervisors: Dr Yves Plancherel, Dr Pablo Brito-Parada, Dr Philippa Mason


Integrating Geochemistry and Geophysics to Make Critical Metal Treasure Maps [Info Sheet - Richards Treasure Maps]

Supervisors: Dr Fred Richards, Dr Gareth Roberts, Professor Saskia Goes, Dr Mark Hoggard (Australian National University), Dr Karol Czarnota (Geoscience Australia)


Biodiversity and the Evolving Earth: New Data, New Methods, New Insights [Info Sheet - Roberts Biodiveristy]

Supervisors: Dr Gareth Roberts, Dr Conor O'Malley, Dr Philip Mannion (UCL), Dr Mark Sutton, Dr Jan Hackel (Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew)


Hard Rock to Heavy Metal: Data and tools for geochemical baselines and chemical fluxes through landscapes [Info Sheet - Roberts Hard Rock to Heavy Metal]

Supervisors: Dr Gareth Roberts, Dr Yves Plancherel, Dr Alex Whittaker, Charles Gowing (British Geological Survey), Dr Alex Lipp (University of Oxford, Earth Sciences)


Mapping pollutants and biodiversity throughout drainage basins [Info Sheet - Roberts Mapping Pollutants]

Supervisors: Dr Gareth Roberts, Dr Leon Barron (School of Public Health), Professor Guy Woodward (Life Sciences), Dr Alex Lipp (Earth Sciences, University of Oxford)


Leveraging emerging numerical models from engineering to support coral reef conservation [Info Sheet - Sutton Coral Reef Conservation

Supervisors: Dr Mark Sutton, Dr Yves Plancherel, Dr Catherine Head (ZSL)


Detrital mineral records of magmatism and fertility in porphyry copper districts [Info Sheet - Wilkinson Porphyry Copper Districts]

Supervisor: Professor Jamie Wilkinson, Dr Pieter Vermeesch (University College London)

 

STFC


Automated Crater Detection and Classification with Machine Learning [Info Sheet - Collins ACDC]

Supervisors: Professor Gareth Collins, Dr Navjot Kukreja (Department of Computer Science, University of Liverpool), Associate Professor Nicholas Warner (Department of Geological Sciences, SUNY Geneseo, USA)


Decoding inner solar system bombardment from impact crater populations [Info Sheet - Collins Crater Scaling]

Supervisor: Professor Gareth Collins‌


Impact Processing of Planetary Crust [‌Info Sheet - Collins Impact Porosity]

Supervisors: Professor Gareth Collins, Mark Wieczorek (IPGP)


Meteoroid fragmentation in planetary atmospheres and the formation of crater clusters on Earth and Mars [Info Sheet - Collins Meteoroid Fragmentation]

Supervisor: Professor Gareth Collins


Modelling the Giant South Pole-Aitken basin [Info Sheet - Collins SPA]

Supervisor: Professor Gareth Collins


Multiscale modeling of compaction of primitive solar system materials [Info Sheet - Collins Multiscale]

Supervisors: Professor Gareth Collins, Dr Tom Davison, Professor Phil Bland (Curtin)


Microspherules in the geological record [Info Sheet - Genge Microspherules]

Supervisor: Dr Matthew Genge


Earth-based Geophysical Investigation of the Near Subsurface Structures for Future in situ Resource Utilization on the Moon [Info Sheet - Kim Planetary Analog ISRU Moon]

Supervisors: Dr Doyeon Kim, Dr Ian Bastow, Associate Professor Nick Schmerr (University of Maryland)


Lunar seismology: from Apollo mission to the Farside Seismic Suite and beyond [Info Sheet - Kim Lunar Seismology]

Supervisors: Dr Doyeon Kim, Professor Gareth Collins, Professor Tom Pike (EEE), Dr Mark Panning (JPL)


Probing Mars’ interior structure and planetary seismicity/tectonics [Info Sheet - Kim Mars Interior Seismicity]

Supervisors: Dr Doyeon Kim, Dr Ana-Catalina Plesa (DLR), Dr, Mark Wieczorek (IPGP)


Understanding surface processes on Venus: in support of the EnVision mission [Info Sheet - Mason Surface Processes Venus]

Supervisors:‌ Dr Philippa Mason, Professor Richard Ghail (Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway UK), Dr Gareth Roberts


Mixing and Volatile Depletion in the Early Solar System [Info Sheet - Rehkämper Mixing Volatile Depletion ESS]

Supervisor: Professor Mark Rehkämper


The origin of Earth’s volatiles – new constraints from isotopic analyses of meteorites [Info Sheet - Rehkämper Origin Earth Volatiles]

Supervisor: Professor Mark Rehkämper


Astrobiology and meteorites from the early Solar System [Info Sheet - Sephton Astrobiology]

Supervisors: Professor Mark A. Sephton, Dr Jonathan Watson, with collaboration opportunities (Dr Christian Potiszil, Okayama University Japan)


Extracting Records of Life on Mars [Info Sheet - Sephton Life on Mars]

Supervisors: Professor Mark A. Sephton, Dr Jonathan Watson


Life Detection at Jupiter's Icy Moon Europa [Info Sheet - Sephton Europa]

Supervisors: Professor Mark A. Sephton, Dr Jonathan Watson


Organic Preservation in Jezero Crater – Site of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover [Info Sheet - Sephton Jezero Crater]

Supervisors: Professor Mark A. Sephton, Dr Jonathan Watson


Recognising Life in Samples Returned from Mars [Info Sheet - Sephton Life Detector]

Supervisors: Professor Mark A. Sephton, Dr Simon Davis, David Bell (Protium)

 

Self-Funded/Other 


Some projects may be funded through research grants held by faculty members. Not all potential PhD projects listed on the website have funding associated with them, and we also welcome applications from students who have secured their own scholarship funding.


Monitoring seismicity at volcanoes with geothermal prospects in Ethiopia [Info Sheet - Bastow Geothermal Prospects]

Supervisors: Dr Ian Bastow, Dr Derek Keir (School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton)


Magmatism and Continental Breakup in the South Atlantic [Info Sheet - Collier South Atlantic Magmatism]

Supervisors: Professor Jenny Collier, Dr Gareth Roberts, Dr Lidia Lonergan 


Structure and tsunamigenic potential of the Lesser Antilles accretionary prism ‌[Info Sheet - Collier Prism]

Supervisors: Professor Jenny Collier, Professor Tim Henstock (Southampton)


Tectonics of the North America/South America plate boundary [Info Sheet - Collier Tectonics]

Supervisors: Professor Jenny Collier, Professor Tim Henstock (Southampton)


The evolution of the Kasei Valles outflow channel: A window into the changing palaeo-climate of Mars [Info Sheet - Davis UKSA Kasei Studentship]

Supervisors: Dr Joel Davis, Professor Sanjeev Gupta, Dr Peter Grindrod (Dept. of Earth Science, Natural History Museum), Assistant Professor Gaia Stucky de Quay (Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

This is a PhD Studentship funded by the UK Space Agency.


Structure and Evolution of the African Plate from Geophysical Observations [Info Sheet - Goes Africa Joint Tomography]

Supervisors: Professor Saskia Goes, Dr Gareth Roberts


Understanding how subduction has shaped Circum-Pacific tectonics using 3D numerical models [Info Sheet - Goes Subduction Dynamics]

Supervisors: Professor Saskia Goes, Dr Gareth Roberts


Fluid dynamics of magma reservoirs [Info Sheet - Jackson CFD]

Supervisors: Professor Matthew Jackson, Dr Haiyang Hu, Professor Jon Blundy (University of Oxford)


Rapid modelling of reactive flow using machine learning and dynamic mesh optimisation [Info Sheet - Jackson Reactive Flow]

Supervisors: Professor Matthew Jackson, Professor Chris Pain, Dr Claire Heaney


Storage and transport of microplastics in groundwater [Info Sheet - Jackson Microplastics]

Supervisors: Professor Matthew Jackson, Professor Gary Hampson, Professor Alexandra Porter (Department of Materials), Dr Geoff Fowler (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering)


Reservoir characterisation and modelling of CO2 storage underground [Info Sheet - Krevor CO2 Storage Modelling]‌‌

Supervisor: Dr Sam Krevor and others TBA


Cadmium enrichment in cocoa beans – a stable isotope investigation of Cd sources and mitigation strategies [Info Sheet - Rehkämper Cd in Cocoa]

Supervisors: Dr Rebekah Moore, Professor Mark Rehkämper


Novel applications of trace metal stable isotopes in medical research [Info Sheet - Rehkämper Isotopes Medical Research]

Supervisors: Dr Rebekah Moore, Professor Mark Rehkämper


Biomagnetic Monitoring as an Urban Air Quality Assessment [Info Sheet - Muxworthy Green Dust]

Supervisors: Professor Adrian Muxworthy, Dr David Green (School of Public Health, Imperial)


Modeling the global Pb cycle: from industrial emissions to the bottom of the ocean [Info Sheet - Plancherel Pb Cycle]

Supervisor: Dr Yves Plancherel


Sources and climate impacts of Indian Ocean aerosols – constraints from trace metal concentrations and isotope compositions [Info Sheet - Rehkämper Indian Ocean Aerosols]

Supervisors: Professor Mark Rehkämper, Professor Tina van de Flierdt, Dr Rebekah Moore, Dr Priyanka Banerjee (Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science)


Continental Uplift and Erosion From Drainage Patterns: Predicting Sedimentary Flux to Passive Margins  [Info Sheet - Roberts Drainage Patterns]

Supervisors: Dr Gareth Roberts and Professor Matthew Piggott


Histories of mantle convection: Constraints from Arabia's landscape [Info Sheet - Roberts Arabia]

Supervisors: Dr Gareth Roberts, Dr Alex Whittaker and Dylan Rood


Modeling landscape evolution through space and time [Info Sheet - Roberts Landscape Evolution]

Supervisors: Dr Gareth Roberts, Professor Matthew Piggott, Professor Gareth Collins and Dr Alex Whittaker


Exploring terrestrial geological evidence for past glaciation and volcanism in the Thwaites Glacier catchment, Antarctica [Info Sheet - Johnson Thwaites Glacier]

Supervisors: Joanne Johnson (British Antarctic Survey), Dr Dylan Rood, Associate Professor Brent Goehring (Tulane University), and Stephen Roberts (British Antarctic Survey)


Using Cosmogenic Surface Exposure Dating to Reconstruct Late-Holocene Glacier and Climate Stability to Determine Precedence for Recent Declines in Snowpack and Water Resources in the American Pacific Northwest [Info Sheet - Rood Cosmogenic Surface Exposure]

Supervisor: Dr Dylan Rood


Validating Earthquake Hazard Models For Critical Engineered Structures Using Geologic Data And Cosmogenic Isotopes [Info Sheet - Rood Earthquake Engineering]

Supervisors: Dr Dylan Rood, Dr John-Paul Latham and Dr Peter Stafford


Will climate change make coastal erosion rates faster?: Comparing historic and Holocene cliff retreat rates using cosmogenic isotopes with numerical models [Info Sheet - Rood Coastal Erosion]

Supervisor: Dr Dylan Rood


Capture Carbon Dioxide on Shales [Info Sheet - Sephton Shales]

Supervisors: Professor Mark A. Sephton, Professor Craig Smalley, Professor Al Fraser


Understanding Modern Biogeochemical Cycles in the context of the international GEOTRACES project – Lead, cadmium, neodymium [Info Sheet - Rehkämper GEOTRACES]‌

Supervisors: Professor Tina van de Flierdt, Professor Mark Rehkämper


Arsenic Contamination of Drinking Water [Info Sheet - Weiss Arsenic Contamination]

Supervisor: Professor Dominik Weiss


Geochemistry of Non-Traditional Stable Isotopes [Info Sheet - Weiss NTSI]

Supervisor: Professor Dominik Weiss


Human and Natural Control on Global Atmospheric Trace Element Cycles [Info Sheet - Weiss Atmosphere]

Supervisor: Professor Dominik Weiss


Micronutrient cycling in submerged soils and uptake into rice [Info Sheet - Weiss Micronutrient Cycling]

Supervisor: Professor Dominik Weiss


The Aqueous Chemistry of Actinides and Metalloids [Info Sheet - Weiss Actinides and Metalloids]

Supervisor: Professor Dominik Weiss


Tectonics from topography in Central Greece: decoding the history of fault growth and landscape evolution in the Corinth Rift [Info Sheet - Whittaker Corinth Rift]

Supervisors: Dr Alex Whittaker, Dr Rebecca Bell


Development of UV-fluorescence spectroscopy as a tool for mineral exploration [Info Sheet - Wilkinson UV Fluorescence]

Supervisor: Professor Jamie Wilkinson


Developing a chemical audit approach for characterisation of mine site material [Info Sheet - Wilkinson Chemical Audit]

Supervisor: Professor Jamie Wilkinson


Residence and mobility of metals in the alteration zones of porphyry ore systems [Info Sheet - Wilkinson Detrital accessories porphyry]

Supervisor: Professor Jamie Wilkinson