Fully Funded EPSRC PhD Scholarship in Vegetated urban rain gardens for the management of hydroclimatic stressors

Rapid growth of urban areas has highlighted the importance of integrating high-quality green infrastructure into urban planning to create sustainable, resilient and liveable cities. Rain gardens, Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) are soil and planting areas designed to capture runoff from impermeable surfaces and slowly release it into drainage systems or water courses. These devices assist in handling multiple urban stressors (e.g., floods and droughts) while offering ecological, amenity and public health benefits to cities.

This PhD project couples extensive lab-based and environmental field monitoring of SuDS within the City of Edinburgh with mathematical/computational modelling expertise to understand soil-water-plant interactions across different scales.

This PhD project aims to address the effectiveness of GI systems, particularly vegetated rain gardens and their functioning under multiple urban stressors, such as floods and droughts. This project will involve extensive real-time environmental monitoring (laboratory- and field-based) coupled with advanced modelling techniques, to understand soil-water-plant dynamics in rain gardens situated within the City of Edinburgh and will provide the student with multidisciplinary skills and expertise in the fields of environmental monitoring, modelling and nature-based solutions.

The project will analyse environmental interactions and quantify the impact of different stressors on core hydrological, ecological, and soil processes at different scales. Firstly, laboratory-scale, monocultured mesocosm pilot testbeds and the newly commissioned Green Slope Facility will be used to understand plant-soil-water interactions in closed, controlled conditions to assess environmental responses to different environmental stressors. Running a series of sequential laboratory studies within climate-controlled conditions will allow strategic multivariant assessments of individual system variables (i.e., hydroclimatic, vegetation choice/density and soil-specific parameters). This will allow us to determine the impact and extent of multiple sensors at the individual plant-scale.

At the field-scale, we will commission real-world, monitored environmental network, in collaboration with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE). Here, we will commission large-scale monitoring to quantify rain garden soil-water-plant interactions during field conditions. X-Ray Computed Tomography (XRT) will be used to supplement long-term monitoring to visualise soil-water-root interactions under different stressors within the laboratory- and field-experiments. XRT will help us visualise 3D/4D structural differences to identify changes in the performance of rain garden systems during floods or droughts.

These laboratory- and field-based measurements will be used to develop, parameterise and validate mathematical models for soil-water-root interactions at the scale of a single plant and at the field-scale. Open-source finite element software (e.g. Fenics) will be used for numerical simulations of the model equations. This will allow testing of a wide range of scenarios to make predictions on rain garden performance under uncertain climate scenarios. Additionally, the physically-based models will be leveraged to forecast robust predictions of rain garden performance over time and space and under climate uncertainties. This will allow predictive upscaling and the quantification of site-specific performance to climate-related stressors. Further, this will inform plant and soil selection for vegetated bioretention systems. This project offers insights on the design, implementation, and management of green infrastructure systems in urban areas to enhance resilience and sustainability in response to increasing environmental challenges.

Funding

This is a full scholarship which will cover tuition fees and provide an annual stipend for 42 months. The standard EPSRC stipend will be uplifted by £5,000 per annum to a total of £24,237, thanks to the support of industry partner AstraZeneca. If completion slips beyond 42 months, students will be expected to pay a continuing affiliation fee (currently £130) whilst they complete writing up their thesis.

Supervisors

Dr. Daniel Green will act as the primary supervisor, with supervisory support from Drs Mariya Ptashnyk, [HWU] Elma Charalampidou [HWU] and Stewart Owen [AZ].

Eligibility

This project is available to “home” students. Applicants typically should have a first or upper second-class honours degree or equivalent in an appropriate subject and preferably a relevant Masters’ qualification or similar experience.

This project will suit a student with a background in Geography, Environmental Engineering, Mathematics, Data Sciences, Computer Sciences or similar fields, but we welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds and experiences.

How to apply

To apply you must complete our online application form. Please select PhD Environment as the programme and include the full project title, reference number and supervisor name on your application form. Ensure that all fields marked as ‘required’ are complete.

Once have entered your personal details, click submit. You will be asked to upload your supporting documents. You must complete the section marked project proposal; provide a supporting statement (1-2 A4 pages) documenting your reasons for applying to this particular project, outlining your suitability and how you would approach the project. You must also upload your CV, a copy of your degree certificate and relevant transcripts and an academic reference in the relevant section of the application form.

You must also provide proof of your ability in the English language (if English is not your mother tongue). We require an IELTS certificate showing an overall score of at least 6.5 with no component scoring less than 6.0, or a TOEFL certificate with an overall score of at least 85, including reading 20, listening 19, speaking 20 and writing 21. Alternatively, if you have received an English-taught Bachelors or Masters degree from one of the countries listed on the UK Government Guidance under ‘Who does not need to prove their knowledge of English’, and it was obtained less than two years from your intended start date, you should provide evidence of your award that clearly states it was delivered and assessed in English language.

For informal enquiries, please contact D.Green@hw.ac.uk or GreenInfrastructure@hw.ac.uk.

Please contact egis-pgr-apps@hw.ac.uk for technical support with your application.

Timelines

The closing date for applications is 29 November 2024 and we expect interviews to take place in the first two weeks of December 2024. Applicants should ideally be available to start the PhD in January 2025 but must be available to start by March 2025.