PhD Research Project

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Breaking the Biofouling Code: Towards Reliable In-Pipe Water Quality Sensors

Institution:

Imperial College London

Dept/School/Faculty:

Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

PhD Supervisor:

Dr D O'Hare

Co-Supervisor:

Dr I Stoianov

Application Deadline:

Applications accepted all year round

PhD Research Project

Applications are invited for an EngD studentship to work on the development of a reliable low-cost sensor technology for the continuous in-pipe and reagent free monitoring of chlorine in water supply networks. This is a cross-disciplinary research project which builds upon expertise from biomedical engineering, fluid mechanics and signal processing. We have considerable experience in developing biocompatible sensor technology for in-vivo and in-vitro bioanalysis as well as the hydraulic and water quality monitoring and modelling of water supply systems. The project is co-supervised by Dr O’Hare (www.imperial.ac.uk/people/d.ohare) and Dr Stoianov (www.imperial.ac.uk/people/ivan.stoianov) and it is in collaboration with Bristol Water and Cla-Val UK. The EngD studentship is within the EPSRC STREAM Programme (http://www.stream-idc.net/) and it offers unique opportunities to carry out innovative and industrially relevant research.

A wide range of processes affect the water quality and the disinfectant residual in water transmission and distribution networks and these are little understood. A major obstacle is the lack of reliable and low-cost (both capital and O&M) water quality sensors for continuous in-pipe and reagent free monitoring. The key research challenges that this proposal will address are: (i) How do biofilms affect electrochemical sensors, (ii) How can we remove biofilms?; (iii) How can we know if the sensor is still reliably working?; (iv) How can we achieve a reliable long-term operation of in-pipe reagent free water quality sensors?

The research will include a systematic investigation into electrochemical chlorine sensors to exploit recent technological advances in materials and signal processing and to transfer the considerable progress that has been made at Imperial in biocompatibility in biomedical devices and bio-inspired technologies into the environmental monitoring field.

Applicants for the studentship should have or expect to obtain a first or upper second class honours degree or equivalent, in engineering (Chemical, Bioengineering/Biomedical engineering) or physical sciences (physics, chemistry) or related subjects with experience of chemistry of biology laboratory work being highly desirable. Good computing and communication skills are required. A master's degree in a relevant subject would be advantageous but is not essential.
Applications will be assessed as received and all applicants should follow the standard College postgraduate admissions process (http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/pgprospectus/howtoapply). Should you have any queries regarding the application process please contact Dr Danny O’Hare (d.ohare AT imperial.ac.uk), or phone on +44 (0)207 594 5173.

Funding Notes:

The PhD studentship is four (4) years. Funding is available for UK and EU fee status applicants. For UK applicants, the studentship offers a stipend of £19,600 in the first two years and then £20,600 in the latter two years (tax free) and covers fees at the UK/EU student rate.
EU/overseas applicants are eligible for funding if they satisfy the following EPSRC eligibility criteria:
http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/students/pages/eligibility.aspx

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