Earth Sciences PhD Projects, Programs & Scholarships in Aberdeen

Prof R McKenna, Dr A Maheri

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Energy planning processes require detailed data relating to the technical potential and associated costs of renewable energies. These data are employed by stakeholders and researchers to inform decision-making relating to future energy systems.

What is the optimal scale for fully autonomous municipal energy systems?

Prof R McKenna, Dr M Gronwald

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

The energy transition requires the integration of large amounts of fluctuating, heterogeneously-spatially-distributed electricity into the energy system.

Multi-energy models of residential energy demand: further developments and international comparisons

Prof R McKenna, Dr A Maheri

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Several researchers have developed bottom-up simulation models (Load Profile Generators, LPGs) for residential buildings in various international contexts such as the UK (CREST/CHAP), Germany, Sweden, and Japan.

Energy system integration of offshore energy: exploring synergies between oil and gas and renewables sectors

Prof R McKenna, Dr A Maheri

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

The offshore wind and Oil & Gas sectors are historically largely separate. This project seeks to exploit synergies between the two in order to reduce the costs associated with O&G abandonment.

Digital twin in micromachining through multiscale simulation

Dr H Tan, Dr Amir Siddiq

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Digital twin technology in manufacturing is the simulation technology that integrates multi-disciplinary, multi-physical quantity, multiscale and multi probability by making full use of the physical model, monitoring update, operation history and other data.

Secondary currents in rough-bed open-channel flows and their interrelations with the primary mean flow and turbulence

Prof V Nikora, Dr S Cameron

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Although the great significance of secondary flows for river processes has long been recognised, their origin, mechanics, effects, and interrelations with the primary mean flow and turbulence are still under debate and continue attracting close attention of hydrologists, geomorphologists, engineers, and, recently, stream ecologists.

Very large scale motions (VLSM) in rough-bed turbulent open-channel flows: topology, statistics, dynamics

Prof V Nikora, Dr S Cameron

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Turbulence in open-channel flows such as rivers and canals plays a key role in transport of momentum, sediments, nutrients, and other substances.

The transport of alien particles under waves

Prof T O'Donoghue, Dr D Van der A

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

While substantial fundamental research has been conducted in recent decades on sediment transport under waves (including research at the University of Aberdeen), little is known about the behaviour of alien particles dispersed within a sand bed mobilised by waves.

The effects of vegetation on wave hydrodynamics in coastal environments

Prof T O'Donoghue, Dr D Van der A

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Seabeds covered with vegetation such as seagrass protect against coastal erosion due to their ability to attenuate wave energy and demobilise suspended sediments.

Characterisation of flow around a bivalve (Pecten Maximus) shell

Dr M Stewart, Prof V Nikora

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

A number of studies have highlighted the ability of freshwater mussels to behave as so-called ecosystem engineers; actively modifying their local environment through mechanisms such as filtering and passively by modifying bed roughness.

Development of a low cost hyperspectral imaging device for remote sensing of environmental flows

Dr M Stewart, Dr S Cameron

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Hyperspectral imaging is widely used in industry and research but traditional commercial devices tend to suffer from high cost and low portability, as well as lacking information on the ultraviolet range of the spectrum or being unsuitable for underwater applications (Nevala and Baden, 2019).

Understanding and supporting personal security during walking journeys

Dr M Beecroft, Dr C Cottrill

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

As well as being a travel mode in its own right, walking plays a critical function as a stage/multiple stages in almost any journey whether undertaken by public or private transport.

Future scenarios for the deployment of autonomous vehicles in urban environments.

Dr M Beecroft, Dr C Cottrill

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

It is widely anticipated that autonomous vehicles will play an important role in future urban environments, particularly in city-centres.

Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) from depleted Sandstone and Carbonate/chalk reservoirs

Dr P Jadhawar, Dr H Hamidi

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Nearly one third of the oil is left behind in the reservoir after the primary and secondary recovery methods of oil recovery.

Fluid flows above and within porous materials

Prof D Pokrajac, Dr D Van der A

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Fluid mechanics problems often involve fluid flows over porous materials. Examples of practical applications include flow through atmospheric and aquatic vegetation, coastal structures, and movement of biological fluids through various tissues.