Funding providers: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) DTP and Swansea University's Faculty of Science and Engineering
Subject areas: Civil Engineering
Project start date:
- 1 October 2023 (Enrolment open from mid-September)
Project supervisor:
- Dr Yunqing Xuan (Primary)
- Dr Ji Li (Secondary)
Aligned programme of study: PhD in Civil Engineering
Mode of study: Full-time
Project description:
Machine learning (ML) is a powerful technique that has rapidly found many applications across numerous disciplines. Estimating climate change impact on future extreme events such as super floods and heatwaves has been traditionally carried out using physically and process-based hydro-climatic models, however, ML based modelling has become a new focal area recently thanks to its ability to account for the highly complex, nonlinear physical and social-physical interactions in this context. A huge challenge that still remains in ML modelling for future extreme floods, is its ‘black-box’ nature where the interactions among various components, e.g., neurons, are hardly explainable, which hinders its further use in supporting important decision making to address climate change impact mitigation.
This PhD project is aimed to develop a set of ML modelling tool kits with improved interpretability and transparency for predicting future risks of extreme floods under the impact of climate change. The expected outcome of the project will offer an accountable and reliable modelling support for critical decision making on mitigation measures against extreme floods under the changing climate. The project will be supported by our existing expertise in HPC-based hydro-climatic modelling and the collaborations with multiple agencies.
Eligibility
Candidates must normally hold an undergraduate degree at 2.1 level (or Non-UK equivalent as defined by Swansea University) in Engineering or similar relevant science discipline.
Additional requirements apply:
- Essential – knowledge of hydrology and hydraulics, statistics
- Desirable – knowledge of climate science, hydrological modelling, programming skills in any one of the languages Python/MATLAB/R/Fortran, experience of Linux.
English Language requirements: If applicable – IELTS 6.5 overall (with at least 5.5 in each individual component) or Swansea recognised equivalent.
This scholarship is open to candidates of any nationality.
Continue with Facebook
