The University of Sheffield, Sheffield Water Centre in collaboration with Network Rail and the Centre for Doctoral Training in Water Infrastructure and Resilience.
EPSRC PhD Studentship in: Advanced sensing and AI for risk detection in rail environments
Stipend: This post will fully cover university tuition and provide a tax-free stipend for UK students of £21,000 per year.
Closing Date for Applications: 30 June 2023
Start Date: 25th September 2023 (contract duration 4 years)
This PhD studentship offers an exciting opportunity to conduct cutting edge research at the interface of industry and academia, while having a measurable impact on the safety and reliability of our nation’s railway systems!
Network Rail are responsible for maintaining almost all of the rail systems in Great Britain. However, they anticipate increasing pressures from climate change, including an increase in flood risk. Beyond passenger delays, this can have devastating impacts on the whole rail environment, such as earthworks failures that have been known to cause derailments and even loss of life.
The distributed nature of rail infrastructure makes it difficult to detect railway assets and monitor their condition. This project will explore the potential for a fusion of train-mounted sensors (such as GPR, laser scanning, and infra-red/optical camera systems) to identify key features such as drainage assets, wet beds, structures, flooding, and vegetation within the railway corridor. Advanced AI techniques will be developed based on a “few-shot” object detector to recognise and identify key features and hazards along a rail route.
The successful candidate will have the opportunity to generate new science that has direct applicability to real-world rail operations, a potential to increase rail safety and save lives, and the unusual possibility of creating demonstrable real-world impact within the timeframe of the project. The project will involve strong collaboration and support from Network Rail (including an industrial supervisor and placement visits), and potentially other rail operators globally. Lab/fieldwork is likely, along with dissemination of results at global conferences and international industry meetings.
The research programme to be completed in this project will be undertaken as part of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Water Infrastructure and Resilience (CDT WIRe). CDT WIRe is a collaboration between the three leading UK Universities in water resilient infrastructure. Students will benefit from a bespoke training scheme delivered by world leading experts from academia and industry, access to world leading experimental and computational facilities as well as close and regular contact with industry and end user partners. CDT WIRe is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community, and offers a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies. For further information on the CDT WIRe scheme visit the web site at: https://cdtwire.com/
The project will be supervised by Dr Nichols and Prof Han, in collaboration with partners from Network Rail.
Eligibility Criteria
This studentship is supported by EPSRC WIRe CDT and the University of Sheffield. It is open to all students with UK residency.
The selection criteria for the position are;
• Enthusiasm for research and the topic area.
• A good first degree in a relevant science, mathematics or engineering discipline.
• Good level of written and oral communication skills, as appropriate for disseminating research and communicating with project partners.
• Willingness to collaborate with other researchers, industry and end-users.
• Experience in a relevant area is desirable (e.g. rail engineering, experimental design, sensing systems, data analysis, image analysis, computer vision, artificial intelligence).
How to apply
Interested candidates should email a covering letter and their Curriculum
Vitae to Lindsay Hopcroft ([Email Address Removed]).
For information and informal enquiries please contact: Dr Andy Nichols ([Email Address Removed]).
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