Optimising Natural Flood Management: How should we manage our rural landscape to mitigate downstream flood risk?

Loughborough University is a top-ten rated university in England for research intensity (REF2014) and an outstanding 66% of the work of Loughborough’s academic staff who were eligible to be submitted to REF2014 were judged as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’.

Applications are invited for a PhD studentship funded by the NERC CENTA Doctoral Training Partnership to start in October 2017. The project will be based in the School of Civil and Building Engineering.

Project Detail:
Flooding is an increasing problem in the UK, and under current economic constraints it is impossible to build engineered flood defences everywhere. Natural Flood Management (NFM), or Working with Natural Processes through a Catchment based approach, is increasingly viewed as a viable option for mitigating downstream flood risks. However, there are still huge uncertainties associated with the evidence for NFM reducing river flows at the catchment scale. A significant component of NFM is determining where in the catchment changes will have the desired effect downstream. The spatial and temporal dependence of NFM measures (Pattison and Lane, 2012) means that the same land use in two parts of the catchment will have different catchment scale impacts, along with an intervention in the same location having different effects in different storm events. The PhD will contribute to the evidence base through developing our process based understanding of how field scale changes in land management upscale and impact on extreme flood events. A combination of field monitoring, data analysis and hydrological modelling will be employed to do this. Firstly, the impact of a land management measure e.g. hedgerows, compaction etc, will be investigated through field experimentation to understand the changes to the water cycle. These interventions will then be represented within a catchment scale physically based hydrological model. Finally, locations for interventions will be optimised for reducing downstream flood risk.

Further information can be found here: http://centa.org.uk/themes/dynamic-earth/lb4/

For further information, please see the main CENTA website http://www.centa.org.uk/ or contact Dr Ian Pattison, [Email Address Removed] , http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/civil-building/staff/pattisonian/ @GoWithTheF1ow

Entry requirements:
Applicants will normally need to hold, or expect to gain, at least a 2:1 degree (or equivalent) in Geography, Earth Science or Environmental Science. A Master’s degree and/or experience in a related area associated with the research will be an advantage.

Funding information:
The studentship is for 3.5 years, which is intended to start October 2017. It provides a tax-free stipend of £14,296 per annum (2016/17 rate) for the duration plus tuition fees at the UK/EU rate and a research training support grant of £8,000. Due to funding restrictions, only students with UK/EU fee status will be considered for this opportunity. For further information on studentship eligibility please see RCUK Terms & Conditions.

Contact details: Name: Dr Ian Pattison, [Email Address Removed], +44 (0)1509 228737

How to apply:

1. Complete a CENTA studentship application form in Word format (see http://www.centa.org.uk/apply/ ).

2. All applications should be made online at http://www.lboro.ac.uk/study/apply/research/ Under programme name, select ‘Civil and Building Engineering’. During the online application process, upload the CENTA studentship application form as a supporting document.

Please quote CENTA-LU1 when completing your online application.
Reference: CENTA-LU1
Start date: 1 October 2017
Closing date: 23 January 2017
Interview date: w/c 13 February 2017
Primary supervisor: Dr Ian Pattison
Secondary supervisor: Dr Tim Marjoribanks