Robust Climate Change Projections for the Built Environment - Engineering - EPSRC DTP funded PhD Studentship

About the award

This project is one of a number funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Doctoral Training Partnership to commence in September 2018. This project is in direct competition with others for funding; the projects which receive the best applicants will be awarded the funding.

The studentships will provide funding for a stipend which is currently £14,553 per annum for 2017-2018. It will provide research costs and UK/EU tuition fees at Research Council UK rates for 42 months (3.5 years) for full-time students, pro rata for part-time students.

Please note that of the total number of projects within the competition, up to 15 studentships will be filled.

Location
Streatham Campus, Exeter

Project Description
EPSRC PhD funding is available to study the most recent climate change projections and investigate the potential impacts on the built environment.

It is well known that climate change will have a significant impact on UK building design and energy use. The predicted changes in temperature will be large enough to cause significant discomfort in our buildings. To plan for these changes we will need robust predictions of the future climate suitable for use in building simulation models. There has been much interest in creating such predictions but these have generally been based on very low resolution climate data, considered a subset of climatic variables and often the level of uncertainty is high. Previous projections have provided projections up to the 2080s but these are at a relatively low temporal resolution and ignore the possibility of variability.

In this PhD we will produce a robust set of climate change predictions for use with risk assessments in the built environment. We will use the next set of climate change projections as the basis for this work. Existing methods for investigating the impacts of climate change will either need to be redeveloped or completely reimagined. We will study methodologies to produce climate data which is representative of the most recent science and evolve over time. This approach would allow us to investigate potential tipping points. For example, the point where a building would require air conditioning to maintain thermal comfort or the point at which natural ventilation may not be sufficient to prevent overheating. Sensitivity analysis will need to be used to determine what variables are significantly changing and whether these variables have a significant effect on building design.

The ideal candidate will have an interest in modelling climate change or in predicting the impacts of climate change. This project will suit a student with a statistics, mathematics, building physics or related background. The student will also collaborate with the met office with support from Mike Sanderson from the Applied Science team.

Entry Requirements
You should have or expect to achieve at least a 2:1 Honours degree, or equivalent, in Mathematics, Physics, Engineering or Computer Science. Experience in climate change modelling or impact assessment is desirable.

If English is not your first language you will need to meet the English language requirements and provide proof of proficiency.

The majority of the studentships are available for applicants who are ordinarily resident in the UK and are classed as UK/EU for tuition fee purposes. If you have not resided in the UK for at least 3 years prior to the start of the studentship, you are not eligible for a maintenance allowance so you would need an alternative source of funding for living costs. To be eligible for fees-only funding you must be ordinarily resident in a member state of the EU.

Applicants who are classed as International for tuition fee purposes are NOT eligible for funding. International students interested in studying at the University of Exeter should search our funding database for alternative options.