STREAM
EngDStudentship
Rooting Out Resilience: developing and embedding metrics within the water industry
An Engineering Doctorate (EngD) studentship with a focus on resilience in the water sector is available between Northumbrian Water Ltd and the Centre for Water Systems at the University of Exeter in the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences.
Starting in October 2017 the studentship is funded through the STREAM Industrial Doctorate Centre for the UK Water Sector ( This unique 4-year studentship allows doctoral-level research to be conducted while working directly with an industrial partner in the water sector. The programme will also allow the participant to receive postgraduate-level technical and transferable skills training at five leading UK universities in the water research field.
Ideally the candidate will be based primarily at Northumbrian Water in Durham and supervised by Martin Huttly from Northumbrian Water and Professor David Butler and Dr Sarah Ward from the University of Exeter.
Project Description
The science and engineering of resilience is currently developing apace, with a range of toolkits available for cities. Aligned to recent research on reliability, resilience and sustainability for water management (the ‘Safe&SuRe’ approach: this project will contribute to furthering the journey towards a set of resilience metrics for the water industry using a whole-company approach based on properties and performance.
The responsibility for delivering Ofwat’s resilience duties falls onto the entire water sector and within the industry partnerships such as WaterUK are establishing action groups to forward related agendas. The EngD student will become embedded in this context and build a framework to translate the latest research on resilience into practical, usable outputs for Northumbrian water and the wider sector, enabling tools to be built-in to everyday business processes including the Periodic Review (e.g. PR19/24).
The aim of this project is to undertake a detailed, in depth study of the resilience of Northumbrian Water and the services it provides. The objectives will be to review the literature on resilience, clarify pertinent definitions, identify key resilience actions currently within the business, develop simplified metrics, establish benchmarks or baselines, measure resilience against those benchmarks, evaluate current performance, anticipate future trends and recommend how resilience can be integrated into business processes. Through the application of a range of methodologies the project should give an excellent grounding in the business, different types of resilience within it (e.g. service, infrastructure, environment, customer, business), how it is currently managed and challenges for the future.
Value of Award(Number of Awards: 1)
Stipend of £19k rising to £20k with an additional EPSRC fixed travel and subsistence budget. Fees paid at the UK/EU Rate depending uponEPSRC.
Sponsor - Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)andNorthumbrian Water Ltd
Eligibility Criteria - A first or upper second class honours and/or master’s degree in civil or environmental engineering, environmental sciences, physical geography or a similar programme with a numerical element (e.g. businesss studies, economics). Depending on how you meet theEPSRC’s eligibility criteria, you may be entitled to a full or a partial award.
Application Closing Date –30th June 2017
Interviews to be held on – 14th July 2017
How to Apply - Please send CV and covering letter highlighting your relevant background and experience to Dr Sarah Ward ()
Contact - For further details, please contactDr Sarah Ward ()