A fully funded PhD studentship at Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh, UK) on reconstructing groundwater pollution release histories under geological uncertainty, using machine learning and adaptive monitoring. The project is offered through the Iapetus DTP NERC Doctoral Training Partnership Studentship Competition 2026–27 and is supervised by Dr Nanzhe Wang (Heriot-Watt University), Dr Marco Bianchi (British Geological Survey) and Dr Yihuai Zhang (University of Glasgow).
Institution: Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK (host), with supervision from the British Geological Survey and the University of Glasgow
Field: Environmental science, hydrogeology, groundwater contaminant transport, machine learning, Bayesian inversion and uncertainty quantification, reinforcement learning for monitoring design
Level: PhD (3.5 years)
Funding: Competitive, fully funded studentship covering tuition fees at the UK Home rate, a stipend, and research and training support. International fee arrangements are subject to host university policy.
Eligibility: Candidates with backgrounds in hydrogeology, geoscience, geoenergy, environmental science, computational modelling, machine learning, applied mathematics or related disciplines are welcome. International applicants must contact the supervisor by 7 December 2026, and each supervisory team can shortlist at most one international applicant. The Iapetus Widening Participation Scheme and the separate Iapetus Diversifying Talent Scholarship Scheme are available for eligible candidates from underrepresented groups.
Deadline: Jan 5, 2027 (12:00 noon GMT, for Home and sponsored international applicants). Applications open on 6 November 2026.
How to apply: Full project details and application information: https://lnkd.in/eewNntTB (international applicants should first email nanzhe.wang@hw.ac.uk by 7 December 2026).
