Get involved with FDRI supported PhDs

We're excited to share these opportunities to undertake a PhD aligned with the Floods and Droughts Research Infrastructure! Click on the links below to find out more. Application deadlines are throughout January.  

Habitat dependence of tipping points in upland soils and implications for natural flood management

Deadline: 8th January 2026

This project will develop new dynamic models to investigate how upland soils respond to management and drought and how these changes influence infiltration–runoff dynamics. The findings will directly inform the design and targeting of natural flood management interventions, supporting sustainable land management that works with natural processes to deliver multiple environmental and societal benefits.

Supervisors:

• Prof Tiina Roose and Dr Siul Ruiz (University of Southampton)
• Prof David Robinson and Dr Alejandro Dussaillant (UKCEH, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology).  
   

A sub-hourly quality controlled blended UK precipitation dataset to understand uncertainty in flood predictions

Deadline: 8th January 2026

This project will develop a new blended UK precipitation dataset at high temporal and spatial resolution. The student will integrate data from multiple sources—including tipping bucket rain gauges, weather radar, and satellites—using robust coding and data science techniques. The resulting dataset, open-access and user-focused, will directly support advanced flood risk modelling, hydrological predictions, and adaptation planning.

Supervisors:

• Prof Hayley Fowler and Dr Amy Green (University of Newcastle)
• Matt Fry and Dr Tom Keel (UKCEH, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology)

Upscaling Soil Moisture from Field to Catchment Scale: Integrating Ground Sensors, Satellite Data, and Drone Surveys for Hydrological Applications

Deadline: 13th January 2026

This project will evaluate geostatistical and machine learning upscaling techniques to create distributed catchment-scale soil moisture maps, used in hydrological modelling for flood and drought research as well as agricultural water management. Results will address fundamental scaling questions: how do soil properties, land management, and vegetation affect moisture distributions from fields to catchments? There will also be a focus on delivering practical outputs: validated multi-sensor upscaling methods for translating sparse fixed CRNS observations into distributed catchment information; soil moisture maps with quantified uncertainty bounds for model calibration and validation and transferable protocols applicable beyond instrumented sites.

Supervisors:

• Professor Andrew Wade,  and Dr Amy Green (University of Newcastle)
• Dr Tom Nisbet (Forest Research)
• Dr P Rameshwaran, Dr Alejandro Dussaillant and Dr Neeraj Sah (UKCEH, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology)

Do you have an exciting PhD project idea that could benefit from the infrastructure and support provided by the Flood and Drought Research Infrastructure?

We are seeking to develop collaborative PhD projects aligned with the UK Floods and Droughts Research Infrastructure (FDRI). FDRI PhD support includes access to infrastructure, training, placements, and expertise across the FDRI project and £5,000 towards PhD studentships. These initial PhD projects will take place while core monitoring infrastructure is being designed and installed, with many opportunities to partner with FDRI through innovative hydrological monitoring, novel digital infrastructure and working in our FDRI catchments in the Upper Tweed, Upper Severn and the Chess sub catchment (Thames basin).

For Project Investigators developing PhD proposals that would be advertised in Autumn 2025 and start in September 2026, please complete and return the application form below. Please note that proposed projects must include input from someone affiliated with FDRI (this could be co-supervision or more general input and support). This year, we will be prioritising projects aligned to the digital (led by Matt Fry, UKCEH) and innovation (led by Wouter Buytaert, Imperial) work packages. More information and details can be found in the application form.

We also welcome applications and expressions of interest throughout the year. If you miss the deadline above for central FDRI PhD support but are interested in developing a collaborative FDRI PhD project or have a funded project that is closely aligned to FDRI and would like to collaborate, then please get in touch at fdri@ceh.ac.uk.