PhD Studentships in Sustainable Water Supply, Use and Treatment
The School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography at Bangor University invites
applications for two research positions leading to a PhD, part funded under the ERDF INTERREG
Ireland-Wales programme 2014-2020. The School is collaborating with Trinity College Dublin’s
Department of Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering and Trinity Business School in this
research. The project is entitled ‘Distributing our Water Resources: Utilising Integrated, Smart & lowCarbon Energy’ (Dŵr Uisce). The aim of the Dŵr Uisce project is to improve the long-term
sustainability of water supply, treatment and end-use in Ireland and Wales through:
1. The development of three new innovative technology platforms including micro-hydropower,
drain water heat recovery and smart network controls;
2. Undertaking local and regional scale economic and environmental impact assessments;
3. Developing policy and best practice guidelines to facilitate the implementation of integrated
low-carbon and smart energy solutions for the water sector.
The multi-disciplinary research team at Bangor University are responsible for the delivery of lowcarbon and resource-efficient deployment of energy recovery technologies, energy auditing and
benchmarking of water supply and use, and assessing climate change impacts on our water
resources. Applications are invited for two fully-funded PhD studentships in assessing the efficiency
and sustainability of water supply, use and wastewater treatment. We invite applications from a
broad range of interests relevant to the project. For instance, depending on the strengths of the
successful candidates, they could be tasked to undertake a combination of the following:
 Work closely with water companies and large-scale consumers in Wales and Ireland to
develop technical best practice guidelines to improve the efficiency of water supply and use.
 Review current energy auditing and benchmarking initiatives to determine best practice
suitable for the water sector.
 Explore the economic and environmental potential of energy recovery in the water cycle from
a circular economy perspective, using life cycle assessment and other quantitative tools.
 Develop an eco-design toolkit for the water sector to promote circular economy in design and
delivery of water infrastructure including energy recovery technologies.
 Provide a roadmap to achieve maximum efficiency in the water-energy nexus.
 Deliver policy and guidance for benchmarking the energy efficiency of water networks.
Candidates with a good honours degrees in Environmental Sciences, Water Engineering or a related
discipline will be considered. Candidates are asked to send a cover letter, CV and the names of two
referees, at least one of whom should be an academic, to the address below.
The stipend is the standard PhD rate of approximately £14,000 per annum for a period of 4 years.
Closing date for applications is Friday 30th June 2017. Positions commencing in September 2017.
Informal enquiries to [email protected] or [email protected]
Dr Prysor Williams / Dr David Styles
School of Environment, Natural Resources & Geography
Bangor University
Bangor
LL57 2UW
United Kingdom
Email: [email protected] / [email protected]
Telephone +44 (0)1248 38 2637 / 2502