Civil and Environmental Engineering PhD

Why choose this course
Your PhD will be conducted within one of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering’s world-class research groups, as you work together to create smart and clean urban environments within the constraints of space and the challenges of ageing infrastructure.

By sharing resources with other departments across the University, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering will be able to support you in pursuing multi-disciplinary and multi-scale research which spans traditional subject boundaries and enables science-led enquiry to create engineered solutions to industrially relevant problems both nationally and globally.

You will also benefit from the Department’s excellent track record for graduate employability and the wide range of scholarships offered through its partnerships with leading companies.

What you will study
On this programme your research will address the need for safe and sustainable environments in which we can all live and work. Your research can be about anything covered by one of our four research centres, or within the wider research interests in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences.

You’ll be assigned two supervisors, who will guide you through your PhD and meet with you at least once a month. Your supervisors will be responsible for your progress, professional development and your personal welfare. They’ll also be able to support you with preparing your work for publication, and for presenting to research seminars.

You’ll normally spend the first few months of your studies exploring the existing literature within your area of interest, and establishing the research question that you will address. After your first year, you’ll take a confirmation exam, and produce a report setting out your research objectives, what you’ve done so far, and a plan for how you’ll complete your final thesis. Your final assessment will be on your written thesis, and by a viva examination with both internal and external examiners.

As a research student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, you’ll be able to attend our regular research seminars, where you can find out more about what your fellow researchers are working on and try your hand at presenting yourself, improving your presentation skills. We encourage our research students to interact with all our research staff throughout their programmes.

Research support
The professional development of postgraduate researchers is supported by the Doctoral College, which provides training in essential skills through its Researcher Development Programme of workshops, mentoring and coaching. A dedicated postgraduate Careers and Employability team will help you prepare for a successful career after the completion of your PhD.

Research themes

• Infrastructure systems engineering
• GeoMechanics
• Water environment and health engineering
• Global Centre for Clean Air.