PhD Studentship: Infrastructure System Management in a Changing Climate

About the role

This is a four-year (1+3 MRes/PhD) studentship funded through the Cambridge EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Infrastructure and Built Environment (FIBE3 CDT), in collaboration with Network Rail, which operates and maintains the railway infrastructure across Great Britain. The project studies how environmental and operational thresholds for key rail assets can be defined, quantified and integrated into long-term climate adaptation planning, identifying tipping points caused by extreme heat, high-intensity rainfall, soil moisture variation and compound weather events.

The work uses an interdisciplinary systems approach and data analysis of historical asset and network performance, modelling the data available through Network Rail to support threshold identification. It does not advance fundamental physics or engineering models of a specific asset type, but evaluates how threshold-based insights can improve the timing, prioritisation and appraisal of adaptation options within existing decision frameworks used by Network Rail and national transport bodies.

Required profile

• A high 2.1 degree, preferably at Masters level, in a related discipline such as civil engineering, construction management or climate science.
• Some quantitative undergraduate training.
• An inclination towards systems thinking and analysis.

What we offer

• Fully funded studentship covering fees and maintenance, initially for eligible home students; a limited number of international students may be considered later.
• Supervision by Dr Kristen MacAskill.

Applications are made online through the University of Cambridge Applicant Portal, stating the project title and supervisor's name, with a £20 application fee. Early applications are strongly encouraged.