Applications are invited for a fully funded PhD studentship to join the Nottingham Centre for Geomechanics (NCG) based in the Materials, Mechanics and Structures Research Division (Faculty of Engineering) of the University of Nottingham. The student will work in a dynamic research environment, as part of a multi-disciplinary team of researchers, and will undertake research related to advanced experimental investigation of the long-term effect of environmental variations on the hydro-mechanical properties of natural soils in small strain (i.e. serviceability) domain.

The focus of this project is to undertake a series of new experimental investigations to examine how different environmental and hydrogeological conditions influence various soil properties, particularly the stiffness. The results of this research are expected to develop an improved and accurate measure for evaluating long-term stability of different geostructures such as flood embankments and levees.

The PhD student will become a member of the Nottingham Centre for Geomechanics (NCG) which has excellent laboratory and computational facilities and carries out research across key disciplines of geotechnical engineering. The student will work within a civil/geotechnical engineering laboratory environment and will be required to assist in design, setup, execution and interpretation of the experiments, and further computational implementation of the findings. There will be opportunities to present the research outputs locally and at international conferences.

Requirements of the studentship:

i) Students will have a minimum of 2:1 honours degree level (or equivalent) in civil engineering, mechanical engineering or chemical engineering, with relevant experimental experience. An MSc degree with distinction or equivalent, in geotechnics, geoenvironment or hydrogeology is highly desirable.

ii) Students should be able to demonstrate a proven background and strong interest in laboratory hydro-mechanical testing of soils; should have good written and oral presentation skills as well as strong analytical and problem solving skills. Working experience with LabView, sensor electronics and data acquisition systems is appreciated.

The studentship will cover PhD tuition fees for UK/EU students and a tax free stipend for three years (£13,726 for the 2013-14 academic year). The studentship is expected to start in January 2014 or as early as possible after this date.

For informal enquiries or formal applications, please send a CV, a covering letter stating how your interests and experience relate to the project, your academic transcripts and the names and email addresses of two academic referees to Dr Mohammad Rezania, email: mohammad.rezania@nottingham.ac.uk .

Further information and application details are also available at: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/jobs/currentvacancies/ref/ENG751