PhD Studentship: Grey Water Recycling With Nature Based Solutions

Applicants should have a first- or second-class UK honours degree or international equivalent in a related discipline. This project would suit in a relevant subject such as chemical engineering, chemistry, environmental engineering, environmental science, horticultural science or other relevant engineering/science degree.

Funding

To be eligible for this funding, applicants must be a UK. We require that applicants are under no restrictions regarding how long they can stay in the UK i.e. have no visa restrictions.

• £20,000 per year

• Contract

• Full-time

• 2 hours ago

tart date: 24/03/2025

Studentship funding

Sponsored through the EPSRC iCASE award with sponsorship from the Royal Horticultural Society his studentship will provide a bursary of up to £20,000 per annum (tax free) plus fees* for four years.

Type of opportunity

Fully-funded studentship – Opportunities which are fully funded (e.g. covers all fees and stipend)

Eligibility & Related Project Details

Fee status of eligible applicants: UK

Duration of Award if full time preferred*: 4 years

1st Supervisor: Professor Bruce Jefferson

2nd Supervisor: Dr Marc Pidou

Introductory Paragraph

This fully funded PhD, with a stipend of £20,000 pa, is sponsored by the Royal Horticultural Society and EPSRC. The research offers an exciting opportunity to develop a nature-based solution (NbS) for the treatment of greywater for irrigation use. This is an experimental program that will explore how the selection of plants and the design of a compact NbS system impacts the ability to clean greywater to a level suitable for garden irrigation.

Main Copy (advised structure)

There is not enough water to meet our needs. At least not from our traditional sources such that an emerging negative water supply-demand balance is expected across most of the UK. Particular note is given to the elevated demand during the summer months which is linked to outside use and especially horticultural irrigation. This can equate to a doubling of water use for some properties and this demand is difficult to meet from rainwater harvesting alone. An appropriate alternative is greywater recycling which can provide adequate water for horticultural irrigation all year round and hence remediate existing supply resilience challenges if adopted in locations with active horticulture from single household to large gardens (such as the RHS gardens).

For further information please contact: Professor Bruce Jefferson