PhD Studentship: Metastability of Geophysical Turbulent Flows

Applications are invited for a three year Postgraduate studentship, at the School of Engineering and Applied Science, to be undertaken within the Mathematics Group and the System Analytics Research Institute (SARI) at Aston University. The successful applicant will join an established Fluid Dynamics Group working on turbulent flows. 

The position is available to start in October 2018 (subject to negotiation)

Financial Support

This studentship includes a fee bursary to cover the home/EU fees rate plus a maintenance allowance of £14,777 in 2018/19.

Applicants from outside the EU may apply for this studentship but will need to pay the difference between the ‘Home/EU’ and the ‘Overseas’ tuition fees, which is currently set at £12,290 in 2018/19.

As part of the application you will be required to confirm that you have secured this additional funding. 

Background of the Project

The PhD studentship will focus on advanced geophysical fluid dynamics with plans to develop a kinetic theory description for the evolution of large-scale geophysical fluid flows that model planetary atmospheres and oceans. The formalism will provide a convenient way to study metastability within these flows: instances of random and abrupt transitions of the mean flow profile between two or more quasi-stable states. These events are particularly important for understanding the Earth’s long-term climate oscillations and magnetic field reversals. To aid the theoretical treatment, the PhD studentship will also utilize GPU numerical codes written in CUDA and C++ for the simulations of these dynamics. (No prior knowledge of CUDA and C++ will be assumed.)

Person Specification

The successful applicant should have a first class or upper second class honours degree or equivalent qualification in Mathematics, Physics, or Engineering. Preferred skill requirements include knowledge/experience of undergraduate-level Fluid Mechanics. 

We would particularly like to encourage application from women seeking to progress their academic careers. Aston University is committed to the principles of the Athena SWAN Charter, recently recognised by a prestigious Silver Award to EAS, and we pride ourselves on our vibrant, friendly and supportive environment and family atmosphere.

For informal enquiries about this project and other opportunities within Mathematics and SARI, contact Dr Jason Laurie by email at j.laurie@aston.ac.uk

If you require further information about the application process please contact the Postgraduate Admissions team at seasres@aston.ac.uk 

The online application form, reference forms and details of entry requirements, including English language (for students outside EU) are available here.

Applications must also be accompanied by a research proposal giving an overview of the main themes of the research, and explaining how your knowledge and experience will benefit the project.

Details of how to write your project proposal are also included in the How to Apply section.