Programme of study for Doctor of Philosophy – Water and Waste Infrastructure and Services Engineering for Resilience (Water WISER) 2024/25

This programme is no longer recruiting.

School: Civil Engineering.

1st class (Hons) degree in relevant subject area, for example, engineering, social sciences, health sciences, economics, etc. Where they have other relevant qualifications or experience, candidates with a 2:1 will also be considered.

Part-time candidates will normally be expected to commence the programme at the same time as the full-time cohort.

Year 1

• An outline training plan will be developed by the end of month 1 when the PGR selects the taught elements.
• Month 6 (full-time candidates)/month 9 (part-time candidates): submit a draft research plan and supervisory teams appointed.
• Month 12 (full-time candidates)/month 18 (part-time candidates): submit final draft PhD proposal for approval by the Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) management team (including the training plan).
• A minimum of four (60 credits) specialised subject modules must be taken over year 1 and 2 (part-time candidates must select a minimum of 30 credits in year 1) selected from the following list:
  • NUFF5065M Key Issues in International Health
  • CIVE5050M Management of WASH Projects
  • CIVE5055M Engineering for Public Health
  • CIVE5311M Wastewater and Fecal Sludge Management
  • CIVE5680M Environmental Microbiology
  • CIVE5370M Indoor and Urban Air Quality
  • CIVE5535M Advanced Wastewater Management
  • CIVE5990M Project and Asset Management
  • CIVE5321M Water Supply
  • CIVE5316M Water Resources Management
  • CIVE5575M Groundwater Pollution and Contaminated Land
  • CIVE5557M Solid Waste Management
  • CIVE5985M Circular Economy and Resource Recovery from Waste
  • CIVE5596M Engineering in Emergencies
  • SOEE5095M Environmental Economics and Policy
  • TRAN5750M Transport in Development
  • GEOG5060M GIS and Environment
  • GEOG5530M River basin management for water quality
  • GEOG5710M Digital Image Processing for Environmental Remote Sensing
  • GEOG5790M Programming for Geographical Information Analysis; Advanced Skills
  • GEOG5830M Environmental Assessment
  • SOEE5483M Critical Perspectives in Environment and Development
  • SOEE5550M Climate Change; Impacts and Adaptation
  • SOEE5970M Terrestrial Biosphere in Earth System
  • NUFF5635M Epidemiology and Biostatistics for Health Systems Strengthening.
• Other options may be included if approved by the Programme Leader. The structured training programme must be discussed and agreed with the CDT management team via the Programme Leader.
• A compulsory non-credit-bearing research skills training course called Water WISER Research Skills.
• Compulsory training events: annual team building, challenge week conference and two professional networking events.
• Part-time candidates will be required to attend all the cohort activities during year 1 (around 15 days), along with the full time cohort.
• In subsequent years, part-time candidates will attend all the team building events (a total of around 10 days) and may choose, or on the advice of their supervisors, to attend the Research Skills training sessions during year 2.

Successful completion of the taught elements of the programme is required in order for PGRs to progress on the programme.

Year 2

• Commence research under the direction of their supervisor(s).
• Candidates may opt to take additional taught subject modules (subject to available capacity on the module and agreement of the module manager) selected from the following list, to a minimum total of 60 credits over year 1 and year 2 (additional credits can be taken if judged necessary within the training plan):
  • NUFF5065M Key Issues in International Health
  • CIVE5050M Management of WASH Projects
  • CIVE5055M Engineering for Public Health
  • CIVE5311M Wastewater and Fecal Sludge Management
  • CIVE5680M Environmental Microbiology
  • CIVE5370M Indoor and Urban Air Quality
  • CIVE5535M Advanced Wastewater Management
  • CIVE5990M Project and Asset Management
  • CIVE5321M Water Supply
  • CIVE5316M Water Resources Management
  • CIVE5575M Groundwater Pollution and Contaminated Land
  • CIVE5557M Solid Waste Management
  • CIVE5985M Circular Economy and Resource Recovery from Waste
  • CIVE5596M Engineering in Emergencies
  • SOEE5095M Environmental Economics and Policy
  • TRAN5750M Transport in Development
  • GEOG5060M GIS and Environment
  • GEOG5530M River basin management for water quality
  • GEOG5710M Digital Image Processing for Environmental Remote Sensing
  • GEOG5790M Programming for Geographical Information Analysis; Advanced Skills
  • GEOG5830M Environmental Assessment
  • SOEE5483M Critical Perspectives in Environment and Development
  • SOEE5550M Climate Change; Impacts and Adaptation
  • SOEE5970M Terrestrial Biosphere in Earth System
  • NUFF5635M Epidemiology and Biostatistics for Health Systems Strengthening.
• Other options may be included if approved by the Programme Leader. The structured training programme must be discussed and agreed with the CDT management team via the Programme Leader.
• Complete compulsory training events: annual team building, challenge week, conference and two professional networking events.
• Month 16 (full-time candidates)/month 24 (part-time candidates): first formal progress report.
• Undergo the transfer assessment process at the end of year 2 (month 24) (full-time candidates).

Candidates will be required to pass 60 taught credits and successfully transfer to full PhD status in order to progress on the programme.

Year 3

• The PGR will continue research under the direction of their supervisor.
• Month 36 (full-time candidates): annual progress review.
• Month 36 (part-time candidates): undergo the transfer assessment process.

Year 4

• The PGR will continue research under the direction of their supervisor.
• Month 48: annual progress review (unless thesis submitted).
• The final submission deadline for the thesis is the end of month 48 (full-time candidates).

Year 5 (part-time candidates)

• The PGR will continue research under the direction of their supervisor.
• Month 60: annual progress review.

Year 6 (part-time candidates)

• The PGR will continue research under the direction of their supervisor.
• Month 72: annual progress review (unless thesis submitted).

Year 7 (part-time candidates)

• Overtime year if required.
• The final submission deadline for the thesis is the end of month 84 (part-time candidates).

Exit award

PGRs who fail to progress but who have acquired the required number of taught module credits may be entitled to exit with the award of a PG Cert (60 credits).

On completion of the research programme PGRs should have shown evidence of being able to:

• discover, interpret and communicate new knowledge through original research and/or scholarship of publishable quality which satisfies peer review
• present and defend original research outcomes which extend the forefront of a discipline or relevant area of professional/clinical practice
• demonstrate systematic and extensive knowledge of the subject area and expertise in generic and subject/professional skills
• take a proactive and self-reflective role in working and to develop professional relationships with others where appropriate
• independently and proactively formulate ideas and hypotheses and to design, develop, implement and execute plans by which to evaluate these
• critically and creatively evaluate current issues, research and advanced scholarship in the discipline
• demonstrate systematic knowledge of and be able to critically assess, analyse and engage with the ethical and legal context of their research and any ethical and legal implications of their research.

In addition, PGRs will be expected to demonstrate competency and knowledge of all of the core engineering specialisations and a deep knowledge and understanding of at least one of these: competency and knowledge of at least three technical and research skills areas; and mastery of the following range of professional skills.

Challenge areas/core engineering specialisms

Year 1 MSc modules and supplementary training in years 2 to 4.

Technology:

• Water treatment processes
• Wastewater treatment processes
• Faecal sludge treatment processes and management
• Solid waste management
• Sanitation service delivery
• Water service delivery
• Behaviour change, marketing and demand creation.

Planning

• Integrated water resources management
• River basin management
• Pollution control
• City wide sanitation planning
• Integrated urban planning
• Water smart cities.

Institutions

• Institutional and policy development
• Capability enhancement
• Utility management
• Equity and empowerment
• Land tenure, housing and education.

Finance

• Public finance
• Project finance
• Contract design and management
• Public private partnerships
• Tariff design
• Tax and transfer management.

Technical skills

Year 1 MSc modules and supplementary training in years 2 to 4.

Technology

• Human centered design
• Architectural design
• Civil and structural engineering
• Process engineering
• Behavioural science
• Computational fluid dynamics.

Planning

• Decision support science
• Risk management
• Project management
• Asset mangagement
• Optioneering.

Institutions

• Institutional analysis
• Policy analysis
• Service delivery assessment.

Finance

• Cost benefit analysis
• Carbon accounting
• Engineering economics.

Research skills

Year 1 research skills module and supplemental training.

• Design
• Modelling
• GIS and remote sensing
• Water quality, microbiology, sampling
• Economics
• Social science
• Political economics
• Citizen science and big data
• Mixed methods research and dissemination skills
• Computational methods.

Professional and personal skills

Years 1 to 4 training.

• Problem solving
• Communication
• Data-driven decision making
• Collaboration
• Partnerships
• Co-production
• Planning
• Use of ICT
• Data collection
• Data analysis
• Mentoring
• Conflict resolution
• Ethics in research and practice
• Research commercialisation and securitisation
• Entrepreneurship
• Marketing.

PGRs will have had the opportunity to acquire the following abilities through the research training and research specified for the programme

• the skills necessary for a career as a researcher and/or for employment in a senior and leading capacity in a relevant area of professional/clinical practice or industry
• evaluating their own achievement and that of others
• self-direction and effective decision making in complex and unpredictable situations
• independent learning and the ability to work in a way which ensures continuing professional development.

This will include the critical analysis of, and decision making in, complex and unpredictable professional and/or clinical situations. The structure of the programme will provide research and/or professional training, breadth and depth of study and opportunities for drawing upon appropriate resources and techniques.

Opportunities will be provided for PGRs to:

• develop to a high level interests and informed opinions
• develop to a high level their design and management of their learning activities
• develop to a high level their communication of their conclusions
• make an original contribution to the field.

PGRs will be expected to engage in the exercise of autonomous initiative in their study and work in professional environments.

Achievement will be assessed by the examination of the candidate’s thesis (or alternative form of thesis) and performance under oral examination. Assessment will involve the achievement of the candidate in:

• evidencing an ability to conduct original and independent broad and in-depth enquiry within the discipline or within different aspects of the area of professional/clinical practice normally leading to published work
• drawing on and/or developing a range of research techniques and methodologies appropriate to enquiries into the discipline/area of professional practice2 or alternative form of thesis
• demonstrating independent critical ability in the application of breadth and depth of knowledge to complex issues within the discipline or specialist area of professional/clinical practice
• drawing on a range of perspectives on the area of study
• evaluating and criticising received opinion
• making reasoned and well-informed judgements on complex issues within the specialism whilst understanding the limitations on judgements made in the absence of complete data
• the written style and overall presentation of the thesis.