Postgraduate research opportunities Smart Asset Management of Wastewater Treatment Processes

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Key facts

  • Opens: Friday 18 December 2020
  • Deadline: Friday 30 April 2021
  • Number of places: One
  • Duration: 36 MONTHS
  • Funding: Home fee, Stipend

Overview

This research aims to develop an integrated diagnosis, prediction and maintenance strategy with the goal of identifying reliable signals in wastewater treatment process and then advising on optimal cost-effective maintenance actions. New machine learning algorithms will be developed and evaluated to extract information
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Eligibility

1st class first degree and/or an excellent Masters-level qualification or overseas equivalent in a relevant computer science, management science, operations research, mathematics and statistics, and data science from a recognised academic institution. If English is not your first language you will also be required to provide a recent UKVI recognised secure English language test qualification (minimum overall band score of 6.5 with no individual test score below 5.5) or a university degree completed in a recognized English speaking country.

THE Awards 2019: UK University of the Year Winner
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Project Details

The PhD project aims to develop a modelling framework to support smart management of the assets in the wastewater treatment process by advising on cost-effective maintenance actions given information extracted from sensor data.

Specifically, the objectives are as follows.

  1. To develop novel deep transfer learning algorithms to identify, diagnose and locate faults that are signals in wastewater treatment.
  2. To evaluate the deep transfer learning algorithms against other relevant machine learning algorithms using empirical test data sets.
  3. To develop stochastic models, informed by the results of the fault detection, to determine the remaining useful life of assets within the wastewater treatment and to evaluate the risk of faults.
  4. To develop a framework for smart asset management that supports dynamically advising on a cost-effective maintenance strategy to achieve acceptable control in wastewater treatment.
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Funding details

Fully-funded scholarship for 3 years which covers all university tuition fees (at UK level) and an annual tax-free stipend. EU/International students are also eligible for the scholarship, but would need to find other funding sources to cover the university tuition fee difference between the Home rate and the International rate. Exceptional EU/International candidates may be provided funding for this difference.

While there is no funding in place for opportunities marked "unfunded", there are lots of different options to help you fund postgraduate research. Visit funding your postgraduate research for links to government grants, research councils funding and more, that could be available.

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Supervisors

Primary supervisor: Dr Bin Liu

Secondary supervisor: Prof Lesley Walls

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How to apply

We require applicants to upload documents in two different places:

  1. We require you to apply for PhD student using the standard University application system. You can access this here. Candidates applying for this scholarship should ensure that they include the scholarship reference 2325
  2. We need you to upload your application documentation to this site which will allow us to undertake the required recruitment process for the scholarship. Once you have accessed the folder please upload the following:

 

 

All applications should include:

  • cover letter indicating the candidate's relevant skills/experience and how they can contribute to this research
  • CV
  • transcripts and certificates of all degrees
  • proof of English language proficiency if English isn't your first language – IELTS minimum overall band score of 6.5 (no individual test score below 5.5)
  • two references (please refer to guidance on references here)

When sending the above documents please use the following file-naming convention: fullname_typeofdocument

  • fullname_coverletter
  • fullname_CV
  • fullname_transcript1
  • fullname_transcript2
  • fullname_certificate1
  • fullname_certificate2
  • fullname_IELTS
  • fullname_reference1
  • fullname_reference2

Apply now by uploading your documents.

Number of places: One

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Contact us

PhD supervisor: Dr Bin Liu: b.liu@strath.ac.uk

Prof Lesley Walls: lesley.walls@strath.ac.uk

Department Administrator: Elaine Monteith: elaine.monteith@strath.ac.uk