69成人网

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to footer
  • Accessibility options
University of 69成人网
  • 69成人网
  • Business and
    employers
  • Alumni and
    supporters
  • For
    students
  • Accessibility
    options
Open menu
Home
Home
  • Close
  • Study here
    • Get to know us
    • Why choose 69成人网?
    • Explore our prospectus
    • Chat to our students
    • Ask us a question
    • Meet us
    • Open days and visits
    • Virtual tours
    • Applicant days
    • Meet us in your country
    • Campuses
    • Our campuses
    • Our city
    • Accommodation options
    • Our halls
    • Helping you find a home
    • What you can study
    • Find a course
    • Full A-Z course list
    • Explore our subjects
    • Our academic departments
    • How to apply
    • Undergraduate application process
    • Postgraduate application process
    • International student application process
    • Apprenticeships
    • Transfer from another university
    • International students
    • Clearing
    • Funding your time at uni
    • Fees and financial support
    • What's included in your fees
    • 69成人网 Boost – extra financial help
    • Advice and guidance
    • Advice for students
    • Guide for offer holders
    • Advice for parents and carers
    • Advice for schools and colleges
    • Supporting you
    • Your academic experience
    • Your wellbeing
    • Your career and employability
  • Research
    • Research and knowledge exchange
    • Research and knowledge exchange organisation
    • The Global Challenges
    • Centres of Research Excellence (COREs)
    • Research Excellence Groups (REGs)
    • Information for business
    • Community University Partnership Programme (CUPP)
    • Postgraduate research degrees
    • PhD research disciplines and programmes
    • PhD funding opportunities and studentships
    • How to apply for your PhD
    • Research environment
    • Investing in research careers
    • Strategic plan
    • Research concordat
    • News, events, publications and films
    • Featured research and knowledge exchange projects
    • Research and knowledge exchange news
    • Inaugural lectures
    • Research and knowledge exchange publications and films
    • Academic staff search
  • 69成人网
  • Business and employers
  • Alumni, supporters and giving
  • Current students
  • Accessibility
Search our site
Banner image representing Civil Engineering research, shows researcher looking into landscape levelling equipment
Research and knowledge exchange
  • Research and knowledge exchange
  • Postgraduate research degrees
  • Research features
  • Research organisation
  • Research environment
  • Postgraduate research degrees
  • Our postgraduate research disciplines
  • Civil engineering PhD

Civil Engineering PhD

From developing innovative new construction materials, to investigating the sustainability of managed realignment coastal protection schemes, our civil engineering staff and PhD students are at the leading edge of research into the ways materials, soils, structures and engineered systems respond to forces imposed by the natural environment.

The majority of our work has real-world application. Data generated by researchers in our Sustainability and Resilience Engineering Research and Enterprise Group (SuRE) is being used, for example, in the design and redesign of structures in earthquake-prone regions, the smart management of infrastructure assets such as highway bridges, and the geotechnical engineering of foundation systems for wind turbines.

We provide Civil Engineering PhD students with opportunities to work across the spectrum of civil engineering, including research which straddles traditional disciplinary boundaries into, for example, geology, physical geography and environmental science. We believe that this interdisciplinary focus provides our students with an appreciation of real-world problems, and ensures that they are highly employable.

Key information

As a Civil Engineering PhD student, you will benefit from:

  •  a supervisory team comprising two to three members of academic staff. Depending on your research specialism you may also have an additional external supervisor from another school, another research institution, or industry.
  • All students are provided with desk space and access to a desktop PC, either in one of the postgraduate offices on the sixth floor of the award-winning Cockcroft Building, or within the adjacent Heavy Engineering Block. You will additionally benefit from access to a range of electronic resources via the University’s Online Library, as well as to the physical book and journal collections housed within the Aldrich Library and other campus libraries.
  • PhD students within the School of Architecture, Technology and Engineering are able to use various state-of-the-art research facilities on the Moulsecoomb site, including specialist geochemical and geotechnical laboratories, microbial and water quality laboratories, hydraulic flumes, an experimental river basin, a water efficiency laboratory, microscopy laboratories (optical and scanning electron microscopes), and a concrete laboratory, as well as a large array of field equipment. All of these facilities are supported by a team of dedicated laboratory and workshop technicians.
  • All postgraduate students working on civil engineering topics are integrated into one or more of our Research Groups (see below). These groups provide you with opportunities to present ‘work in progress’ and network with other researchers.
  • The 69成人网 Doctoral College offer a training programme for postgraduate researchers, covering research methods and transferable (including employability) skills.

Academic environment

The interdisciplinary ethos of the School of Architecture, Technology and Engineering provides an ideal home for this research. Based on the University’s Moulsecoomb Campus, School of Architecture, Technology and Engineering has a vibrant community of 75 academic and research staff, and over 60 PhD students. Research within the school has a common aim to address key environmental, social and resource issues, and deliver translational research with local, regional and international benefits. Our staff expertise spans a range of disciplines, including civil engineering, built environment, geology, environmental science, human and physical geography, and archaeology.

Researchers within the School of Architecture, Technology and Engineering are engaged in work across a wide range of topic areas, and thus we would be well placed to support a PhD in Civil engineering from almost any area of the discipline. Our particular areas of specialism currently include:

  • Advanced construction materials
  • Coastal, estuarine and river engineering
  • Geotechnical engineering
  • Resilient structures and earthquake engineering
  • Smart infrastructure asset management

Meet our supervisors

Profile photo for Dr Heidi Burgess

For both MRes and PhD, I am particularly interested in supervising projects in the area of聽 intertidal, estuarine and riverine water / sediment interaction and climate. Examples of applications could include:

  • Quantifying the impact that different types of Nature Based Solutions have on Riverine Flood Management.
  • The impact that drainage systems have on the development of Managed Realignment sites and the colonisation by intertidal flora.
  • How mycelium develops in newly inundated intertidal wetlands.
  • Furthering the understanding into the processes of how terrestrial soil transforms into intertidal sediment when inundated by saline water.
  • The impact of Coastal Managed and Managed Realignment design has on fish habitats and how engineering could be used to increase habitat suitability, impacting positively on fish stocks. (see: - MR Fish Geomorphology (ICECM 2019) (brighton.ac.uk))
  • The impact of changing weather patterns on intertidal environments.
  • Projects related to the CHASM project , particularly the sediment and hydro elements.

Along with any project which brings together the following elements: Natural Flood Management, habitat creation, eco-system services, impact of sea-level rise and impact on health and wellbeing.

Profile photo for Dr Pierfrancesco Cacciola

My supervisory interests include topics in the general Structural Dynamics and Vibrations research area.聽 I am particularly interested in researching how uncertainties influence the dynamic behaviour of structures and components. The study of randomness in both material properties and external input opens several research topics including stochastic modelling and reliability analysis, random vibrations and vibrations control that I am keen to further explore.聽 Research in earthquake engineering and in innovative seismic protection device are particularly welcomed.聽

Profile photo for Dr Anastasios Georgoulas

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling and Experimental Characterisation of diabatic two-phase flows with phase change (pool boiling, flow boiling, cavitation), turbulent multiphase flows (water-sediment/turbidity currents, water-air/free surface flows), heat and mass transfer, aerodynamics, HVAC

Profile photo for Prof Imran Rafiq

I would be keen to supervise research on; deterioration and its impact (including clilmate change) on structural performance, probabilistic modelling for deterioration processes, service life modelling of deteriorating structures, structural health monitoring and development of decision making systems pertinent to the maintenance management of civil infrastructure assets.

For further supervisory staff including cross-disciplinary options, please visit .

Making an  application

Once you have prepared a first-rate application you can apply to the University of 69成人网 through our . When you do, you will require a research proposal, references, a personal statement and a record of your education.

You will be asked whether you have discussed your research proposal and your suitability for doctoral study with a member of the University of 69成人网 staff. We strongly recommend that all applications are made with the collaboration of at least one potential supervisor. Approaches to potential supervisors can be made directly through the details available online. If you are unsure, please do contact the Doctoral College for advice.

Please visit our How to apply for a PhD page for detailed information.

Sign in to our to begin.

Fees and funding

 Funding

Undertaking research study will require university fees as well as support for your research activities and plans for subsistence during full or part-time study.

Funding sources include self-funding, funding by an employer or industrial partners; there are competitive funding opportunities available in most disciplines through, for example, our own university studentships or national (UK) research councils. International students may have options from either their home-based research funding organisations or may be eligible for some UK funds.

Learn more about the funding opportunities available to you.

Tuition fees academic year 2024–25

Standard fees are listed below, but may vary depending on subject area. Some subject areas may charge bench fees/consumables; this will be decided as part of any offer made. Fees for UK and international/EU students on full-time and part-time courses are likely to incur a small inflation rise each year of a research programme.

MPhil/PhD
 Full-timePart-time

UK

£4,786 

£2,393

International (including EU)

£15,900

N/A

International students registered in the School of Humanities and Social Science or in the School of Business and Law

£14,500

N/A


PhD by Publication
Full-time Part-time
 N/A  £2,393

Contact 69成人网 Doctoral College

To contact the Doctoral College at the University of 69成人网 we request an email in the first instance. Please visit our contact the 69成人网 Doctoral College page.

For supervisory contact, please see individual profile pages.

Back to top

Contact us

University of 69成人网
Mithras House
Lewes Road
69成人网
BN2 4AT

Main switchboard 01273 600900

Course enquiries

Sign up for updates

University contacts

Report a problem with this page

Quick links Quick links

  • Courses
  • Open days
  • Explore our prospectus
  • Academic departments
  • Academic staff
  • Professional services departments
  • Jobs
  • Privacy and cookie policy
  • Accessibility statement
  • Libraries
  • Term dates
  • Maps
  • Graduation
  • Site information
  • The Student Contract

Information for Information for

  • Current students
  • International students
  • Media/press
  • Careers advisers/teachers
  • Parents/carers
  • Business/employers
  • Alumni/supporters
  • Suppliers
  • Local residents