PhD – Cork Coastline Dynamics
Closing Date for Applications: 19 Apr 2022
Contract Type: Fixed Term Whole-Time
Funding details: €18,000 stipend per annum. EU tuition fees will be covered for three and a half years. Non-EU applicants are welcome to apply but may incur additional fees.
Duration: 42 months
Supervisor: Dr Jimmy Murphy and Dr Michael O’Shea (Engineering), Dr Fiona Cawkwell (Geography).
Over 1.9 million people, or approximately 40% of the population in Ireland live within 5km of the coast, with 40,000 living less than 100m from the coast (CSO, 2016). Additionally, much of the nation’s economic and social infrastructure and activity also lies within coastal areas, and the threat posed by coastal erosion and flooding could potentially have an impact across the whole country. In order to understand and anticipate areas that are most at risk, a comprehensive assessment of recent coastal erosion using a mix of field surveys and geoinformatics mapping techniques is required, which can be integrated with additional physical, social and economic spatial data in a GIS. Using this information, in addition to the output from numerical modelling of environmental forcing’s and beach changes, a methodology can be developed to provide a quantifiable metric of the vulnerability of the coastline that can be tested against known events. The GIS can therefore be used as a decision support tool for more efficient coastal management and enable the optimal design of coastal protection solutions.
To address the above challenges associated with managing an exposed Atlantic coastline, Cork County Council are now funding two PhD positions. This PhD position will focus on understanding coastal behaviour whilst the second PhD position will through the use of a GIS develop a coastal vulnerability assessment methodology. Both PhDs will use the County Cork coastline as a case study location.
The two students will work in close collaboration and will be based in UCC, primarily at the MaREI Centre (see below) in the Beaufort Building but also as required in the School of Engineering or the Geography Department. They will conduct a specified programme of research under the supervision and direction of UCC supervisors, and in collaboration with staff from Cork County Council. It is expected that the students will benefit from interaction with other research groups across the Environmental Research Institute as well as undertake further studies from courses offered within the university.
