About the Project

Extreme weather events are becoming more common in the UK. Rising flood risk, droughts and increasing pressure on public water supply required innovative, evidence-based solutions. Domestic gardens represent a vast but under-quantified component of the UK’s water cycle. Yet, critical questions remain unanswered. What are the evapotranspiration rates of different garden vegetation types? How much water do domestic landscapes use? How do gardens contribute to soil moisture storage, groundwater recharge and storm runoff mitigation? Can improved garden management enhance resilience to droughts and floods?

This PhD studentship offers a fantastic opportunity to collaborate with the Royal Horticultural Society to develop understanding and evaluate how the ‘green infrastructure’ benefits of gardens can be improved to increase climate resilience. Fees and stipend (£19,237; tax free) for a home (UK) student are covered by the studentship, with additional funding (£10,000) to support research and training. The studentship is sponsored by the Royal Horticultural Society with funding from the Leverhulme Trust through the Connected Waters Leverhulme Doctoral Programme.

There are around 30,000,000 gardens in the UK with an estimated combined area of over 4,300km2, equivalent to 20% the area of Wales. Gardens and other domestic outdoor spaces represent a major natural resource that is under highly diverse management and whose contributions to landscape water balance are uncertain and under-valued. Gardens’ vegetation evapotranspiration

Rates are strongly seasonal with high demands typically during periods of low water availability. Hence, research in this field has the potential to contribute towards alleviating current (seasonal) water stress experienced by the water sector, while providing broader ecosystem services such as habitat connectivity and amenity.

This exciting PhD, in collaboration with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), aims to use a combination of garden monitoring, data analysis, and modelling to develop an improved understanding of the water balance of domestic gardens and evaluate how the ‘green infrastructure’ benefits of gardens can be improved to increase society’s resilience to floods and droughts. The PhD has the following outline objectives:

To design, install and monitor site-based measurements of the components of garden water balances, in a range of locations: domestic gardens, RHS Wisley, RHS experimental facilities and Cranfield glasshouse;
To parameterise, calibrate and validate an appropriate numerical model to simulate the hydrological behaviour of gardens;
To combine data analysis, modelling and remote sensing approaches with land-use classification information to develop an up-scaled spatial analysis of the contribution of UK domestic gardens to the nation’s water balance and other ecosystem services;
To provide recommendations on how domestic gardeners can manage rainwater in their gardens to optimise rainwater storage and resilience to floods and droughts, and other ecosystem services.

This PhD is expected to provide improved understanding of the hydrological impacts and natural capital benefits of the UK’s gardens and horticultural sector. Continuing Cranfield’s collaboration with the RHS, it will also disseminate new knowledge on water dynamics within domestic gardens, and recommendations on ways of improving the efficiency of water use in gardens and adapting to climate change.

The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. Their charitable purpose is to inspire passion and excellence in the science, art and practice of horticulture and to be the leading global gardening charity, demonstrating excellence in horticulture and promoting gardening. They provide advice, knowledge and services to their 620,000+ members; 2.9 million garden visitors; and 547,000 visitors to RHS Shows. They also engage with 34,000 schools, 300,000 RHS Britain in Bloom volunteers and the wider horticulture industry. Their online information attracts approximately 30 million ‘hits’ from amateur and professional gardeners each year.

In addition to supervisory support, the Royal Horticultural Society will provide access to laboratory space and the Field Research Facility at RHS Garden Wisley. The RHS will also provide exciting and impactful training and dissemination opportunities:

RHS Media training – film and radio, and science communication: turning scientific research into practice
Opportunities to participate / communicate in sharing scientific findings at the RHS’s high profile Flower Shows.
Public engagement delivery in the new RHS Hilltop: Home of Gardening Science, Wisley.

The successful applicant will gain a wide range of technical and transferable skills which, combined with the many science communication opportunities from working with the RHS, will provide many employability benefits.

At a glance

Application deadline - 03 Jun 2026
Award type(s) - PhD
Start date - 28 Sep 2026
Duration of award - 4 years (full-time)
Eligibility - UK
Reference number - CRAN-0073

Supervisor

Supervisor: Dr Andrea Momblanch

Entry requirements

Applicants should have a first or second class UK honours degree or equivalent in a related discipline. This PhD will suit a student interested in ecosystems services and with a passion for:

Finding natural solutions to environmental problems impacting society. A background in hydrology, physical geography, environmental science or similar would be desirable, given the monitoring and modelling components.

Funding

Sponsored by the Royal Horticultural Society through the Leverhulme Trust and Cranfield University, this Connected Waters Leverhulme Doctoral programme studentship will cover the stipend (£19,237; tax free) and fees for up to 4 years for a home (UK) student.

To be eligible for this funding, applicants must be classified as a home student. We require that applicants are under no restrictions regarding how long they can stay in the UK.

How to apply

For further information please contact:

Name: Dr Andrea Momblanch

Email: andrea.momblanch-benavent@cranfield.ac.uk

Phone: +44 1234 758 264

If you are eligible to apply for this studentship, please complete the online application form.

Please note that applications will be reviewed as they are received. Therefore, we encourage early submission, as the position may be filled before the stated deadline.

Funding Notes

To be eligible for this funding, applicants must be classified as a home student. We require that applicants are under no restrictions regarding how long they can stay in the UK.

Building natural resilience to floods and drought using gardens as green infrastructure - PhD

Cranfield University

Cranfield, Bedford, UK