Exploring the impact of climate change on flooding and new hazards to assets of the General Lighthouse Authorities of the UK and Ireland

About the Project

Project Overview:

This project assesses climate change risks to assets operated by the General Lighthouse Authority of the UK and Ireland. Using GIS mapping, historical datasets, and hydrodynamic modelling, the impacts of sea-level rise, storm surges, and coastal erosion will be evaluated for supporting the resilience of these crucial and charismatic assets.

Project Description:

Lighthouses and other navigation assets operated by the General Lighthouse Authority (GLA) of the UK and Ireland play a vital role in ensuring maritime safety, protecting lives at sea, and supporting the smooth flow of international trade. However, climate change impacts such as rising sea level and changing hazards from waves and storm surge pose growing risks to their operation and reliability. This project aims to understand the impact of regional sea-level rise on the hazards posed by marine natural hazards to offshore and coastal assets of the General Lighthouse Authorities of the UK and Ireland.

The doctoral researcher will start by assessing the spatial spread of GLA assets across the UK, using GIS (Geographic Information System) software. They will then map present-day risk using existing measured datasets (e.g., tide gauges and wave buoys) and modelled datasets. They will also use metrological hindcast datasets (covering the last 200 years) to determine the characteristics of storms that generate extreme events in this area and assess past rates of sea-level rise. To assess possible changes in risk posed by climate change, the ensemble of state-of-the-art regional climate model developed for the Northwest European Shelf (Lewis et al., 2019) will be used. The student will map how long-term effects of sea-level rise might create new hazards across the UK and Ireland, and what new GLA assets might be required in these areas. Finally, the change impacts of wave overtopping will be investigated using OpenFOAM (e.g., Chen et al., 2021) at selected case-study sites.

We are looking for:

The candidate should be highly numerate, with a good understanding of coastal and ocean wave dynamics and be able to communicate with the project partner.

This project will be located at: University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre

Entry Requirements:

Applicants must already have, or expect to shortly graduate with, an undergraduate degree or Master’s degree (at least a UK 2:1 honours degree) in a relevant subject.

Please note: Due to funding limitations, this opportunity is only available for applicants that qualify for home fees/ UK nationals

How to apply:

All applications should be submitted by 11:59pm on Sunday 24th May 2026.

Applications should include:

• CV/ résumé giving details of your academic record, any relevant work history and stating your research interests.
• Name two current academic referees together with their institutional email addresses in the Reference section of the application form.
• Your academic transcript and degree certificate (translated if not in English) - if you have completed both a BSc & an MSc, we require both.
• Include a short statement of your research interests in flooding, motivation for applying to FLOOD-CDT and rationale for your choice of project(s), in the Personal Statement section of the application form.

Please ensure that you provide all required documentation and information so that your application can be reviewed and processed.

Please upload all documents in PDF format. You are encouraged to contact potential supervisors by email to discuss project-specific aspects of the proposed prior to submitting your application.

Please enter the project title and lead supervisor’s name in Section 2 to state which project you would like to apply for.

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For further information on our application guidance, as well as personal statement and interview guidance, please see our website.

Funding Notes

The Centre for Doctoral Training for Resilient Flood Futures (FLOOD-CDT) funds PhD researchers for 3.5 years, full- or part-time. A FLOOD-CDT studentship includes a tax-free stipend at the UKRI standard rate (£21,805 for the academic year 2026/27). Funding covers home tuition fees. Additionally, FLOOD-CDT provides a Research Training Support Grant of £8000 across the lifetime of the PhD, to be used on small project costs, conference attendance and individual training needs.