"PhD in Weather-Driven Resilience: AI and Control Frameworks for National–Local Power Systems"

University of Exeter - Department of Engineering

About the Partnership

This project is one of a number that are in competition for funding from the NERC Great Western Four+ Doctoral Training Partnership (GW4+ DTP). The GW4+ DTP consists of the Great Western Four alliance of the University of Bath, University of Bristol, Cardiff University and the University of Exeter plus five Research Organisation partners: British Antarctic Survey, British Geological Survey, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the Natural History Museum and Plymouth Marine Laboratory. The partnership aims to provide a broad training in earth and environmental sciences, designed to train tomorrow’s leaders in earth and environmental science. For further details about the programme please see http://nercgw4plus.ac.uk/

For eligible successful applicants, the studentships comprises:

• An stipend for 3.5 years (currently £20,780 p.a. for 2026/27) in line with UK Research and Innovation rates
• Payment of university tuition fees
• The budget for project costs is £9,000 which can be used for computer, lab, and fieldwork costs necessary for you to conduct your research.
• There is also a conference budget of £2,000 and individual Training Budget of £1,000 for specialist training

Project Aims and Methods

Recent storms have exposed the vulnerability of power systems, creating pressures at local distribution and national transmission levels. In power systems, different parts work on very different timescales: very fast actions are used to keep frequency stable, slightly slower actions restore balance after a disturbance, and much slower processes are used for electricity markets. The problem is that extreme weather events affect many parts of the grid at once, across wide areas, and over overlapping timescales. The current system is not well prepared to handle this complex, compounding impacts. This PhD proposal aims to develop an integrated modelling-prediction-control framework that uses extreme-weather-aware AI to coordinate frequency stability, voltage control, optimal power distribution, and disturbance resilience across power grids. It will also design and validate weather-aware-based control methods to strengthen power system resilience against storm impacts at all grid levels. The supervisory team brings together expertise in control of power systems, extreme weather predictions, power electronics, high-voltage systems, and semiconductor converters. This interdisciplinary mix ensures that the project is guided by complementary perspectives in meteorology and engineering. The project benefits from access and training at the CFCM laboratory at Exeter, where methods and tools for validation will be made available.

Useful recruitment links:

For information relating to the research project please contact the lead Supervisor via: G.Rinaldi3@exeter.ac.uk

Funding Comment

For eligible students the studentship will cover home tuition fees plus an annual tax-free stipend.