Research Assistant/Associate in Water Resources Modelling

Newcastle University

Location:	Newcastle
Salary:	£33,951 to £46,049 per annum
Hours:	Full Time
Contract Type:	Fixed-Term/Contract

Placed On:	20th March 2026
Closes:	4th April 2026
Job Ref:	29187

The Role

The project will allow us to place the 1976 drought in the context of past climate change for both rainfall, river flows and water system response following the ‘ClimaMeter’ attribution approach, and to explore worst case storylines of the 1976 drought. You will use the WREW modelling framework (Murgatroyd et al. 2022) to quantify national and regional water supply-demand imbalances during a 1976 style drought event by tracking key measures of water system performance, including annual and seasonal reservoir storage, reservoir drawdown during drought onset, and rate of reservoir re-fill during the recovery phase. Your analysis will specifically determine how effectively today’s system and operational rules would manage the onset, peak, and recovery phases under a 1976-type drought event. This includes evaluating the efficacy of demand saving measures from water use restrictions in alleviating the progression of the drought. Vulnerabilities in the system will be identified as WRZs or systems that exhibit the most significant deterioration in performance during the drought, specifically focusing on the duration and severity of water use restriction events (e.g. hosepipe bans), and comparison of how the timing of drought alerts differ between the demand scenarios.

What happens next: This position is an 8-month full-time fixed term position, with an expected start date in April 2026.

We want you to feel confident when applying for a position with Newcastle University. If you’d like an informal discussion to clarify any points, please contact anna.murgatroyd@newcastke.ac.uk. We are committed to making the process accessible to everyone and can provide additional support to adjustments to meet your needs.

Find out more about the Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering here: www.ncl.ac.uk/sage

Find out more about our Research Institutes: www.ncl.ac.uk/engineering