PhD Studentship in Resource Efficient Decision Making in Industry

Closing date: 28 February 2018

A fully-funded PhD studentship is available for an enthusiastic and motivated PhD student to carry out research on industrial resource efficiency. The student will be tasked with developing new methods and tools which allow companies to make better strategic decisions based on resource use, costs and environmental impact.

More than a third of global CO2 emissions from energy and industrial process are generated by the industrial sector, with 70% of emissions arising in just six sectors: steel, cement/minerals, chemical/petrochemical, food, paper and other metals. Reducing industrial energy demand, and in particular the fossil-fuel energy used for heat, work and driving chemical processes, remains an important emissions mitigation strategy.

Emerson, a multinational automation solutions company (www.emerson.com) has partnered with the Resource Efficiency Collective (www.refficiency.org) in the Engineering Department, Cambridge to create plant-level resource maps directly from process control data. These resource maps are used to identify potential energy and material efficiency savings. The research couples Emerson’s expertise in process control with the systems-level resource analysis developed at Cambridge, and has attracted interest from industrial companies and policymakers.

The successful candidate will join a vibrant team of researchers dedicated to advancing industrial resource efficiency and work closely with Emerson, selected industrial partners, and policy-makers. Applicants should have (or expect to obtain by the start date) at least a good 2.1 or 1st degree (and preferably a Master’s degree) in an Engineering or a related subject. A good knowledge or experience of industrial process control systems, data handling, software coding and visual design is advantageous.

This studentship will cover all University fees and a maintenance allowance of at least £17,250 per year for United KIngdom or European Union students.

Overseas students are not eligible and should not apply.

Applications should be submitted via the University of Cambridge Graduate Admissions web pages http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/students/gradadmissions/prospec/apply/, with Dr Jonathan Cullen (jmc99@cam.ac.uk) identified as the potential supervisor.

The University values diversity and is committed to equality of opportunity.