Welcome to new WISE CDT PhD students!

Cohort 5 students registered at Bath on the WISE CDT Programme have successfully completed the Postgraduate School in mid-June and have now progressed to the research phase of their PhD programmes. It is a pleasure to welcome them to the University of Bath and particularly to WIRC@Bath. Here are some short biographies by way of introduction:

JAMES RAND

Project: Underwater micro gliders for autonomous lake inspection

Supervisors: Dr Alan Hunter and Dr Lee Bryant

James is a Chartered Engineer with over twenty years of experience, at sea and ashore, as a Marine Engineer Officer in the Royal Navy (RN). This included Senior Engineering posts at the RN Marine Engineering School, Technical Advisor to Foreign Navies, Waterfront Representative for the UK Government to the Saudi Royal Navy, Sea-Going Engineering Head of Department (Chief Engineer) jobs, as well as various specialist technical postings.

After leaving the Royal Navy, James taught Mathematics at a secondary school in Southampton for several years before going self-employed as a jobbing builder and odd job man. Having decided he needs more of a challenge, and to update his technical knowledge especially in the area of computing and informatics, James will be undertaking his WISE PhD project at the University of Bath. His academic qualifications include an MSc in Mechanical Marine Engineering from University College London and a BEng in Mechanical Engineering from Portsmouth Polytechnic.

An active member of the IMarEST throughout his engineering career, James was instrumental in reforming the Benelux Branch of the IMarEST and was the branch chairman for several years whilst on a job Exchange with the Royal Netherlands Navy as their Gas Turbine Technical expert.

James will be undertaking his PhD research into the design, build and especially deployment of low cost, micro underwater gliders for use on extended duration and near real time monitoring missions. Deployment possibilities for such micro gliders include reservoir water quality monitoring, pollution and clean up and potential military applications.

JULIANA MARCAL

Project: Multi-criteria decision analysis for sustainability assessment of decentralized water treatment systems (DWTS) in developing countries

Supervisors: Dr Junjie Shen and Professor Jan Hofman

Juliana graduated in 2015 with an MSc in Environment and Natural, Industrial and Urban Risks from the National Institute of Applied Sciences in Lyon, France. Prior to this, she undertook a double degree exchange programme in Civil Engineering between the University of Campinas, Brazil and Ecole Centrale de Nantes, France.

Before joining the WISE CDT PhD Programme, Juliana completed her undergraduate dissertation on the evaluation of a decentralized wastewater treatment system in Brazil. She has gained a range of experiences in industry working on the modelling of water supply networks and micro drainage projects. More recently, she has worked as a junior research engineer at Lhoist Business Innovation Centre in Belgium, on soil treatment techniques for hydraulic works.

Juliana is interested in water and wastewater treatment; water and sanitation in developing countries; water management; sustainable water systems.

OLLIE FOSS

Project: Composite beaches and dynamic revetments – coastal protection inspired by nature

Supervisors: Dr Chris Blenkinsopp and Dr Jun Zang

Ollie is a recent Mathematics graduate; undertaking both his MSc and BSc degrees at Swansea University. His undergraduate dissertation was entitled ‘Tidal Forces and the Earth-Moon System’. He will undertake his WISE PhD project at the University of Bath with interests in the numerical modelling of physical systems, in particular the effects of climate change on costal protection.

Ollie is also a keen rower having previously represented Swansea University and competed in the Welsh Indoors Rowing Championship. During his Master’s degree, Ollie worked as a Student Ambassador representing Swansea University at open days as well as other roles within the Mathematics department.

Ollie is interested in numerical modelling of physical systems; climate change; coastal erosion.

SALLY PEARL

Project: Investigating the influence of geologic bombs and reservoir management on biogeochemical cycling of trace metals and resultant water quality

Supervisors: Dr Lee Bryant, Dr Thomas Kjeldsen and Dr Pedro Estrela

Sally graduated in September 2017 with an MSc in Environmental Sciences from the University of East Anglia. Her dissertation was entitled ‘Assessing the effectiveness for roadside sediment traps at mitigating sediment pollution in the River Wensum’. She also has a BSc in Marine Biology from Newcastle University.

Prior to joining the WISE CDT PhD Programme, Sally worked as a Marine and Coastal Adviser for Natural England. She has also previously worked in roles that focused on policy development, scientific research and land management, including several years in pharmaceutical development and time spent working on a wetland nature reserve. This resulted in a journal publication: Richard J.Cooper, Zachary M.Battams, Sally H.Pearl, Kevin M.Hiscock. Mitigating river sediment enrichment through the construction of roadside wetlands. Journal of Environmental Management.

Sally is interested in water quality; riverine sediment pollution; wetlands as a pollution management tool; statistical modelling.

VIVIEN MAERTENS

Project: Optimisation of deep-water offshore wind systems

Supervisors: Dr Jun Zang, Dr Chris Blenkinsopp and Prof Paul Milewski

Vivien is undertaking her WISE CDT PhD project at the University of Bath with interests in hydro-renewable energies. She graduated in 2017 with an MSc in Modern Applications of Mathematics with a Distinction, also from the University of Bath. Her dissertation was entitled ‘Optimising the power output of wave energy converters’ which was conducted in collaboration with Quintessa Ltd. Vivien also has a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics with Advanced Proficiency in French from the University of Exeter. In her free time, she has also been active volunteer of The Cinnamon Trust.

Vivien is interested in fluid dynamics; hydro-renewable energies; numerical modelling.

It is great to see another cohort of multi-disciplinary research projects, tackling a wide range of water related challenges. Welcome to all, and best of luck with your PhD projects!

Dr Tom Arnot, Co-Director EPSRC WISE CDT.