[Met-jobs] Coastal flooding PhD studentship available at University of Southampton, UK

["Brown S." <sb20@soton.ac.uk>]

Hello

 

The Faculty of Engineering and the Environment at the University of Southampton has the following PhD studentship advertised supervised by Dr Sally Brown, Prof James Davey and Prof Robert Nicholls. The studentship is open to UK / EU students only and is fully-funded by a Leverhulme Trust doctoral scholarship. Closing date is 4^th February. Please feel free to forward to anyone who you may feel is interested.

 

Sally

 

 

 

What are the social equity challenges for coastal flood adaptation and insurance in terms of engineering and legal issues facing private dwellings?

Coastal flooding is set to increase under sea-level rise unless adaptation is undertaken. However, only 64% of UK householders have building insurance and so have the possibility to claim against flooding. This is concerning, most particularly as it is most likely that those in lower income householders are not insured. Following change in legislation, insurance premiums are caped according to council tax banding, plus an additional levy on all household insurance. However, council tax bands do not reflect income, particularly at a regional level. This PhD aims to question issues surrounding the social equity of flooding and government/institutional response by asking the following questions:

1.            Where are large housing developments being built in flood prone areas post 2009 and why?

2.            How can risks be reduced through greater preparedness in low income areas?

3.            What level of Council Tax do flood prone homes have?

4.            What are the social trade-offs and legislative issues relating to insurance?

5.            Can insurance offer incentives for risk reduction, including those in lower income properties?

We would like to recruit an excellent student, with at least a 2:1, and preferably with a Master’s degree. The successful candidate should have a strong multi-disciplinary background and an ability to learn legislative and engineering issues, but also present results in a geographically interesting way to increase impact (e.g. maps). This could be a student from engineering, earth science or geography. The ability to understand legislative issues and/or manipulate big data in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) would be an advantage.

The fully-funded studentship (fees and stipend) is open to UK/EU students only. Please enclose a cover letter (stating your nationality), CV and proof of English Language ability (if required) with your application. The successful candidate would be expected to participate in the Leverhulme Trust’s Doctoral Training scheme at the University, who fund this research, and undertake additional training in a different discipline if necessary. For more information or an informal discussion, please contact Dr Sally Brown. Closing date: 4th February. Interview date: 2nd March.

If you wish to discuss any details of the project informally, please contact Dr Sally Brown, Faculty of Engineering and the Environment Email: sb20@soton.ac.uk, Tel: +44 (0) 2380 59 4796.

 

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Dr Sally Brown
Faculty of Engineering and the Environment
University of Southampton
University Road

Highfield

Southampton 

SO17 1BJ

+44(0)2380 594796