University of Leeds
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Fully Funded PhD in Climate Risk Data Science and Decision Tools at University of Leeds University of Leeds in United Kingdom
Degree Level
PhD
Field of study
Computer Science
Funding
Part of the UNRISK CDT offering 15-18 fully funded NERC studentships. Funding covers full university tuition fees, a personal stipend at standard UKRI rates, £6000 individual research and training costs, £5000 per student of cohort-level training, and a Flexible Fund for special projects. International applicants must cover student visa costs and the international health surcharge (IHS).
Deadline
Jan 13, 2027
Country
United Kingdom
University
University of Leeds
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About this position
PhD opportunity at the University of Leeds / Leeds University Business School on turning fragmented climate data into decision tools. The project sits at the intersection of climate science, data science, statistics, mathematical modelling, geography, and decision support, with a strong focus on uncertainty-aware risk assessment.
The research asks a practical question: as climate change intensifies, who is most at risk, and how sure are we? The student will combine patchy and heterogeneous data sources such as climate projections, satellite records, census and economic statistics, health data, and policy/news text. Methods may include web scraping, text mining, geospatial processing, data fusion, multi-criteria decision analysis, and preference elicitation. The outcome will be an interactive geospatial dashboard that explains why a place scores as it does, allows users to change assumptions, and compares scenarios transparently.
The project is co-supervised by Dr Sajid Siraj and Dr Andrea Taylor. It connects with UNRISK themes in data science and decisions/communication, and there may be scope to work with an operational or policy partner. The student can choose an application area early on, such as urban heat, agricultural drought, flood exposure, climate-linked migration, or infrastructure resilience.
Funding: This is a fully funded NERC studentship through the UNRISK CDT. It includes full tuition fees, a UKRI-rate stipend, research and training costs, cohort training support, and access to a flexible fund. UK and international applicants may apply, but international awards are limited and international students must cover visa and health surcharge costs.
Eligibility: The ideal applicant has a strong quantitative background in statistics, data science, engineering, computer science, or a related area, and is comfortable programming in Python or R. Experience with messy data, missing values, and interactive dashboards is desirable. Prior climate or decision science experience is not required.
Deadline: 2027-01-13.
Funding details
Part of the UNRISK CDT offering 15-18 fully funded NERC studentships. Funding covers full university tuition fees, a personal stipend at standard UKRI rates, £6000 individual research and training costs, £5000 per student of cohort-level training, and a Flexible Fund for special projects. International applicants must cover student visa costs and the international health surcharge (IHS).
What's required
Applicants should have a strong quantitative background in statistics, data science, engineering, computer science or a similar field. Programming skills in Python or R are expected, along with experience wrangling and joining messy data, handling missing values, and building interactive tools or dashboards. No prior climate science or decision science experience is required, but curiosity about interdisciplinary work and stakeholder-facing tools is important.
How to apply
Review the UNRISK website for full project details and application instructions. Applications are open to UK and international applicants, though international awards are limited by UKRI rules. Apply through the linked FindAPhD/UNRISK application route before the deadline.
More information can be found here
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