Graduate Teaching Assistantship (GTA)

This fully funded PhD position at Sheffield Hallam University offers an exciting opportunity to join the MOSAIC project, focusing on the development of multi-modal IoT sensing and AI-driven classification systems for water contaminants in urban waterways. Hosted by the College of Business, Technology and Engineering, and based in the Department of Computing and Informatics, the project aims to revolutionize urban river monitoring by integrating low-cost sensing technologies, agile autonomous aquatic robots, and advanced AI-driven data analysis pipelines.

Urban waterways such as Sheffield’s River Don and Derbyshire’s River Derwent are increasingly threatened by pollution from storm-water overflows, road runoff, industrial residues, and ageing infrastructure. Traditional monitoring methods are limited by infrequent manual sampling, resulting in fragmented and delayed data that hinder timely intervention and effective river management. The MOSAIC project addresses these challenges by developing an integrated framework that combines IoT-enabled robotic platforms with real-time spectral sensor fusion and intelligent data analytics. This approach enables the rapid generation of high-resolution chemical and spectral fingerprints, supporting proactive contaminant identification and classification.

The successful candidate will investigate sensor fusion and AI classification architectures for real-time water quality monitoring, moving beyond simple detection to advanced contaminant fingerprinting. The system aims to transform monitoring cycles from days to minutes, enabling intelligence-led, proactive management of urban river systems. The project’s outcomes are designed to be scalable and transferable to urban waterways across the UK and internationally, with a commitment to open-access datasets and public-facing visual analytics to enhance transparency and community engagement.

This PhD is offered as part of a Graduate Teaching Assistantship (GTA) scheme, which includes up to 180 hours per year of teaching or research support activities. The GTA scholarship covers tuition fees for both UK and international students and provides a maintenance bursary (£22,152 for 2025/26) for 3.5 years. Applicants should have a strong background in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Maritime Engineering, or related fields. English language proficiency (IELTS 7, minimum 6.5 in all areas) is required for non-native speakers. Applications from underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged.

The application deadline is 7 May 2026. For more information and to apply, visit the project page and follow the application instructions.