The Laboratory of Urban Complexity and Sustainability (LUCAS) at the University of Nottingham has advertised a number of Ph.D opportunities for outstanding students. The following might be of interest:
- PhD Studentship in Computer Modelling (Ref:

ENG884)
- PhD Studentship in Computer Modelling – Social Modelling

(Ref: ENG886)

This is an exciting opportunity to join LUCAS, to contribute to the research programme supported by the prestigious Leverhulme Research Programme Grant “Sustaining Urban Habitats: An Interdisciplinary Approach”. The ambitious aim of this programme is to transform our understanding of how sustainable cities, and by extension our species, can be. Our objectives are:

 Understand the complex interrelated and competing factors influencing urban sustainability.
 Holistically define, measure and model urban sustainability.
 Identify pathways to transition developed cities and accommodate growth in developing cities in minimally unsustainable ways.
 Define policy and governance structures to implement these pathways in practice.

Whilst it is understood that we are now mainly an urban species, that the overwhelming majority (some 80%) of economic activity and associated resource use and atmospheric emissions (also around 80%) takes place in cities, there is no consensus as to how to define and measure social, economic and environmental sustainability. There is also no comprehensive model of the spatially resolved resource flows through cities, to enable specific strategies to be tested to optimise environmental sustainability; or of the social and economic phenomena that influence their respective pillars of sustainability. For example, to determine the appropriate: population and building density; mix of land and building uses; transport modes and network topology; constructional materials and assembly / disassembly strategies for recyclability … etc.

Positioned within this landscape and working as part of an interdisciplinary, we invite applications from candidates for a Leverhulme PhD studentship in integrated urban modelling. Specifically to contribute towards the development of a spatially resolved integrated physical and social urban modelling platform of both hypothetical and real cities, to determine for the first time, just how sustainable cities of different typologies can be. Areas of particular interest include:

• Software integration and co-simulation: To satisfy our objectives
will require the development of new, and the adaptation of existing, software that simulate a broad range of phenomena, integrated within a coherent co-simulation framework and applicable to tasks of varying functional requirement, spatial scale and spatiotemporal resolution while taking onboard both epistemic and aleatory uncertainty.
• Social simulation: The outcomes from empirical fieldwork to
characterise cities’ social and cultural as well as their economic sustainability, will be integrated with a multi-agent simulation framework to simulate their social and economic interactions, their sustainability perceptions and how both may be changed through peer influences as well as through specific interventions; including regulation, financial incentive, educational programme and technological innovation. This will be integrated into the above framework.

Requirements

The preferred candidate should have, or expect to obtain, a first-class or good 2:1 honours degree and / or a distinction or high merit at MSc level in a relevant subject area (e.g. computer science, mathematics, engineering, physics or a cognate discipline).
Good communication skills, and the ability to work as part of a team as well as independently are essential. A willingness to travel within Europe and to China is desirable.
The studentship will cover PhD tuition fees for UK/EU students, due to funding restrictions, plus a tax free stipend for three years of £13,863 per annum.
Informal enquiries prior to making an application may be addressed to Dr. Peer-Olaf Siebers [email protected] or to Prof.
Darren Robinson, email: [email protected]. To apply, please email a covering letter stating why you wish to apply for and how you fulfill the requirements of this studentship. Please also provide a full CV, a transcript of your academic record and the names and addresses of two referees (in PDF format) to [email protected].