NEW 2010 Ph.D. Position in Hydrology

NEW 2010 Ph.D. Position in Hydrology

Subject : “Application of functional connectivity indicators for improving subgrid surface flow hydrogram estimation in distributed hydrological modelling ” The Agricultural Engineering research group of the Earth and Life Institute is offering a PhD fellowship for a period of up to 4 years to work on the refinement of surface flow modelling at the subgrid scale of distributed hydrological models as NEW 2010 Ph.D

Research project summary Subgrid modelling of surface hydrological flow in physically-based, spatially-distributed models is currently based on the use of effective parameters which cannot properly capture the subgrid connectivity of surface runoff.

A promising connectivity function – the Relative Surface Contribution function (RSC) (Antoine et al., 2009) - has been recently developed and tested at the 1 m² scale, which improves the modelling of subgrid runoff generation.

This project seeks to pursue the integration of the subgrid connectivity function in spatially-distributed hydrological models and to test the scale-dependency of the RSC function and its time-rate of change for contrasted initial conditions. This will involve a combination of field/lab and numerical experiments.


The Institution The candidate will be hosted in the Agricultural Engineering research group of the Earth an Life Institute (ELI) of the Université catholique de Louvain in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. The Environmental sciences section of ELI offers a dynamic, multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary research environment dealing with various topics related to agriculture and the environment.

The research activities of the Agricultural Engineering research group focus on water resources, soil-plant interactions and soil conservation. Additional information concerning the Environmental sciences section of the Earth and Life institute can be found at http://www.uclouvain.be/ , and regarding UCL at http://www.uclouvain.be/ .

Collaboration with research groups in The Netherlands and France is expected. Applications The successful candidate should be a national from a European country and hold a M.Sc. degree in hydrology, earth or environmental sciences (or related disciplines).

Experience with modelling and a good mathematical background will be an advantage. The candidate will be attributed a renewable fellowship (€2,300 – 2,570 per month depending on prior degree) for an initial duration of 15 months. In addition, he/she will benefit from social security coverage.

Candidates should send by October 15, 2010 – preferably by email - a letter of intent, the name and address of 2 referees, a curriculum vitae and a copy of the grades obtained for the masters degree to: Profs. C. Bielders and M. Javaux ELI / GERU Université catholique de Louvain Croix du Sud 2, boite 2 B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve Belgique charles.bielders@uclouvain.be for application of NEW 2010 Ph.D