The Impact of Hetereogeneity on Geothermal Resources of the Sherwood Sandstone Formation
About the Project
This fully funded PhD project is part of the QUARTILES Doctoral Landscape Award, a BBSRC and NERC-funded research and training programme designed to equip PhD students with the skills, expertise, outlook, and real-world experience needed to become the next generation of scientific leaders capable of addressing pressing environmental grand challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and sustainability.
Global energy needs are steadily rising with a predicted increase of 45% within the next 15 years. In the long-term, sustainable energy is hoped to connect economic growth to increased social equity while preserving natural resources in line with the UN sustainable development goals. In this context, geothermal energy present one of the potential key pillars to achieve this goal. The application of shallow geothermal energy systems has been increasing over the past decades with >1.7 million units installed across the EU in 2015. One of the commonly applied designs for geothermal installations are open loop systems consisting of abstraction and re-injection wells installed in the aquifer system/groundwater body to extract heat from or to inject/store heat into the aquifer. The efficiency of these systems relies on the productivity of the well installations as well as suitable aquifer properties (incl. aquifer permeability & porosity and thermal properties), which in turn are impacted by the aquifer heterogeneities.
The planned research project will investigate the impact of subsurface heterogeneity on the geothermal resource of sedimentary aquifer formations and the performance of geothermal installations. Subsurface heterogeneities may be associated with depositional features of sedimentary aquifers or discontinuities such as fractures, igneous intrusions or faults and may affect hydraulic and thermal properties of the host rock. These heterogeneities may affect the groundwater flow regime within the aquifer unit and impact on ability of the aquifer to store and conduct heat. This in turn may ultimately affect the overall efficiency and sustainability of geothermal installation.
The project will use the Triassic Sherwood Sandstone Aquifer as a case study example. The Sherwood Sandstone Aquifer is an important regional aquifer across central England and Northern Ireland that hosts deep potable groundwater to depth >100m. The study will combine full-scale field experiments utilising existing borehole installations at Queen’s University Belfast campus as well as across the wider Belfast area with numerical modelling studies. The study will combine the baseline characterisation of the aquifer system by completing a series of active borehole geophysical measurements, hydraulic borehole tests, with the long-term monitoring of geothermal demonstrator projects, currently being installed as part of flagship government-funded GeoEnergyNI and EU-funded GEMINI projects. Collected monitoring data will be integrated into regional geothermal resource and numerical heat transport models to better understand the impact of aquifer heterogeneity on system performance. The project will be run in close collaboration with the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland (GSNI), the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and Northern Ireland Water.
This project forms part of a wider research team working on the above flagship and related projects. To this end, the project will be embedded in an active research portfolio around geothermal energy research with UK/IE and international collaborators. Specialist researchers at Queen’s University Belfast and University of Aberdeen as well as external partners collaborating in the above flagship projects will provide training in practical field-scale hydrogeological monitoring and testing, borehole geophysical logging and associated data analysis as well as numerical modelling of groundwater flow and heat transport. In addition, the project will be embedded in the QUARTILES Training programmes and the broad postgraduate research training infrastructure at Queen’s University Belfast, such as provided by the Thomas J. Moran Graduate School.
ELIGIBILITY:
Essential - Degree in geology/geophysics, hydrogeology, physics, environmental science or similar with a strong numerate component. Scientific writing and presentation experience. Strong organisation skills and motivation to tackle complex problems.
Desirable - Geophysical and/or hydrogeological fieldwork experience; background and/or strong interest/experience in geothermal energy, hydrogeology, geophysics or a combination of these subjects. Experience in handling complex environmental datasets.
Promoting equality, diversity and inclusion is core to the QUARTILES Doctoral Landscape Award. We actively encourage applications from diverse career paths and backgrounds and across all sections of the community, regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation and transgender status, amongst other protected characteristics.
We also invite applications from those returning from a career break, industry or other roles. We typically require a minimum 2:1 in your first degree (or equivalent), but exceptions can be made where applicants can demonstrate excellence in alternative ways, including, but not limited to, performance in masters courses, professional placements, internships or employment – this will be considered on a case-by-case basis, and is dependent upon approval from the relevant host institution. We offer flexible study arrangements such as part-time study (minimum 50%), however this does depend on the nature of the project/research so will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
If you have any questions about your eligibility, please email us at quartiles-admissions@abdn.ac.uk
APPLICATION PROCEDURE:
Please visit this page for full application information: How to Apply – QUARTILES DLA
Please send your completed QUARTILES application form, along with academic transcripts and certificates to quartiles-admissions@abdn.ac.uk
Please provide two academic references (we are unable to directly request references from your referees. If you would like to include references to support your application, please ensure they are provided directly to us. Some project supervisors may choose to contact your referees – please also include their contact details on your CV.
Please ensure you submit all the required information and documentation.
If you require any additional assistance in submitting your application or have any queries about the application process, please don't hesitate to contact us at quartiles-admissions@abdn.ac.uk
Funding Notes
This 45 Month opportunity is open to UK and International students (The proportion of international students appointed to the QUARTILES DLA is capped at 30% by UKRI).
QUARTILES studentships include a tax-free UKRI doctoral stipend (estimated at £19,795 for the 2025/2026 academic year), plus a training grant of £9,000 to support data collection activities throughout the PhD.
QUARTILES does not provide funding to cover visa and associated healthcare surcharges for international students.
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