Ph.D. position in Hydrology from Earth an Life Institute, Belgium

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.

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.

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.
• 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 contact information below