Enhancing CO2 injection well integrity with novel cements and predictive damage models

We are offering an EPSRC-funded PhD position with our Department of Civil Engineering at Brunel University London, focusing on enhancing CO2 injection well integrity with novel cements and predictive damage models.

We are recruiting new Doctoral Researchers to our EPSRC-funded Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) PhD studentships starting 1 October 2025. Applications are invited for the project: Enhancing CO₂ injection well integrity with novel cements and predictive damage models.

Successful applicants will receive an annual stipend (bursary) of approximately £21,237 including inner London weighting, plus payment of their full-time home tuition fees for a period of 42 months (3.5 years).

You should be eligible for home (UK) tuition fees there are a very limited number (no more than two) studentships available to overseas applicants, including EU nationals, who meet the academic entry criteria including English Language proficiency.

You will join the internationally recognised researchers in the Department of Civil Engineering Research and PhD programmes | Brunel University London.

The project

Storage of captured CO₂ in deep subsurface reservoirs is being pursued to mitigate emissions from power plants and cement, steel and chemicals manufacture during the energy transition. The ability of these reservoirs to securely store CO₂ depends on the well casing, cement sheath and cap rock providing an effective barrier to upward leakage. To ensure storage security, there is a need to better understand and improve wellbore performance, especially for cold CO₂ injection.

Responding to this challenge, this project will explore the performance of novel cement formulations with optimisation of thermo-mechanical properties including strength, stiffness, thermal conductivity, thermal expansivity, and heat capacity. Self-expanding cements will also be studied with the aim of developing compressive prestress in the cement sheath after curing. Alongside the laboratory work, the research will develop and apply a coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) numerical model to simulate wellbore damage under a wide range of site conditions.

Ultimately, the research will pursue new solutions and reduce uncertainty in wellbore performance under realistic operating conditions for CO₂ storage projects, minimising the risk of costly CO₂ leakage and contributing to confidence in the technology and its role in climate change mitigation.

Please contact Dr Lee Hosking at lee.hosking@brunel.ac.uk for an informal discussion about the studentship.

Eligibility

Applicants will have or be expected to receive a first or upper-second-class honours degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Design, Mathematics, Physics, Earth Sciences or a similar discipline. A Postgraduate Masters degree is not required but may be an advantage.

Skills and experience

Applicants will be required to demonstrate the following knowledge and skills:

Relevant experience (e.g. materials science, structural analysis, geomechanics, earth sciences) in using experimental and/or computational modelling approaches for research at undergraduate or postgraduate level.
Ability to apply (or demonstrate an enthusiasm to learn) programming skills such as MATLAB and software such as COMSOL Multiphysics.

You should be highly motivated, able to work independently as well as in a team, collaborate with others and have good communication skills.

How to apply

There are two stages of the application:

1.Applicants must submit the pre-application form via the following link

https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/brunel/epsrc-dla-25-26-pre-application-form-brunel-university-of-londo

by 4 pm on Friday 17 January 2025.

2. If you are shortlisted for the interview, you will be asked to email the following documentation in a single PDF file to cedps-studentships@brunel.ac.uk within 72hrs.

Your up-to-date CV
Your Undergraduate degree certificate(s) and transcript(s) first or upper-second class honours degree essential
Your Postgraduate Masters degree certificate(s) and transcript(s) if applicable
Your valid English Language qualification of IELTS 6.5 overall (minimum 6.0 in each section) or equivalent, if applicable, this must be valid up to 31 October 2025
Contact details for TWO referees, one of which can be an academic member of staff in the College

Applicants should therefore ensure that they have all of this information in case they are shortlisted.

Interviews will take place on 13 and 14 February 2025. For shortlisted international/EU applicants’ interviews will be via Microsoft Teams and for UK applicants’ interviews will be in person at the Brunel University of London campus.

Meet the Supervisor(s)

Lee Hosking - Lee is a Senior Lecturer in Energy Geomechanics in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His research focuses on numerical modelling of deep subsurface environments with attention to coupled thermal-hydraulic-mechanical (THM) phenomena, accurate and efficient fracture network representation, and damage evolution. For over 10 years, the main practical application of his research has been geological CO₂ storage with respect to storage capacity, injectivity, and migration/confinement. He has also worked on unconventional geothermal energy systems and radioactive waste disposal. Alongside his research, Lee teaches energy infrastructure engineering and climate change science and technology, and is Senior Tutor for Civil and Environmental Engineering. Before joining Brunel in 2020, Lee was a postdoctoral researcher at the Geoenvironmental Research Centre, Cardiff University, where he performed research on CO₂ storage as part of the FLEXIS energy systems research project. He received his PhD from Cardiff University in 2014 for research on coupled THM behaviour during CO₂ injection in coal, having graduated with an MEng Civil Engineering, also from Cardiff University. Lee's current research projects, funded by The Royal Society and EPSRC (via both UKCCSRC and Horizon Europe underwrite), are investigating key aspects of CO₂ storage linked with injection well integrity and the prediction and management of fluid injection-induced seismicity. These projects are being delivered alongside his national and international partners from academia and industry. His professional affiliations include Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, membership of the Editorial Board for the journal Deep Underground Science and Engineering, and membership of the UK Carbon Capture and Storage Research Centre, British Geotechnical Association, and International Society for Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering. Within Brunel's research environment, he is part of the Centre for Energy Efficient and Sustainable Technologies as well as the Two-Phase Flow and Heat Transfer and Geotechnical and Environmental Engineering research groups. Lee is always looking for talented and motivated PhD students as well as new collaborators for research projects.