Civil Engineering: Fully Funded EPSRC and Swansea PhD Scholarship: Automatic intelligent detection of cracks in concrete slab of High-speed Railway using a deep learning (RS431)

Funding providers: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) DTP and Swansea University's Faculty of Science and Engineering

Subject areas: Civil Engineering

Project start date: 

• 1 January 2024 (Enrolment open from mid-December)

Project supervisors: 

• Dr Yue Hou (yue.hou@swansea.ac.uk)
• Professor Oubay Hassan

Aligned programme of study: PhD in Civil Engineering

Mode of study: Full-time

Project description: 

For High-speed railway, one of the most widely used track forms is the ballastless railway tracks, where the concrete slabs are normally serving as the supports under the rails. During the regular service life of ballastless railway, there may exist severe distresses, like cracks, in the concrete slab due to the train loading and severe environmental conditions, which may further affect the public safety of rail passengers. Recently, the deep learning-based methods have emerged as a powerful tool to detect the cracks in the concrete slabs of the railway automatically and intelligently. However, it may face problems like low computation accuracy and high cost. To solve this problem, this project aims to propose a novel deep learning model for automatic crack identification in concrete slab of ballastless railway with high computation efficiency and low computation cost.

Candidates must hold an Upper Second Class (2.1) honours degree in Engineering or similar relevant science discipline. If you are eligible to apply for the scholarship (i.e. a student who is eligible to pay the UK rate of tuition fees) but do not hold a UK degree, you can check our comparison entry requirements (see country specific qualifications). Please note that you may need to provide evidence of your English Language proficiency. 

Due to funding restrictions, this scholarship is open to applicants eligible to pay tuition fees at the UK rate only, as defined by UKCISA regulations. 

If you have any questions regarding your academic or fee eligibility based on the above, please email pgrscholarships@swansea.ac.uk with the web-link to the scholarship(s) you are interested in. 

This scholarship covers the full cost of UK tuition fees and an annual stipend of £18,622 at UKRI rate.

Additional research expenses will also be available. 

To apply, please complete your application online with the following information:

1. Course choice – please select Civil Engineering / PhD / Full-time / 3 Year / January

   In the event you have already applied for the above programme previously, the application system may issue a warning notice and prevent application, in this event, please email pgrscholarships@swansea.ac.uk where staff will be happy to assist you in submitting your application.

2. Start year – please select 2024
3. Funding (page 8) –

• ‘Are you funding your studies yourself?’ – please select No
• ‘Name of Individual or organisation providing funds for study’ – please enter ‘RS431 - PhD Civil Eng'

*It is the responsibility of the applicant to list the above information accurately when applying, please note that applications received without the above information listed will not be considered for the scholarship award.

One application is required per individual Swansea University led research scholarship award; applications cannot be considered listing multiple Swansea University led research scholarship awards.

We encourage you to complete the following to support our commitment to providing an environment free of discrimination and celebrating diversity at Swansea University: 

• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Monitoring Form (online form) 

As part of your online application, you MUST upload the following documents (please do not send these via email):

• CV
• Degree certificates and transcripts (if you are currently studying for a degree, screenshots of your grades to date are sufficient)
• A cover letter including a ‘Supplementary Personal Statement’ to explain why the position particularly matches your skills and experience and how you choose to develop the project.
• Two references (academic or previous employer) on headed paper or using the Swansea University reference form. Please note that we are not able to accept references received citing private email accounts, e.g. Hotmail. Referees should cite their employment email address for verification of reference.
• Evidence of meeting English Language requirement (if applicable).
• Copy of UK resident visa (if applicable)
• Confirmation of EDI form submission (optional) 

Informal enquiries are welcome, please contact Dr Yue Hou (yue.hou@swansea.ac.uk).

*External Partner Application Data Sharing – Please note that as part of the scholarship application selection process, application data sharing may occur with external partners outside of the University, when joint/co- funding of a scholarship project is applicable.