The Research Fellow will drive development of a whole life geotechnical design framework for offshore anchoring systems. The role will focus on creating a dataset from finite element analysis, interpretation of the results to create a lumped element macro model, and development of a stand-alone calculation tool to enable accessible interaction with the framework.

We are seeking candidates with a PhD or equivalent professional qualification in geotechnical engineering with strong numerical, computational and coding skills and preferably interests & knowledge of offshore renewable energy and seabed sediments.

This role is part of the Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies for Intelligent & Resilient Ocean Engineering. The applicant will work within a large and vibrant group of offshore geotechnical engineers and geoscientists within the Centre of Excellence affiliated with the Chair.

We offer a generous renumeration package, including relocation assistance where appropriate, an attractive research environment on our modern Boldrewood Innovation campus, the latest facilities and access to a variety of staff development opportunities as part of the  Centre of Excellence for Intelligent & Resilient Ocean Engineering (IROE) and the Southampton Marine & Maritime Institute (SMMI).

For further questions, please contact Professor Susan Gourvenec (smg1g17@soton.ac.uk).

Equality, diversity and inclusion are central to the ethos in the School of Engineering. We give full consideration to applicants who wish to work flexibly including part-time, and to those who have taken a career break. The University has onsite childcare facilities and we foster a good work-life balance. We also offer a mentorship programme, and the school runs a women-oriented network event on a bi-weekly basis. We are also committed to disability inclusion and encourage applications from disabled candidates as stated under the Equality Act 2010.

The University of Southampton is in the top 1% of world universities and the top 10 of the UK’s research-intensive universities, committed to sustainability and being a globally responsible university embedded into all aspects of our individual and collective work, in our business planning, policy-making, and professional activities.

Working at the University of Southampton:

Check out the staff benefits and why you should join us at The University of Southampton.

Closing Date: 16 Nov 2026

Section: Education, Research & Enterprise

Salary: £37,369 to £45,641 per annum
Full Time Fixed Term for 24 months

Motivation: Understanding how the seafloor evolves is critical for environmental monitoring and subsea infrastructure inspection. Natural processes and human activities drive changes over time, yet detecting these reliably remains challenging. Improved methods could enable early identification of risks to ecosystems and infrastructure, while providing quantitative evidence to support effective intervention and adaptive management.

Challenges: Documenting change in GNSS-denied subsea environments presents significant challenges. While changes occur over large spatial scales, change is often gradual, meaning that between seasonal or yearly deployments, the magnitude of change at any point on the seafloor remains below to the detection limit of even high-resolution mapping sensors. In addition, recognising and aligning scenes across repeated surveys is difficult due to navigation drift, evolving scene structure, and sensitivity to environmental conditions.

Research questions:

• How can evolving seafloor scenes be consistently recognised and spatially aligned across repeated subsea surveys in GNSS-denied environments?
• How can small seafloor changes be reliably detected when they are comparable to sensor noise?
• How can full-field uncertainty be modelled and propagated to support large-scale change analysis?

Approach: You will combine advanced robotic localisation and high-resolution mapping methods with advanced machine learning feature detection to enable evolving subsea scenes to be robustly aligned across repeat surveys. You will develop probabilistic models to detect subtle changes under noise and uncertainty. Your work will be validated using simulation, existing datasets from the University of Southampton’s Smarty200 AUV, and new data collected during field campaigns with the Ocean Perception group. Controlled experiments will also be conducted in the Maritime Robotics and Instrumentation Laboratory and its dedicated 8x8x6m deep-water tank.

Training and Environment: You will be part of the EU-funded BlueOcean Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network, working alongside 13 PhD researchers across leading European institutions. The programme provides interdisciplinary training in robotics, sensing, and AI for marine monitoring, as well as access to internationally recognised experts and industry partners. You will also undertake up to two three-month secondments with organisations including CNR (Italy) and Voyis Imaging (Canada).

Eligibility:

This PhD is funded via the European Commission. Recruitment is taking place following the European Code of Conduct for Recruitment of Researchers.

The School of Engineering is committed to promoting equality, diversity inclusivity as demonstrated by our Athena SWAN award. We welcome all applicants regardless of their gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or age, and will give full consideration to applicants seeking flexible working patterns and those who have taken a career break. The University has a generous maternity policy, onsite childcare facilities, and offers a range of benefits to help ensure employees’ well-being and work-life balance. The University of Southampton is committed to sustainability and has been awarded the Platinum EcoAward.

The candidate:

To apply, please provide: 

If you are applying for this role, you must also apply for the PhD below.

https://www.phdscanner.com/opportunities/phd-vacancies-university-of-southampton-united-kingdom-robotic-monitoring-for-place-recognition-and-change-detection-in-dynamic-underwater-environments-c1cb18e8-c472-46e8-9a50-54c02cf5de44

Post title upon appointment will be MSCA Doctoral Network Research Fellow.

Closing Date: 31 Oct 2026

Section: Education, Research & Enterprise

Salary: £43,994 to £47,279 Per annum, subject to bi-annual review due to exchange rate
Full Time Fixed Term for 36 months