We will be offering a PhD studentship in the Department of  Mathematics  and
Statistics  at  the  University  of  Surrey  in  the  area  of  mathematical
meteorology from October  2005.  The  studentship  will  be  funded  by  the
Natural Environment Research Council, via  the  Data  Assimilation  Research
Centre (which is a NERC Centre of Excellence). The research  will  focus  on
the mathematical techniques that underpin  the  assimilation  of  data  into
numerical weather prediction models. Errors that  occur  in  specifying  the
initial conditions are responsible for the majority of poor  forecasts,  and
there is a premium  in  the  optimal  exploitation  of  observational  data.
Conservation principles are especially important in weather forecasting  and
climate  change  simulations,  which  rely  on  an  accurate  simulation  of
phenomena such as energy exchanges and vortex dynamics, and it is  important
to  represent  these  processes  accurately  in  the  initial   data.   Most
operational forecasting  centres  use  variational  techniques  and  control
theory to produce the initial conditions, and these studentships will  study
the application of Hamiltonian  mechanics  and  symmetry  methods  to  these
problems.  The  research  will  provide  the  student  with   an   excellent
introduction to a variety  of  subjects,  including  Hamiltonian  mechanics,
control  theory,  differential  and  difference  equations,  and   numerical
modelling.

UK citizens and residents qualify for fees  plus  a  maintenance  grant  per
year  for  3  years.  EU  students  qualify  for  a  fees  only  award.  The
studentship is not available to citizens of non-EU countries.

Applicants require or should be expecting  to  obtain  a  2:1,  First  Class
Honours degree or a Masters degree in Mathematics,  Physics,  or  a  related
discipline.

The closing date for the studentship will be 30th June 2005.

For further information, please contact  Dr  Ian  Roulstone,  Department  of
Mathematics and Statistics, University of Surrey, Guildford  GU2  7XH.  Tel:
01483 689638;
Email:  I.Roulstone@surrey.ac.uk


For  general  application  details  please  contact  Kelly   Green,   School
Postgraduate Administrator:  phdadmin@surrey.ac.uk  .   Please  indicate  on
the front of your application form that  it  is  for  the  attention  of  Dr
Roulstone.

Completed applications should be sent to Kelly Green,  Postgraduate  Office,
School  of  Electronics  and  Physical  Sciences,  University   of   Surrey,
Guildford, Surrey. GU2 7XH.