Key information
Multiple CO₂ storage projects licensed within the same region or basin can influence one another through pressure communication. As more injection sites are developed in the North Sea, understanding these inter-reservoir interactions becomes increasingly important for safe and efficient storage.
- Code
- EGIS2025DLA-GW
- Funding
- Fully funded
- School
- Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society
- Location
- Edinburgh
- Award
- PhD
- Start date
- January
- Closing date
- Wednesday, 19 November 2025
- Duration
- 42 months
Multiple CO₂ storage projects licensed within the same region or basin can influence one another through pressure communication.
As more injection sites are developed in the North Sea, understanding these inter-reservoir interactions becomes increasingly important for safe and efficient storage. In addition, the growing interest in subsurface hydrogen storage, potentially targeting the same or neighbouring formations, raises further considerations for pressure management and capacity planning. This overlap highlights the need for responsible and sustainable strategies to manage these increasingly used geological resources.
The focus of this PhD project is to explore fluid migration behaviour and pressure dynamics when multiple gas storage processes coexist in close proximity, with the goal of informing strategic geological resource use and enhancing storage performance. The research will examine potential interactions, including both competition and synergies, among various gas storage applications such as CO₂, H₂, and natural gas within subsurface porous media.
Methodology
This study will employ flow simulations using industry standard software (e.g. CMG, ECLIPSE, PFLOTRAN-OGS) or research codes (e.g. MATLAB).
Project supervisor
Please contact the supervisory team for further information or an informal discussion: Dr Gang Wang (G.Wang@hw.ac.uk), Prof Andreas Busch (A.Busch@hw.ac.uk) and Prof Eric Mackay (E.J.Mackay@hw.ac.uk).
Please contact egis-pgr-apps@hw.ac.uk for technical support with your application.
Entry requirements
Candidate criteria
- This project is open to UK Home students only.
- To be eligible, applicants should hold a BSc degree at 2:1 level or above, an MSc degree at Merit or Distinction level (>60%), or possess substantial relevant professional experience equivalent to Master’s level.
- Applicants with a qualification in Applied Geoscience, Reservoir Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Geomaterials, Physics, Chemistry, or a related field are preferred. Experience or familiarity with the North Sea region is highly desirable.
- Scholarships will be awarded by competitive merit, considering the academic ability of the applicant. We particularly encourage female candidates to apply.
Additional information
We invite CCS operators to join our stakeholder panel to support the project with their expertise and practical knowledge. Panel members contribute insights that help the research stay relevant to industry challenges, gain early awareness of developments, and strengthen collaboration between academia and the CCS sector.
Applications and enquiries
- To apply you must complete our online application form.
- Please select PhD GeoEnergy Engineering as the programme and include the full project title, reference number and supervisor name on your application form. Ensure that all fields marked as ‘required’ are complete.
- Once have entered your personal details, click submit. You will be asked to upload your supporting documents. You must provide a supporting statement (1-2 A4 pages) documenting your reasons for applying to this particular project, outlining your suitability and how you would approach the project. You must also upload your CV, a copy of your degree certificate and relevant transcripts and an academic reference in the relevant section of the application form.
English language requirements
If your first language is not English, we'll need to see evidence of your English language ability.
The minimum English language requirement for entry to this programme is IELTS 6.5 (or equivalent) with no score lower than 6.0.
If you do not have IELTS 6.5, we offer a range of English language courses to help you meet the English language requirement for this programme prior to commencing your studies.
For more information about your application and our English Language requirements, please see Section 10 of our page on English Language Requirements as part of your application.
Funding information
This is a full EPSRC scholarship which will cover tuition fees for UK-home students and provide an annual stipend in line with UKRI recommended levels (currently £20,780) for the 42 months duration of the project.
In addition, the project is generously supported by our partner Crown Estate Scotland to support research and travel expenses.
Why Heriot-Watt
We're the top university in Scotland for graduate outcomes which means that more of our graduates are employed or in postgraduate education than any other institution in the country and we ranked 5th in the UK.
We're also rated number one in the UK for CEO or MD roles, meaning more of our graduates go on to become CEOs or MDs than any other university in the whole of the UK. On top of that, we have beautiful campuses, across the globe, so you'll get a truly international education. Our Edinburgh Campus is home to Oriam, Scotland's National Sports Performance Centre combined with plenty of wellbeing resources, prioritising fitness and mental health for all students. Our Global Research Institutes look at solving real world issues such as climate change and saving our oceans as well as working on the next medical technological breakthrough and the future of AI and robots.