PhD Studentship: Investigating how water-rock interactions influence geothermal reservoir sustainability using experiments and geochemical modelling

Award summary

100% home fees covered, and a minimum tax-free annual living allowance of £20,780 (2025/26 UKRI rate). An additional allowance will be provided to contribute towards consumables, equipment, and travel related to the project.

Overview

Deep geothermal reservoirs can provide a long-term, sustainable supply of heat and energy to serve society’s needs. The performance and operational lifespan of geothermal systems depend on the subsurface distribution of heat, fluid flow pathways, and recharge mechanisms and fluid chemical composition. These factors control the precipitation, dissolution and alteration of minerals, which can clog up wells (e.g. through scale formation) and change the physical characteristics of reservoirs, affecting their performance.

The aim of this project will be to advance efficient evaluation of how fluid composition and temperature perturbations influence mineralogical alteration and, ultimately, reservoir performance and development decisions.

The project will address this challenge through quantifying the conditions under which geochemical alteration occurs, and the associated uncertainty in predicting reservoir behaviour. This will be done with laboratory investigations and geochemical modelling. Specifically, you will:

• Characterise variability in mineralogical and petrophysical properties resulting from fluid–rock interactions under representative reservoir conditions.
• Evaluate the impact of fluid composition and temperature variations on reservoir properties, and assess the implications for permeability and porosity.
• Assess the influence of scale-dependent heterogeneities and depositional facies on the distribution and extent of alteration processes.
• Develop a systematic workflow for integrating experimental observations and reactive transport modelling to construct predictive models of formation alteration.

The project is funded by Eni S.p.A through the UK Energy Futures (ukenergyfutures.org). research partnership, bringing together geoscientists, engineers, and social scientists to advance geoenergy research across the N8 Research Partnership.

Number of awards: 1

Start date: 1^st October 2026

Award duration: 3.5 years

Sponsor: Industry - ENI

Name of supervisor/s:

• Sanem Acikalin – (Newcastle University)
• Tom Reershemius- (Newcastle University)
• Stuart Jones – (Durham University)

Eligibility criteria:

You must have, or expect to gain, a minimum 2:1 Honours degree or international equivalent in a subject relevant to the proposed PhD project (e.g. Earth Science, Geology, Geochemistry or equivalent).

This studentship is open to those who qualify for Home tuition fees only. If you are not sure if you qualify, please contact pgadmissions@newcastle.ac.uk.

How to apply

You must apply through the University’s Apply to Newcastle Portal

Once registered select ‘Create a Postgraduate Application’.

Use ‘Course Search’ to identify your programme of study:

• Search for the ‘Course Title’ using the programme code: 8314F
• Leave the ‘Research Area’ field blank
• Select ‘Geoscience’ as the programme of study

You will then need to provide the following information in the ‘Further Details’ section:

• A ‘Personal Statement’ (this is a mandatory field) - upload a document or write a statement directly in to the application form 
• The studentship code SNES307a in the ‘Studentship/Partnership Reference’ field 
• When prompted for how you are providing your research proposal - select ‘Write Proposal’. You should then type in the title of the research project from this advert. You do not need to upload a research proposal.
  • upload an up to date CV

Contact details: Sanem.acikalin@newcastle.ac.uk

Advert information