WISE CDT

Centre for Water SystemsEducationWISE CDTImpact and LegacyCompletion Rates

Completion Rates

At December 2024, the WISE CDT had produced 58 PhD graduates and one MPhil graduate. The CDT’s six remaining students - all beyond their EPSRC funding periods - were working towards PhD thesis submission, the progress of their research having been delayed by the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic and/or for personal circumstances, resulting in extended studentship registration periods.

19 students - 13 males, 6 females - have withdrawn from the programme, with 18 withdrawals being voluntary. While initially withdrawals were primarily in respect of students in the early years of their funded studentship, the pandemic has seen similar numbers withdrawing beyond their funded studentship period, with health conditions being a significant contributory factor. 15 students left to pursue employment, with Brexit considered a likely impact on EU students’ decision-making, while three students started a PhD in a different subject area. The WISE withdrawal rate of 22.6% of all students recruited – i.e. a projected 77.4% completion rate – does not look unreasonable given that the CDT was operating during the pandemic and in the absence of recent comparative data. Pre-pandemic published data on UK PhD shows a completion rate of around 75-80%*.

WISE CDT students withdrawing from the programme subsequent to successful completion of the first year Postgraduate School have been eligible for a Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) exit award.

The WISE CDT is aware from ongoing contacts with students who decided not to complete their PhD that many are working in the water, environmental and energy sectors. Examples at December 2024 are:

  • Joseph Shuttleworth (Cardiff, Cohort 2) is Digital Lead - Water at Arup and has had a laboratory named after him at Bangor University in recognition of his and Arup’s work developing the field of wastewater-based epidemiology.
  • Zara Visanji (Exeter, Cohort 4) initially worked for Thames21 as Thames Monitoring Officer then as Evidence Project Manager, and is now Shop Window Project and Engagement Manager at Anglian Water Services.
  • Ceri Howells (Cardiff, Cohort 5) is a Lecturer in Engineering & Entrepreneurship at the University of Exeter and additionally is currently Director of Education - Engineering (Stage 1).
  • EU student Federica Michelotti (Bath, Cohort 4), who returned to her native Italy, is a Project Engineer at A2A Ambiente, the largest Italian company operating in the environmental sector.
  • Meanwhile, Aidan Barry (Bath, Cohort 2) was awarded an MPhil for his thesis on ‘Identification & characterisation of luxury uptake proteins in Chlamydomonas for enhanced wastewater phosphorus removal’. On completing his MPhil Aidan worked as an Environmental Data Analyst for Thames Water and is currently an Area Scientist for Wessex Water.

*https://www.vitae.ac.uk/doing-research/are-you-thinking-of-doing-a-phd/what-is-it-like-doing-doctoral-research-in-the-uk/the-uk-doctoral-research-experience
*https://ukcge.ac.uk/news-and-blog/postgraduate-research-degree-qualification-rates-improving