Civil Engineering - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at University of Waterloo

If you’re driven by curiosity and a desire to solve challenging, complex problems, then join the thriving research community at Waterloo Engineering — a top destination for future research leaders. With the PhD in Civil Engineering program, you’ll undertake independent and unique research. You'll generate knowledge and find real-world ways to apply it.

Faculty: Faculty of Engineering  |  Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering  |  Duration: 48 months (full-time)  |  Study mode: full-time  |  Intake: Fall (September - December), Winter (January - April), Spring (May - August); application deadlines: February 1 (for admission in September)*; June 1 (for admission in January of the following year)*; October 1 (for admission in May of the following year)*; *NOTE: If the posted application deadline has passed, domestic applicants and international applicants with minimal visa processing times are encouraged to contact [email protected] for alternate deadline information.  |  Location: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

What you will study

Research fields: Environmental and Water Resource Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Structures, Mechanics and Construction Engineering, Transportation Engineering, Research project opportunities for this program, Improving Indoor Air Quality in Buildings, People in North America spend about 90% of their time indoors, making indoor environments the primary source of exposure to airborne pollutants. We aim to improve the health and well-being of building occupants by enhancing indoor air quality. We design and develop strategies and interventions to achieve this goal while improving building sustainability and resilience for future climate conditions., Drone-Based Computer Vision for Infrastructure Inspection, Computer Vision for Smart Structure Laboratory (CVISS) at the University of Waterloo, led by Dr. Chul Min Yeum, invites applications for graduate studies (Direct Ph.D. and Ph.D.) in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Our lab focuses on practical, application-driven research, utilizing advanced technologies to integrate intelligence into the physical built environment, aiming to bolster infrastructure safety and resilience., This position focuses on developing mobile robotic sensing and analysis systems, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), for infrastructure inspection and management. Additionally, the role involves designing intuitive human-robot interaction frameworks for collaborative inspection and teleoperation. Students who have experience in mobile robotics, computer vision, and augmented/virtual reality are recommended to apply for this position., External Flaming From Mass Timber Compartments, This research project will utilize an existing experimental set-up at the University of Waterloo's Fire Research Facility to develop medium-scale compartment fire experiments. The candidate will form a critical part of the UW Fire Research Facility team and will benefit from collaborations and discussions with partner institutions and industry within the mass timber construction and fire safety engineering sector in Canada., Bayesian System Reliability Analysis of Engineering Systems, Our research team is developing a Generation Risk Assessment (GRA) models to optimize the performance of power generation systems. As a part of this project, we are developing a system reliability coupled with the Bayesian updating framework in order to facilitate dynamic updating of risk and reliability estimates as new inspection and surveillance data become available. There is an opening for a fully-funded PhD student in this research project., Impact of Climate Change on the Risk of Earth Slope Failures in Transportation Systems, In recent years, the rapid pace of climate change has been evident by increasing intensity and frequency of weather extremes, which has an adverse impact on the safety and operability of infrastructure systems. Current design codes assume that climate-induced loads are stationary, i.e., their occurrence pattern and intensity do not change over time. However, this assumption is not likely to be valid in the future, since the climate change is causing temporal variations in the frequency and intensity of weather extremes, such as rain, snow and ice storms, and high wind events.. Study option(s): Thesis.

Career pathways

Upon completion of your degree, you’ll be prepared to critically analyze and present new information in your field of research and will be ready for a career in academia, the public sector, or private industry.

Official programme page