About the project
This project develops novel robotic mapping and AI techniques to detect and document subtle changes in dynamic seafloor environments over large spatial scales. By combining advanced localisation, high-resolution sensing and probabilistic data analysis, the project will enable reliable long-term monitoring of environmental change and subsea infrastructure in challenging GNSS-denied underwater environments.
Understanding how the seafloor evolves is critical for environmental monitoring and subsea infrastructure inspection. However, the natural processes and human activities that drive changes are gradual, meaning that between seasonal or yearly deployments, the magnitude of change at any point on the seafloor remains below to the detection limit of even high-resolution mapping sensors. In addition, aligning scenes across repeat surveys is difficult due to navigation drift, evolving scene structure, and sensitivity to environmental conditions.
This project aims to address this by combining accurate robotic localisation and high-resolutions laser-based seafloor mapping with advanced machine learning feature detection to enable evolving subsea scenes to be robustly aligned across surveys. You'll develop probabilistic models to detect subtle changes under noise and uncertainty. Your work will be validated using simulation, controlled experiments in tank facilities, and both existing and new datasets gathered using an AUV.
You'll be part of the EU-funded BlueOcean Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network, working alongside 13 PhD researchers across leading European institutions. The programme provides interdisciplinary training in robotics, sensing, and AI for marine monitoring, as well as access to internationally recognised experts and industry partners. You will also undertake two three-month secondments with organisations including CNR (Italy) and Voyis Imaging (Canada), and work closely with PhD students hosted at the NTNU (Norway) to develop an integrated system for high-resolution, large-scale ocean observation combining advanced sensors, AI-driven analysis, and autonomous underwater vehicles.
The School of Engineering is committed to promoting equality, diversity inclusivity as demonstrated by our Athena SWAN award. We welcome all applicants regardless of their gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or age, and will give full consideration to applicants seeking flexible working patterns and those who have taken a career break. The University has a generous maternity policy, onsite childcare facilities, and offers a range of benefits to help ensure employees’ well-being and work-life balance. The University of Southampton is committed to sustainability and has been awarded the Platinum EcoAward.
