New PhD training programme will provide next-generation computing skills

13 November 2024

ExaGEO’s training programme brings together more than 200 experts in geographical, Earth and environmental sciences, computing science, environmental statistics, and engineering. 

The Exascale computing for Earth, Environmental, and Sustainability Solutions consortium, or ExaGEO, is a new initiative to train the next generation of Earth and environmental scientists to harness the power of Exascale computing. It is co-led by EPCC, researchers from the University of Glasgow, Lancaster University’s Centre of Excellence in Environmental Data Sciences, and partners from industry and government.

The ExaGEO consortium will share in more than £500m in new funding announced today by UK Research and Innovation which will support two new schemes called doctoral landscape awards and doctoral focal awards. The investment will support doctoral students to develop their skills and experience in their respective universities’ areas of strength across the biological sciences, engineering and physical sciences, and natural and environmental sciences.

Over the next five years, the initiative will equip more than 65 new PhD students with skills to develop and apply software for environmental applications which will run on next-generation Exascale computing systems. 

Exascale computers are advanced systems capable of making a billion billion calculations per second. Their ultrafast performance enables advanced modelling of the Earth’s complex natural systems and unlocks new insights into the workings of the natural environment such as climate change, and the impact of human efforts to improve sustainability.

Building expertise

ExaGEO’s training programme brings together more than 200 experts in geographical, Earth and environmental sciences, computing science, environmental statistics, and engineering. The ExaGEO leadership team will work to help students build their expertise in four key technical areas: 

  • Accelerating environmental models through GPU computing
  • Analysing large-scale Earth observation datasets
  • Combining models with data to understand environmental change
  • Applying uncertainty analysis to environmental predictions.

Students will receive comprehensive training in sustainability studies, environmental, and Earth sciences, climate science, and data science, helping them to develop advanced computational skills paired with a deep understanding of environmental processes. 

At the end of their studies, ExaGEO graduates will be able to use cutting-edge computing to tackle complex environmental challenges informed by their understanding of their underlying physical, chemical, biological, and social dimensions.

UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Peter Kyle, said: “Backing the next generation of great scientific minds to fulfil their potential is crucial to unlocking the discoveries which improve our lives and which keep our economy growing over the long term through highly skilled jobs.”

EPCC is delighted to be a partner in the ExaGEO consortium. We look forward to working with colleagues in Glasgow and Lancaster on training the next generation of environmental and Earth system scientists in how to exploit the vast potential of Exascale supercomputing to model the complex processes that make up our natural world.

Prof Michèle Weiland, EPCC lead

Further information

For enquiries about ExaGEO, please contact Michele Weiland.

Education and training at EPCC