Amrie Singh completes her PhD in Hydrology and Water Resources Sciences

All of us at Create would like to say congratulations and well done to Amrie Singh, who recently completed her Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in Hydrology and Urban Flood Modelling at the University of Leeds.

Amrie started studying for her PhD in 2019, shortly after finishing her Master’s degree in Environmental Health Engineering. Her thesis and research on urban flood modelling, looked at how to represent drainage systems in flood models when the data required is missing or lacking. As part of her thesis defence, Amrie had the opportunity to discuss her research with two expert examiners, Dr Andrew Sleigh (University of Leeds) and Professor Claire Walsh (University of Newcastle). The examiners read through all of Amrie’s work in detail and concluded that her research and write-up was substantial and showed new and novel thinking, resulting in a pass with minor corrections and the subsequent recommendation that the University award the degree.

“After four years, I’m delighted to have completed my PhD at the University of Leeds. I’m also very grateful for the flexibility and support Create have given me during this time. I have been able to not only complete my doctorate but also gain valuable real world experience, which will no doubt benefit my career going forward. I would like to thank Graham Sinclair who was always very accommodating, if and when, I had last-minute schedule changes or required additional study time. I have had a wonderful experience at the University of Leeds but I am looking forward to the next stage of my personal development.”

Amrie Singh, Flood Risk Consultant

Since Amrie joined Create, she has expertly managed her studies, continued personal development and work commitments, helping our Water & Flood Risk team to deliver a number of technical requirements for our clients. In July 2022 she was appointed as the new Institution of Civil Engineers’ (ICE) Water Futures Ambassador, following the final event of Wavin’s Water Futures Challenge, which she won for her entry, ‘Can my pipe handle it?’. Her concept looked at how to approach flood modelling where no detailed hydraulic model of the piped system is available.

In February of this year, Amrie presented at the 9th International Conference on Flood Management (ICFM9) held in Tsukuba, Japan. She joined other scientists, practitioners and academics from across the globe presenting on various different aspects of flood science. Her presentation on the ‘Representation of Drainage System in Models‘ is the first application of the UK’s capacity assessment framework (CAF) for drainage representation in flood models and is focused on three catchments in Leeds. She also presented the research paper at the Global Flood Partnership Annual Meeting, held at the National University of Singapore in September.

In November, Amrie presented her ‘Methodology for Overtopping Calculation’ to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. The methodology was developed in close collaboration with her team at Create.

“Amrie has quickly become a fundamental part of the team supporting our ongoing modelling projects in a number of regions. Her knowledge of 2D flood modelling and the associated coding is impeccable. She has also acted as a key member of the team undertaking the ongoing modelling work of the East Lindsey Coastline. This has included the development of a methodology for overtopping calculations, which she has since presented to other flood specialists. We are incredibly proud of her achievements to date and I look forward to seeing what she does next.”

Graham Sinclair, Technical Director (Water & Flood Risk)