Prof. David P Connolly

Profile

Professor David Connolly is a Full Professor of Civil Engineering and an international expert in Artificial Intelligence for Civil Infrastructure, Climate-Resilient Infrastructure, Railway Engineering, Satellite Monitoring and Geotechnical Engineering.

His research develops artificial intelligence, remote sensing and advanced engineering methods to monitor, predict and improve the resilience, sustainability and performance of transport infrastructure under climate change. This includes AI-driven infrastructure monitoring, satellite-based deformation analysis, and digital engineering approaches for railway and geotechnical systems.

Professor Connolly has led a wide range of internationally funded projects supported by organisations such as the European Commission, UKRI, Leverhulme Trust and the Royal Society. He has also led applied research and consultancy projects for a wide range of industry partners. He has supervised and graduated a significant number of PhD students from around the world and leads an active research group of PhD and post-doctoral researchers. He welcomes applications from self-funded and internationally sponsored PhD students worldwide.

His work has been recognised through 8 research awards and multiple invited keynote lectures internationally, and has resulted in more than 100 peer-reviewed journal publications in collaboration with leading researchers worldwide. He regularly serves as an invited international expert for research funding bodies, governmental organisations and industry. His appointments have included the European Commission, Swiss National Science Foundation, Research Ireland, UKRI and Royal Society.

PhD opportunities and Post-doc opportunities

Postdoctoral Fellowship Opportunities (MSCA, Royal Society, UKRI and others) . I welcome enquiries from researchers who have completed or are nearing completion of their PhD and are interested in applying for postdoctoral fellowships.

Potential PhD applicants from around the world. I welcome applications from self-funded and government-funded international PhD students. I am happy to help design projects and support scholarship applications including CSC and Commonwealth schemes. Four example available PhD research themes:

Potential PhD Theme 1: AI for Civil Infrastructure

Research in this area applies machine learning, computer vision and digital twins to geotechnical, structural, transport, construction and sustainability engineering problems. Research can be tailored to your interests and background.

• Geotechnical engineering: AI interpolation of sparsely-populated site investigation data, pavement cracking, machine learning of unsaturated soil properties, rock properties, landslide risk, frozen regions, seepage.
• Transport engineering: computer vision and geospatial AI for transport asset management, predictive maintenance for railways and highways, transport system digital twins, structural health monitoring
• Structural engineering: generative design and structural optimization, predictive health monitoring (digital twins), computer vision for automated inspections, physics-informed neural networks (PINNS), AI discovery for material science and self-healing structures.
• Construction engineering and safety: computer vision for real-time safety surveillance, dynamic 4D/5D scheduling, AIoT wearables for worker health and predictive ergonomics, predictive risk modelling and "pre-mortem" analytics.
• Sustainability engineering: automated life cycle assessments (LCA) & embodied carbon tracking, urban heat island mitigation and microclimate modelling, generative material science, intelligent waste sorting and circular economy infrastructure

Potential PhD Theme 2: Climate Resilience and Adaptation

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing civil engineering, requiring infrastructure to become more resilient to increasingly extreme weather and environmental conditions. I welcome applications from students interested in developing engineering solutions that improve the resilience and adaptation of transport, geotechnical, structural and coastal infrastructure to future climate risks. Research projects can be designed around your particular interests and expertise.

• Heat: leading to road and highway rutting, railway track buckling, bridge and concrete structure cracking, soil desiccation and subsidence
• Rainfall: geotechnical instabilities, shrink-swell, slope collapse, structural overloading (ponding)
• Flooding: causing bridge scour, soil saturation and liquefaction, hydrostatic uplift, accelerated corrosion and carbonation.
• Sea-level rise: causing the overtopping and destruction of coastal defences
• Storms: increased storm frequency and intensity causing increased wind loading and aerodynamic uplift, aeroelastic instability (flutter), coastal wave action and transmission line/tower failure

Potential PhD Theme 3: Satellite Monitoring

This research area uses satellite data, remote sensing, multi-spectral and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) combined with AI to monitor infrastructure performance, geotechnical hazards and environmental change at scale. Projects can be adapted to suit a wide range of engineering and scientific backgrounds.

Built Infrastructure

• Linear Assets (Rail & Highways): Network-scale monitoring of track and road structure subsidence to prevent derailments and pavement failures.
• Bridges & Buildings: Precise tracking of structural displacement, support pier subsidence, and asset vulnerability over time.
• Water Utilities: Large-scale detection of underground pipe leaks and soil moisture anomalies to optimize maintenance.

Terrain & Geotechnical Stability

• Earthworks & Slopes: Monitoring geotechnical subsidence, soil moisture, and landslide precursors on natural and man-made embankments.
• Ground Subsidence: Tracking land sinking caused by groundwater extraction, particularly in highly vulnerable, low-lying coastal zones.
• Coastal Erosion & Defences: Measuring the degradation of sea defences and shoreline retreat driven by rising sea levels.

Environmental & Climate Risks

• Flooding & Disasters: Rapid impact mapping of natural and man-made catastrophes to improve emergency response and asset protection.
• Drought & Agriculture: Large-scale tracking of erratic rainfall, temperature spikes, and declining soil moisture to safeguard food security.
• Forestry & Green Spaces: Utilizing satellite vegetation indices to monitor global deforestation, afforestation, and carbon capture compliance.

Potential PhD Theme 4: Railway Engineering and Geotechnical Engineering

This theme focuses on the behaviour, monitoring and improvement of railway and subsurface infrastructure systems under increasing environmental and operational demands. I welcome applications from students interested in developing innovative solutions for railway infrastructure, ground engineering, foundations, earthworks, underground construction and infrastructure monitoring. Projects can be tailored to both traditional civil engineering topics and emerging digital technologies such as AI, remote sensing and smart sensing systems.

Railway

• Inspection & repair: remote inspection and maintenance via 3D scanning, computer vision, Augmented Reality, along with train+UAV+satellite borne sensing reduces human trackside risk and lowers structural inspection costs
• Noise and vibration: Noise and vibration nuisance to humans needs to be carefully predicted and monitored. Related to this, vibration energy can also be harvested to power other sensing devices
• Circular economy: Scalable reprocessing of ballast, sleepers, rails and other components can turn millions of tons of network waste into secondary commercial materials.
• Hyperloop: Pioneering low-pressure aerodynamics, magnetic levitation, and deep ground dynamics taps into a future ultra-high-speed transit market

Geotechnical engineering

• Underground Space Engineering: Densely populated metros are running out of horizontal room, forcing expansions downward into complex subsurface environments. This creates acute risks regarding deep excavation stability and structural damage to adjacent building foundations.
• Renewable Energy Foundations: Offshore wind farms and large-scale solar arrays require anchoring heavy structures in unfamiliar, highly variable soils, leading to high failure rates from unmapped seabed dynamics and severe scour.
• Ground improvement and stabilisation: stabilisation faces increasing challenges from variable subsurface conditions, sustainability demands and the need for resilient infrastructure.
• Smart Geosynthetics & Sensor Integration: Aging infrastructure requires continuous health tracking however embedded IoT sensors often suffer from signal degradation and premature structural failure.

Join an International Research Group

My research group includes PhD students and researchers from a range of countries working across Artificial Intelligence, climate resilience, satellite monitoring, railway engineering and geotechnical engineering. Although every student develops their own specialist project, many topics overlap, creating opportunities to exchange ideas, collaborate and learn from one another. You will also become part of the wider Civil Engineering postgraduate research community at the University of Leeds.

Why study with me

• Full Professor of Civil Engineering with internationally recognised expertise in AI for infrastructure, satellite monitoring and climate resilience.
• Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (FICE).
• Leads interdisciplinary research spanning artificial intelligence, geotechnical engineering, railway systems and remote sensing.
• Strong international industry and academic collaborations enabling applied and impact-driven research.
• Experienced supervisor of international PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, including fellowship applications.
• Open to developing ambitious, interdisciplinary PhD projects with applicants worldwide.

PhD supervision FAQ

1. Can I propose my own PhD topic? Yes, the themes above are a guide only.
2. Can I bring my own funding? Yes, I welcome applicants who are funded through government scholarships, employers or self funding.
3. Do I need funding before contacting you? You should have at least identified your planned funder and commenced your application.
4. Can I contact you before submitting a formal application? Yes. If you have identified your funding source I encourage prospective students to contact me before applying so that we can discuss your proposal
5. Can applicants from outside Civil Engineering apply? Yes, however if you are wanting to study a technical PhD you should be able to evidence relevant technical experience. Depending upon your topic, I’m happy to consider backgrounds from: Engineering, Computer Science, Geography, Mathematics, Physics, Environmental.
6. Can I study interdisciplinary topics? Yes. Many of my current research interests combine multiple disciplines, such as civil engineering with AI, remote sensing, climate science and data analytics.
7. Can I study part-time? Sorry, I only accept full-time PhD students
8. Which countries do applicants come from? I accept applications from all countries.
9. Can I apply if English is not my first language? Yes, however you will need to satisfy the University's English language requirements before admission.
10. When can I start? Start dates are in spring and autumn. Full details dates are available elsewhere on the University website.

Responsibilities

Leader of the Sustainability and Built Environment Research Theme

Student education

David Connolly’s teaching is focused on topics such as Climate Resilience, Transport and AI

Research groups and institutes

• Cities, Infrastructure and Energy

<h4>Postgraduate research opportunities</h4> <p>We welcome enquiries from motivated and qualified applicants from all around the world who are interested in PhD study. Our <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk">research opportunities</a> allow you to search for projects and scholarships.</p>