With sea level rise accelerating and coastal populations increasing, the requirement of accurate tools to predict natural hazards and mitigate damages to infrastructure, property and human life is ever more urgent. Our project sits in the frame of assessing impacts of changing environmental conditions, particularly extremes, on the state of the natural world, affected by both natural variability and impact of human activity. Coastal flooding is normally caused by wave overtopping that occurs when water is discharged by waves over a coastal structure such as a breakwater. There are multiple methods to forecast coastal overtopping, and most of them demonstrate a lack of precision and large dependency to local processes. Statistical analysis of Earth Observations (EO) will provide a method to assess wave fields to better understand how processes (winds, tides, coastal sheltering, swell and wind waves) interact across a coastal area to change the coastal wave hazard through, for example, (depth and current) refraction, wind shadowing and bimodal wave contributions. From March 2021-2022 monitoring of the wave overtopping at Dawlish and Penzance provided in-situ hazard alerts, indicating when overtopping starts and stops, along with a measure of the severity (WireWall data). Such observations can be used alongside national monitoring networks of waves, water levels and Earth Observations (EO) data to develop an environmental digital twin pilot, and ultimately, improve operational hazard management and increase UK resilience to natural hazards. The principal aim of this proposal is to build a deployable coastal overtopping warning tool (SPLASH) with the vision of transforming weather and climate research and services through transformative technologies. The main outcomes of the proposal will be (1) a method to analyse coastal wave fields from EO to determine regular asymmetries in hazards conditions, (2) a digital twin of wave overtopping in which machine learning has been applied to produce a warning tool using model predictions of wind, waves and water level, and (3) coastal overtopping projections to assess future changes in hazard frequency. The proposed project will use: (i) overtopping Dawlish/Penzance WireWall data (observations) to train and validate machine learning algorithms based on model predictions (wind, waves and water levels); (ii) camera images for calibration and validation; and (iii) satellite images to study variability in wave field indicators. Met Office reanalysis and analysis model data will be obtained from freely available data portals (e.g., Copernicus Marine Service) and through the UK Marine and Climate Advisory Service. Furthermore, case studies will be used as a demo and the approach will be tested in other wave hazard hotspot locations along the UK coastline where there are CCTV cameras or webcams (e.g., Chesil, Teignmouth). Reliable warning tools such as SPLASH provide essential information to those coastal communities that are currently experiencing wave related hazards. The combined application of SPLASH as a forecasting and a projection tool will facilitate coastal practitioners' decision making, helping mitigate the effects of climate change in already vulnerable locations.

Civil infrastructure is the key to unlocking net zero. To achieve the ambitious UK targets of net zero by 2050, we require innovative approaches to design, construction, and operation that prioritise energy efficiency, renewable resources, and low-carbon materials. Meeting net zero carbon emissions will require not only significant investment and planning, but also a radical shift in how we approach the design and management of our civil infrastructure. Reliable low carbon infrastructure sector solutions that meet real user needs are essential to ensure a smooth and safe transition to a net zero future. To address these challenges, the UK must develop highly skilled infrastructure professionals who can champion this urgent, complex, interconnected and cross-disciplinary transition to net zero infrastructure. This EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Infrastructure and Built Environment: Unlocking Net Zero (FIBE3 CDT) aims to lead this transformation by co-developing and co-delivering an inspirational doctoral training programme with industry partners. FIBE3 will focus on meeting the user needs of the construction and infrastructure sector in its pursuit of net zero. Our goal is to equip emerging talents from diverse academic and social backgrounds with the skills, knowledge and qualities to engineer the infrastructure needed to unlock net zero, including technological, environmental, economic, social and demographic challenges. Achievable outcomes will include a dynamic roadmap for the infrastructure that unlocks net zero, cohort-based doctoral student training with immersive industry experience, a CDT which is firmly embedded within existing net zero research initiatives, and expanded networks and outward-facing education. These outcomes will be centred around four thematic enablers: (1) existing and disruptive/new technologies, (2) radical circularity and whole life approach, (3) AI-driven digitalisation and data, and (4) risk-based systems thinking and connectivity. FIBE3 doctoral students will be trained to unlock net zero by evolving the MRes year to include intimate industry engagement through the novel introduction of a fourth dimension to our successful 'T-shaped' training model and designing the PhD with regular outward-facing deliverables. We have leveraged industry-borne ideas to align theory and practice, streamline business and research needs, and provide both academic-led and industry-led training activities. Cohort-based training in technical, commercial, transferable and personal skills will be provided for our graduates to become skilled professionals and leaders in delivering net zero infrastructure. FIBE3's alignment with real industry needs is backed by a 31 strong consortium, including owners, consultants, contractors, technology providers and knowledge transfer partners, who actively seek engagement for solutions and will support the CDT with substantial cash (£2.56M) and in-kind (£8.88M) contributions. At Cambridge, the FIBE3 CDT will be embedded within an inspirational research and training environment, a culture of academic excellence and within a department with strategic cross-cutting research themes that have net zero ambitions at their core. This is exemplified by Cambridge's portfolio of over £60M current aligned research grant funding and our internationally renowned centres and initiatives including the Digital Roads of the Future Initiative, the Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction, Cambridge Zero and Cambridge Centres for Climate Repair and Carbon Credits, as well as our strong partnerships with UK universities and leading academic centres across the globe. Our proposed vision, training structure and deliverables are exciting and challenging; we are confident that we have the right team to deliver a highly successful FIBE3 CDT and to continue to develop outstanding PhD graduates who will be net zero infrastructure champions of the future.