Airborne Intelligent Monitoring and Quantification of Greenhouse Gases

Methane (CH₄) is the second most significant greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide (CO₂), with over 30 times the global warming potential over a 100-year period. It plays a key role in near-term climate action due to its short atmospheric lifetime and its prevalence in waste, energy, and agricultural sectors. Accurate, site-specific monitoring and quantification of CH₄ emissions are urgently needed to support the UK’s Net Zero strategy and global methane reduction commitments. This PhD project aims to develop a next-generation airborne environmental monitoring system using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with miniaturised gas sensors. The project will integrate artificial intelligence, active sensing, and robotic autonomy to enable UAVs to identify, sample, and quantify greenhouse gas emissions in real time with high spatial and temporal resolution. You will investigate how information-theoretic planning and active inference techniques can guide UAVs to collect the most valuable data during survey missions. The project will develop algorithms for real-time flight path adaptation, cooperative sensing among multiple UAVs, and the use of dispersion models and statistical inference to locate unknown sources and estimate their emission strength. Working with project partners and supported by LUCAS’s dedicated UAV test field, you will deploy and validate your system in real-world environments such as landfills, farms, or energy production sites. 94% of Loughborough’s research impact is rated world-leading or internationally excellent. REF 2021

The standard University IELTS English language requirement is 6.5 overall with 6.0 in each individual element (reading, writing, listening and speaking).

International students: £29,500

UK students: £5,238

UK/Home: £5,238

International: £29,500

October 2026

30 September 2026

• Loughborough, United Kingdom