Qualification Type: | PhD |
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Location: | Cranfield |
Funding for: | UK Students, EU Students, International Students |
Funding amount: | Sponsored by Leverhulme doctoral programme, this studentship provides, fees and stipend costs for scholars for up to 4 years paid at UKRI's standard domestic rate, with an additional grant of £10,000 to each student for research expenses. |
Hours: | Full Time |
Placed On: | 11th March 2024 |
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Closes: | 1st May 2024 |
Reference: | SWEE0247 |
Award type: PhD
Application closing date: 01/05/24
Start date: 01/10/24
Duration of award: 4 years
Eligibility: UK, EU, Rest of World
Studentship funding
Sponsored by Leverhulme doctoral programme, this studentship provides, fees and stipend costs for scholars for up to 4 years paid at UKRI's standard domestic rate, with an additional grant of £10,000 to each student for research expenses.
Type of opportunity
Introductory Paragraph
Pollution has resurfaced as a critical issue for the health of river ecosystems. Persistent and emerging water quality problems are being highlighted regularly by the media and community groups, pressuring regulators to reassess monitoring and assessment approaches.
Main Copy
Numerous methods exist for water quality and ecological assessment, but they focus on individual attributes or problems, which can hinder the holistic assessment of water quality and its ecological impacts. This is especially challenging for rivers affected by multiple pressures, such as a modified hydrological regime, altered form and riverbed substrate, invasive and non-native species, climate change, continuous discharge of treated wastewater effluent, and intermittent organic and chemical pollution (e.g. combined sewer overflows). A new approach is needed that builds on existing biomonitoring methods to provide a richer understanding of the impact of these pressures on ecological community structure and function.
In this project, you will advance new indicators of river health that integrate the impacts of water quality pressures, hydromorphological alteration, and ecological degradation. In partnership with key stakeholders, you will design a field survey, collect samples of riverbed biofilms for metagenomic sequencing, and analyse the results in consideration of environmental data collected by other organizations and citizen scientists. You will have the flexibility to expand the interdisciplinary elements that interest you the most, such as the microbiology of riverbed biofilms, the sorption of contaminants to the biofilm matrix, or community perceptions of naturalness and health. An ideal candidate for this position has a BSc and MSc in environmental sciences, physical geography or biology, knowledge of metagenomic analyses, and a passion for the natural environment.
This fully funded studentship is part of the Connected Waters Leverhulme Doctoral Programme, which is funding up to 18 PhD studentships to conduct multidisciplinary research on freshwater ecosystems, across two universities, Cranfield and Roehampton. The programme aims to develop a deeper, holistic understanding of the interactions between humans and the environment to support sustainable solutions to the environmental challenges affecting our river, lake, wetland, and groundwater ecosystems. To find more information on the programme and other research topics, please see the official CONNECT website.
Entry requirements
Applicants should have a first or second class UK honours degree, BSc or equivalent in environmental sciences, physical geography or biology, and knowledge of metagenomic analyses.
Funding
The scholarship award will include fees and stipend costs for scholars for up to 4 years paid at UKRI's standard domestic rate, with an additional grant of £10,000 to each student for research expenses.
How to apply
For informal enquiries please contact: Dr Robert Grabowski
Email: r.c.grabowski@cranfield.ac.uk
For further information contact us today:
Admissions
T: +44 (0)1234 758082
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