PhD Studentship: After the Ice: Evolution of Emerging Post-glacial Landscapes Induced by a Changing Climate

Overview:

Loughborough University is a top-ten rated university in England for research intensity (REF 2014) and an outstanding 66% of the work of Loughborough’s academic staff who were eligible to be submitted to the REF was judged as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’, compared to a national average figure of 43%.

In choosing Loughborough for your research, you’ll work alongside academics who are leaders in their field. You will benefit from comprehensive support and guidance from our Doctoral College, including tailored careers advice, to help you succeed in your research and future career.

The School of Social Sciences and Humanities is composed of five divisions: Communication and Media; Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy; English; Geography and Environment; and International Relations, Politics and History. It is a partner in the Central England NERC Training Alliance (CENTA) for doctoral training and the Midlands Graduate School ESRC Doctoral training Partnership.

The School is committed to undertaking initiatives which support under-represented groups to pursue educational and research opportunities across our disciplines. Analysis has shown that only small numbers of UK racialised minority students are undertaking post graduate research degrees within the School. To take steps to address this structural inequality, School-funded studentships have been ring-fenced for UK applicants who identify as being from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background as part of our wider work to support underrepresented groups within our disciplines.

Project details:

Emerging post-glacial landscapes are highly dynamic and transient, with periglacial and fluvial processes at work in settings that exhibit a strong legacy of recent glaciation. Under a changing climate and with the resulting potential for rapid and ice-loss, an increasing number of landscapes are under threat of transitioning from glacial to post-glacial conditions. The impact on landscape morphology (such as valley shape) and landscape processes (within channels and on hillslopes), remains unknown but could be important for understanding emerging geohazards such as landsliding or glacial lake outburst floods due to heightened rates of erosion focused in particular areas.

This PhD will harness innovative GIS-based remote sensing and topographic analysis methods to explore the typical morphological signature of emerging post-glacial landscapes, such as the regions that are characterised by historic and ongoing ice-mass loss. The analysis will identify and highlight regions undergoing rapid landscape change in response to the transition to post-glacial conditions. Rates of landscape change will be calculated using existing geochronological estimates for the timing of deglaciation. The morphology and processes of emerging post-glacial landscapes will also be compared to established post-glacial landscapes, allowing a space-for-time analysis of landscape evolution following the transition from glacial to post-glacial environments.

Project code: CENTA23-LU7

Funding

The studentship is funded for 3.5 years starting from October 2023 and provides a tax-free stipend of £17,668 per annum (in 2022/23) for the duration of the studentship plus tuition fees at the UK rate (£4,596 in 2022/23) and a Research Training Support Grant (RTSG) of £8,000. Further guidance about eligibility is available at UKRI Terms and Conditions. International students (including EU) are eligible to apply and there will be a fee waiver in place covering the difference between Home and International fees for successful candidates. Please note that studentships will be awarded on a competitive basis to applicants who have applied to this project. Funding decisions will not be confirmed until after the 20^th February 2023.

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