PhD Studentship: Understanding How Reservoirs Influence Riverine Ecosystem Health: Investigating Ecosystem Health in a Changing Climate

The impact climate change is having on the world’s ecosystems affects every one of us. Our capacity to grow food and maintain clean and safe water supplies sustainably, is dependent upon understanding how soil and water are affected by our changing weather. The EcoSENSE research cluster will develop new sensors for the accurate, sensitive and real-time monitoring of the health of water and soil systems. We will achieve this through an ambitious and exciting series of interconnected projects combining expertise in Materials Science, Chemistry, Geography and Computer Science, guided by input from key Industrial partners including MAST group Ltd and Severn Trent.

UK reservoirs store ~90 % of our water and are important sinks for nutrients (e.g. nitrogen and phosphorus) as well as inorganic and organic pollutants (e.g. heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides) and other persistent and emerging contaminants. Reservoirs are becoming increasingly challenging to treat due to eutrophication and subsequent algal growth (including toxic blue-green algae or cyanobacteria) causing problems for water treatment works. Further research is critical to understanding how reservoir sediments accumulate nutrients and other pollutants of concern and how they can potentially be remobilised into river systems. Currently water companies are not required to monitor what is present in their sediments. This project will work with Severn Trent partners to investigate reservoirs of concern and characterise what is present within sediments to identify potential risk contaminants to help drive a proactive approach to mitigation.

This interdisciplinary project will involve both field and laboratory work and is part of a larger research cluster (EcoSENSE), which aims to develop advanced multi-sensing systems to monitor ecosystem health in a changing climate.

Widening participation

EcoSENSE are committed to widening the diversity of our PhD student cohorts. We aim to guarantee interviews for Home-award-eligible students in certain groups or areas of the UK who are under represented in higher education.

More details are in the EcoSENSE application form which you can find in the how to apply section below.

How to Apply

As part of our aim to guarantee interviews for home-awarded-eligible students in certain groups or areas of the UK who are under-represented in higher education, we require you to complete and submit the EcoSENSE Studentship Application Form 2023 in addition to the general application process highlighted below.

Funding

Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching, assessment and operating University facilities such as the library, IT equipment and other support services. University fees and charges can be paid in advance and there are several methods of payment, including online payments and payment by instalment. Fees are reviewed annually and are likely to increase to take into account inflationary pressures.

Studentship is for three years full time or six years part time and provides a tax-free stipend of £17,668 per annum (pro rata for the part time) for the duration of the studentship plus tuition fees. UK and international applicants are both eligible for this award. Please note that the studentship will be awarded on a competitive basis to applicants who have applied to this project.

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