PhD Studentship: Leverhulme ‘Space for Nature’ Doctoral Scholars (PhD) Competing Land Uses in an Indonesian Biosphere Reserve

Project Summary: Understanding the interplay between people’s uses of forests and their interactions with wildlife remains a key research priority in rapidly changing tropical landscapes. Yet tackling this problem is complicated by the different ways that people use land, and the multifaceted relationships between governance and equity amongst various stakeholders involved.

This PhD project will investigate this problem in the Betung Kerihun Danau Sentarum Kapuas Hulu Biosphere Reserve in Kalimantan, Indonesia. This extensive >940,000 ha multi-use landscape comprises globally important forest biodiversity, and has significant ecological value to people. Yet, the region experiences agricultural encroachment and illegal wildlife trade, exacerbated by the expansion of a road connecting to the Malaysian border.

Here, NGO partner Sangga Bumi Lestari is promoting sustainable forest management and landscape connectivity in the buffer zones between Betung Kerihun and Danau Sentarum national parks. This intermediary landscape is defined

by several competing and sometimes contested land-uses, including forestry and oil palm agriculture, but also two alternative land-based conservation measures. While extensive degraded forests have been designated ecosystem restoration licenses, local communities are embracing social forestry as means to assert their land rights and enhance forest livelihoods.

The student will develop an interdisciplinary project centred on these competing land-based conservation measures to help further the ecological resilience of the landscape through more inclusive land management. Priority topics that the student might explore include:

• Investigating the biodiversity value of various land-uses and conservation measures, including the impact of the new road, through camera trap surveys and spatial analyses.
• Understanding community objectives for managing forests alongside the equity and fairness of how social forestry schemes are implemented.
• Studying the dynamics of people’s uses of forests and wildlife to understand how these behaviours are influenced by shifting governance of the landscape or outside factors (such as an outbreak African Swine Fever)

The successful candidate will have strong analytical skills (including GIS), and be familiar with sustainability policies relevant to tropical countries. They will have some fieldwork experience (either ecological, or social or both), and will receive training in methods they are less familiar with to ensure the project is interdisciplinary.

Scholarship value: The PhD scholarship includes a stipend (equivalent to the Research Councils UK National Minimum Doctoral Stipend; the 2024/25 rate is £19,237, which is not taxed income). Tuition fees are covered at the home student rate. The PhD scholarship comes with a £10,000 research and training fund.

For eligibility criteria and details on how to apply, please see the full advertisement.

For more background information about the Leverhulme ‘Space for Nature’ Doctoral Scholars, please go to the DICE website

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