PhD Studentship: Scoping the Way toward Improved Urban Biodiversity and Natural Capital using Local Authority Data

Award summary

100% Home fees covered, and a minimum tax-free annual living allowance of £19,237 (2024-25 UKRI rate).

Overview

If you are interested in improving biodiversity and natural capital (NC) in England’s urban environment, then look no further.

This PhD project will explore how we can access and use local authority data to understand how to improve urban biodiversity and NC. You will work in a highly multi-disciplinary setting and collaborate with academic, industry and policy experts to explore a range of potential policy changes and new commercial services.

Local authorities don’t necessarily collect sufficient data to directly inform biodiversity and NC outcomes so you will identify additional data required to supplement current local authority datasets and look into novel ways to add value to existing datasets.

This new knowledge will then be used to explore how the Fera Land360 service can help improve local authority data gathering approaches to take a role in accrediting data collection towards official nationally approved metrics or advice local authorities on appropriate spatial targeting of actions.

If you take in this challenge, you will be based at Fera Science Ltd, but will be part of the wider early career research communities at both organisations with opportunities to contribute to their wider research portfolio.

Number of awards: One

Start date: 16^th September 2024

Award duration: 3 Years

Sponsor: Institute for AgriFood Research Innovations

Supervisors: Femke van den Berg, Curtis McKnight and Dalton Baltazar (Fera Science Ltd) and Elisa Lopez-Capel (Newcastle University)

Eligibility criteria

You must have, or expect to gain, a minimum 2:1 Honours degree or international equivalent in Biological and Environmental Sciences or related discipline.

Applicants whose first language is not English require an IELTS score of 6.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in all sub-skills.

The studentship covers fees at the Home rate (UK and EU applicants with pre-settled/settled status and meet the residency criteria). International applicants are welcome to apply but will be required to cover the difference between Home and International fees.

International applicants may require an ATAS (Academic Technology Approval Scheme) clearance certificate prior to obtaining their visa and to study on this programme.

How to apply

You must apply through the University’s Apply to Newcastle Portal

Once registered select ‘Create a Postgraduate Application’.

Use ‘Course Search’ to identify your programme of study:

• Search for the ‘Course Title’ using the programme code: 8020F
• Research Area: Biological Sciences
• Select ‘PhD Biology as the programme of study

You will then need to provide the following information in the ‘Further Questions’ section: 

• A ‘Personal Statement’ (this is a mandatory field) - upload a document or write a statement directly into the application form.
• The studentship code SNES280a in the ‘Studentship/Partnership Reference’ field.
• When prompted regarding your research proposal - select ‘Write Proposal’. You should then type in the title of the research project from this advert. You do not need to upload a research proposal.

In the ‘Supporting Documentation’ section please upload:

• Your CV

You must submit one application per studentship, you cannot apply for multiple studentships on one application.

Contact details: Femke.vandenberg@fera.co.uk

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