PhD Studentship: How is climate change affecting the onset of monsoon rainfall?, NERC GW4+ DTP PhD studentship for September 2026 Entry

About the Partnership

This project is one of a number that are in competition for funding from the NERC Great Western Four+ Doctoral Training Partnership (GW4+ DTP).  The GW4+ DTP consists of the Great Western Four alliance of the University of Bath, University of Bristol, Cardiff University and the University of Exeter plus five Research Organisation partners:  British Antarctic Survey, British Geological Survey, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology,  the Natural History Museum and Plymouth Marine Laboratory.  The partnership aims to provide a broad training in earth and environmental sciences, designed to train tomorrow’s leaders in earth and environmental science. For further details about the programme please see http://nercgw4plus.ac.uk/

For eligible successful applicants, the studentships comprises:

• An stipend for 3.5 years (currently £20,780 p.a. for 2026/27) in line with UK Research and Innovation rates
• Payment of university tuition fees
• The budget for project costs is £9,000 which can be used for computer, lab, and fieldwork costs necessary for you to conduct your research.
• There is also a conference budget of £2,000 and individual Training Budget of £1,000 for specialist training

Project Aims and Methods

60% of the world's population live in countries dependent upon seasonal monsoon rainfall. Climate change is causing changes in the character of monsoon rainfall, with potentially severe impacts on extreme weather, agriculture, water resources, hydropower and health in affected regions. A delayed start to the monsoon season (monsoon onset) occurs in future climate projections of several monsoon regions, and may have also been observed in historical trends, but the processes driving this delay are not well understood. This project  will use observations and climate model simulations to examine how the onset period of monsoons is responding to climate change across different monsoon regions (e.g. Southern Africa, South America, Asia), and whether there is a common process linking monsoon onset changes globally. 

The direction of the project will be developed jointly by the student and supervisors, including which monsoon regions are of most interest and whether to produce new idealised climate model simulations. The supervisors are from the Universities of Exeter, Birmingham, Oxford and UKCEH, with a strong record of research, training and collaboration. Training will be provided in research, programming and other relevant skills, with opportunities to spend time working at the different partner institutes and to attend scientific conferences. 

Useful recruitment links:  

For information relating to the research project please contact the lead Supervisor via: r.s.chadwick@exeter.ac.uk 

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