PhD Studentship: How do Peatland Restoration Activities Influence Drought Resilience and the Reliability of Water Supplies Under Future Climate Pressures?

Peatland restoration is widely promoted as a nature-based solution for enhancing climate resilience, yet its effects on drought resilience and water resource provision remain poorly quantified. With ~70% of UK drinking water sourced from upland catchments and droughts projected to become more frequent and severe, there is an urgent need to understand whether peatland restoration can enhance water security and support evidence-based investment in restoration.

This project will address three key questions:

1. How do peatland restoration activities influence water storage and hydrological response during drought?
2. Which peat properties and ecohydrological processes control drought resilience? and
3. How might restoration alter peatland hydrology and water resource provision under current and future climates?

The project will combine field monitoring of water table depth, soil moisture, rainfall and evapotranspiration with laboratory characterisation of peat hydraulic and physical properties. These observations will be integrated with existing environmental datasets to parameterise and evaluate site-scale process-based models and catchment-scale probabilistic models, quantifying the influence of peatland restoration on drought resilience and water-resource provision under current and future climate scenarios.

The supervisory team will provide training in field hydrology, environmental monitoring, laboratory techniques, data science, hydrological modelling, uncertainty analysis and scientific writing. The Doctoral Researcher will also benefit from training opportunities across the University of Exeter and CREWW, where they will be embedded within a multidisciplinary research environment.

South West Peatland Partnership (part of South West Water) will act as CASE partner, providing access to restoration sites, long-term datasets, practitioner expertise and an industry placement. Collaboration with the Environment Agency will provide policy and regulatory perspectives. Through training, supervision and partnership working, the Doctoral Researcher will shape the project direction, including methods, modelling approaches and management scenarios, ensuring outputs are scientifically robust and directly relevant to water-resource management and peatland restoration practice.

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