PhD position: Marine mammal bycatch in southwest England: Taking a holistic approach to assess causes, impacts and evidence based-solutions – Deadline 17 January 2023

Lead Supervisor: Sarah Nelms (s.nelms@exeter.ac.uk)
2nd Supervisor: David Woolf (d.k.woolf@hw.ac.uk)
Associate Partner: Cornwall Wildlife Trust (www.cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk)

Project Description

Accidental entrapment of marine mammals in commercial fisheries, bycatch, is the greatest direct cause of marine mammal injury and death around the world and understanding its drivers is key to the development of successful mitigation measures. Using a transdisciplinary approach, this project aims to develop a method to understand which fisheries pose the greatest risk to marine mammals in southwest waters, and in parallel co-develop with fishers potential measures which could be implemented to reduce the threat. The waters off the Southwest of England and Wales coasts, particularly Cornwall, have been identified as a hotspot for marine mammal bycatch, yet there is currently limited information on the main drivers and information, such as spatial overlap between species distributions and fisheries, and the types of gear used are essential for informing policies aimed at managing the threat.

Aims and objectives

This project would take an interdisciplinary approach to informing our understanding of extent and causes of marine mammal bycatch in southwest waters by i) determining whether additional forensic evidence of bycatch could be gathered during investigation of strandings to help improve data collection and diagnoses, ii) developing methods for identifying potential factors that may influence spatio-temporal patterns of bycatch-related strandings and iii) developing policy options to support design improvement and potential solutions where gaps exist.

Training

This PhD will provide a future research leader with an exciting, dynamic and challenging project in which they will learn advanced scientific skills in experimental design, data management, statistics and translating research into practice. The supervisory team and the Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Management of UK Marine Resources (CDT SuMMeR) will provide a holistic training platform, providing excellent interdisciplinary training opportunities in a wide range of employable skills (e.g. statistics, writing, communication), and the student will have full access to the outstanding training opportunities offered through the Exeter Graduate School ‘Effective Researcher Development Programme’. The student will have access to world-class research facilities and the supervisory team are committed to providing the student with a comprehensive training experience, encouraging publication of their work in high-quality journals and research dissemination via international conferences and outreach activities.

The student will also have the opportunity to observe post-mortem examinations of stranded marine animals through the work of CSIP. This will allow them to gain an in-depth understanding of the biology, physiology and threats that vulnerable marine species face in UK waters, as well as the pathological process which post-mortem examinations and associated sampling involve. This will not only facilitate knowledge exchange, it will also offer the student the chance to build their research network. It is important to note that these activities will be carried out even when the student is forging ahead with other workstreams and training. The student will receive key skills training, and will be embedded in the SMMR CDT, the UoE and PML community, and benefit from collaboration with the associated partners.

Project Structure

In order to ensure co-creation of the project with the partners, the student will be supported in developing the project structure in the early stages.
The project will be supervised by Dr Sarah Nelms and Professor Brendan Godley at the University of Exeter, Dr David Woolf at Heriot-Watt University, Professor Nicola Beaumont and Dr James Clark at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Ruth Williams at Cornwall Wildlife Trust, Rob Deaville and James Barnett at the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

Information for Applicants

How to apply
Please find below the list of PhD projects which will start from October 2023. Please click on the reference code of the project you are interested in for more information and the contact details of the Lead Supervisor. You are encouraged to contact the Lead Supervisor (stated in the description of the project) prior to the submission of your application to discuss any aspect of the project/s you are interested in. This will be informal and will have no impact on any applications that follow, other than showing your interest and enthusiasm.

To submit your application, please send to cdt-summer@plymouth.ac.uk:

• A two-page curriculum vitae (CV) – please do not include personal information, such as your portrait photograph, age, marital status or nationality on your CV.. Let us know your education history from undergraduate, work experience, employment, research and publications and any other experience you consider relevant for the project. (Do contact the team at CDT SuMMeR if you have queries (CDT-SuMMeR-PGRS@plymouth.ac.uk);
• A personal statement/covering letter (no longer than 1000 words) which explains why you consider yourself to be a suitable candidate for the PhD Project advertised, what qualifications, experience and skills you have that support your application, and what your aspirations are following on completion of this PhD. Our team is strongly committed to upholding equity, diversity, and inclusion. We expect candidates to uphold these same values and contribute to a positive, safe and inclusive environment. We invite candidates to include a statement about their experience of working across disciplines, cultures, countries or groups in their cover letter. Please ensure you state the PhD Project Reference Code for which you are applying for, on your personal statement/covering letter;
• Complete the Diversity survey at the following link: CDT SuMMeR EDI Survey Please note this is for monitoring purposes only and is not linked to your application. The raw data is being collected independently of the CDT SuMMeR Programme Office by SERIO and is being collected because we want to check how well we are improving our recruitment processes year-on-year. We want to make sure we attract the best talent by recruiting candidates from many diverse backgrounds and experiences. Only the anonymised and aggregated data will be made available to the CDT SuMMeR programme office.
• Optional: SuMMeR appreciates and values differences and seeks to attract, develop and retain a diverse mix of talented people that will contribute to and benefit from the CDT. If you wish to do so, please provide any contextual information that is relevant to your prior attainment and/or your educational pathway to this point. For example, if you are returning to the education system after a period of prolonged absence, you may, if you wish, list any relevant professional experience/qualifications that you have gained. Or, if your prior attainment was affected by extenuating circumstances that you wish to share with us, please do so (up to 500 words).

The closing date for applications is 16:00 BST on 17^th January 2023.

Shortlisted candidates will be contacted by email and invited for interview, with interviews expected to take place from the week commencing the 6th of February 2023. We regret that we may not be able to respond to every applicant. Applicants who have not received a response by this date should consider their application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.

Find out more here.