PhD position: Combining local fisheries knowledge with novel ecological survey methods to identify and understand critical elasmobranch habitats and their threats – Deadline 17 January 2023

Lead Supervisor: Emma Sheehan (emma.sheehan@plymouth.ac.uk)
2nd Supervisor: Rachel turner (r.turner@exeter.ac.uk)
Associate Partner: Natural England (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/natural-england)

Project Description

Elasmobranchs (sharks, skates and rays) are an iconic groups of species, however, overfishing and poor management has driven around 40% of NE Atlantic species to be threatened with extinction. MPAs represent an effective conservation strategy, however, to be successful, they must be designed to encompass critical elasmobranch habitats (e.g. hotspots, nursery-grounds). A key step towards this is advancing our understanding of critical elasmobranch habitats and underlying environmental drivers. This project will integrate novel, cutting-edge elasmobranch field survey techniques (drifting baited cameras) with social science (e.g. semi-structured interviews) to identify critical elasmobranch habitats and threat overlap.

Aims and objectives

Aim: Combine Local Fisheries Knowledge with data collected from novel survey methods to identify and understand critical elasmobranch habitats and threats.

Objectives:

• O1. Summarise local knowledge from marine resource stakeholders about critical elasmobranch habitat-use and threat overlap within south-west UK.
• O2. Test and optimise pelagic BRUVs in known pelagic shark hotspots.
• O3. Use findings from O1 to identify and survey priority sites with BRUVs, acoustic telemetry and oceanographic instruments to determine elasmobranch relative abundance, distribution and underlying drivers.
• O4. Combine information from O1-O3 to compare historic and present-day populations and review the risks, benefits, opportunities for monitoring, and mitigation strategies in the south-west.
• O5. Conduct an industry solution focused field experiment to determine the effectiveness of e.g. a bycatch deterrent (identified through O4).

Training

The candidate will be trained in: semi-structured interviews, participatory mapping, BRUV (pelagic and benthic), ROV, acoustic telemetry and oceanographic surveys and will gain their personal home office tagging licence. The successful candidate will have access to state-of-the-art facilities and technical support at the University of Plymouth and will receive training in a variety of geostatistical models in the R statistical suite to model animal movement and abundance data with oceanographic variables. Crucially, the candidate will learn on placement with Natural England’s senior marine advisors about translating socio-ecological and oceanographic data into impactful management and policy.

Project Structure

The candidate will be based at the University of Plymouth within a lively marine research focused environment with direct access to research vessels, laboratories and field-survey equipment. The city is centrally placed in the south-west with easy access to a number of fishing ports across Dorset, Devon and Cornwall. The PhD data collection activities will be split between working at sea off fishing boats, and travelling to meet stakeholders around the south-west. The Natural England partner is based in Exeter which is only a short commute away where the student will be based for a 3 month placement during their PhD.

The project will be supervised by Dr Emma Sheehan, Associate Professor of Marine Ecology (University of Plymouth, lead supervisor), Dr Rachel Turner, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Social Science (University of Exeter), Dr Alec Moore, Fisheries Ecologist (Bangor University), Dr Ben Ciotti, Fisheries Ecologist (UoP), Dr Philip Hosegood, Associate Professor in Physical Oceanography (UoP), with Associate Partners Natural England.

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.