Lead Supervisor: Craig Robertson (craig.robertson@bangor.ac.uk)
2nd Supervisor: Stephen Watson (stw@pml.ac.uk)
Associate Partner: The Crown Estate (https://www.thecrownestate.co.uk)

 

Project Description

The project combines benthic ecology, functional ecology, social science and economics in the development of sustainable evidence-based tools for policy makers managing sustainable marine resources. This PhD seeks to answer whether functional trait-based approaches can yield ecologically sound indicators to assess benthic ecosystem function impacts from offshore wind installation and inform marine natural capital and services. The development of offshore renewable energy installations leads to an increasing number of man-made structures in the marine environment. Sensitivity of benthic communities to OWF impacts have been shown to be higher than previously thought, highlighting the need for increased understanding of changes in ecological functioning and cascade effects. The project is transdisciplinary, spanning natural science, social science and economics, and the candidate will ideally have experience or a strong interest in each of these disciplines.

 

Aims and Objectives

The overarching approach will be to define and quantify the following benthic relationships:

OWF —> Functional Traits —> Ecosystem Process —> Ecosystem Services & Benefits and will address the following questions: Firstly, can applying trait analyses to existing OWF benthic community datasets reveal functional community changes between pre, post & operational construction phases. Secondly, can these changes be linked to changes in ecosystem process provision and lastly, can modelling of functional change inform ecosystem services and natural capital assessments. Linking these functions to ecosystem service delivery, and understanding how these linkages change under different biodiversity regimes and at different scales is of key importance. Developing an understanding of the mechanisms supporting these linkages is an underdeveloped but much needed area of research.

 

Training

The student will be trained in benthic community data and trait-based approaches and analyses gaining analytical skills in R. The project will undertake several placements with collaborating organisations who provide evidence-based advice on ecosystem management, to focus thesis and research outputs.

 

Project Structure

The project is structured around several thesis outputs (3 data chapters, 1 review chapter and 1 synthesis chapter), culminating in several peer-reviewed articles.

The project will primarily be supervised by Dr Craig Robertson (Bangor University, lead supervisor), and Dr Stephen Watson (Plymouth Marine Laboratory, second supervisor) and Dr Philip Turner (The Crown Estate, co-supervisor), with support from Profs Jan Hiddink and Nicola Beaumont.

Information for Applicants

Applications for Cohort 2 of the CDT SuMMeR is now open, with PhD Studentships commencing from 1 October 2023.

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 17th 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.

Eligibility

Applicants should have a first or upper second-class honours degree in an appropriate subject and either a relevant Masters qualification or a wider range of experience in a relevant career path (which is equally as important).

Each applicant may apply for a studentship on up to three projects. Where more than one project is applied for, the supervisors of all those projects will be made aware that other applications have been made

CDT SuMMeR studentships are partially funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), which applies the eligibility criteria laid down by its parent body, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and co-funded by the respective Hosting Partner institutes. UKRI provides details on its training grants in its Terms and Conditions for Training Funding document, including its Training Grant Guide, which can be found on the UKRI website.

International students are eligible for all UKRI-funded postgraduate studentships but UKRI will normally limit the proportion of international students appointed each year through individual doctoral training programmes to 30% of the total.

The studentship is supported for 3 years and 8 months. All UKRI-funded PhD students (UK, EU, International) will be eligible for the full award – both the stipend to support living costs (currently £17,668 per annum pro rata at the 2022/23 rate), and fees at the research organisations’ UK rate. CDT SuMMeR’s funding will not cover international fees set by universities, applicants normally required to pay International fees may have to cover the difference between the Home and the International tuition fee rates (approximately £12,697 per annum).

Please enquire with the lead supervisor on the situation regarding international fees for the project you are interested in.  CDT SuMMeR’s funding will not cover costs associated with visa application or health surcharges, or additional costs associated with entry to, and living in the UK. For EU and international eligibility for UKRI studentships see UKRI’s guidance .

In case of uncertainty, the planned university of registration should be contacted for eligibility advice; or the CDT SuMMeR Programme Office: cdt-summer-students@plymouth.ac.uk

Find out more here.