PhD in Physical Geography
There are many opportunities for carrying out a PhD in Physical Geography in the School of Geographical Sciences, with several different funding routes.
A list of currently available projects is shown below. This list is not exhaustive, so if you have another idea or project in mind, please contact one of the supervisors listed below, other potential supervisors or the postgraduate admissions tutors to discuss and develop further.
PhD Student and Teaching Assistant (PGTA) - Deadline 31/05/2019. Further details and how to apply. (PDF, 60kB).
| Project title | Supervisor(s) |
|---|---|
|
The temperature of our planet – modelling and understanding a 500 million-year history |
Professor Dan Lunt |
|
Snow Blanket: Exploring the critical role of snow on Arctic sea ice for new state-of-the-art NASA & ESA satellite missions |
Dr Jack Landy |
|
What can the microbiome tell us about expanding ocean dead zones? |
Dr Patricia Sanchez-Baracaldo |
|
Oceans losing breath: is anthropogenic climate change to blame for recent ocean deoxygenation? |
Dr Oliver Andrews |
|
The impact of global warming on hurricane-induced storm-surges in the Caribbean |
Dr Rory Bingham |
NERC GW4+ projects 2019/20 - deadline 16.00 GMT Monday 7th January 2019
| Project title | Supervisor(s) |
|---|---|
|
Oceans losing breath: is anthropogenic climate change to blame for recent ocean deoxygenation?(DTP Research Theme: Changing Planet: ) |
Dr Oliver Andrews |
|
What is driving rapid changes in Canadian Arctic sea ice thickness? (DTP Research Theme: Changing Planet: ) |
Dr Jack Landy |
|
The temperature of our planet – modelling and communicating a 500-million year history (DTP Research Theme: Changing Planet) |
Professor Dan Lunt |
|
Climatic controls on landscape evolution (DTP Research Theme: Changing Planet) |
Dr Katerina Michaelides |
|
Understanding polar vortices on Earth by looking at different planets (DTP Research Theme: Changing Planet) |
Dr Dann Mitchell |
|
Advancing flood risk mapping from global modelling systems in small islands (DTP Research Theme: Changing Planet) |
Dr Jeff Neal |
|
What can the microbiome tell us about expanding ocean dead zones? (DTP Research Themes: Living World, Changing Planet) |
Dr Patricia Sanchez-Baracaldo |
Other funded PhD projects
| Project title | Supervisor(s) |
|---|---|
|
Sea level rise: Solving the puzzle of the 20th Century record Guaranteed funding including full membership of GW4+ Doctoral Training Partnership. Suggested start date March/April 2019 **deadline 16.00 GMT Monday 7th January 2019** |
Professor Jonathan Bamber |
|
The Antarctic Ice Sheet of the past million years **deadline 16.00 GMT Monday 7th January 2019** **Re-advertised, note new start date up to October 2019** |
Dr Ed Gasson |
Other PhD projects
These are suggested projects for which we currently have no funding. They would be ideal for holders of scholarships, or self-funded students.
| Project title | Supervisor(s) |
|---|---|
| Closing the Ocean Carbon Cycle | Professor Paul Valdes |
| Caves as a window on land-atmosphere coupling in the carbon cycle | Dr David Richards |
|
Evolution and diversity of novel marine nitrogen-fixing organisms and their impact on global climate |
Dr Fanny Monteiro |
| Developing regional scale hydrodynamic models | Dr Jeff Neal |
|
Desert dust and ancient oceans: Implications for climate and atmospheric CO2 |
Professor Dan Lunt |
|
The impacts of land use change on climate, data and model analysis |
Dr Jo House |
|
Using observations from space and the deep ocean to uncover the ocean's role in climate change |
Dr Rory Bingham |
| Atmospheric methane on the rise: investigating the drivers of methane’s abrupt changes | Dr Anita Ganesan |
| Hydrology and hydraulics of the Amazon floodplain | Professor Paul Bates |
| Researching controls of algal mortality on the Greenland Ice Sheet | Professor Alex Anesio |
| Current and future European flood risk | Professor Paul Bates |
| Energy and nutrient transfers at the “nexus of weathering and biology”: the rock-soil interface | Professor Alex Anesio |
| Palaeoenvironmental controls on the accumulation of hydrocarbon source rocks in Paratethys | Dr Rachel Flecker |
| Improved models of water quality behaviour for evaluating monitoring strategies, prediction uncertainties, and to support decision-making. | Professor Jim Freer |
| Developing regional scale hydrodynamic models | Dr Jeff Neal |
| Fractionation of magnesium isotopes during bacterially mediated carbonate precipitation; A new tool for understanding the origins of Mg-rich carbonates | Professor Alex Anesio |
| Exploring the Subglacial Biogeochemical Reactor and its Role in Global Biogeochemical Cycles and Climate | Professor Martyn Tranter |