2 phds in coral reef ecology (UK)

2 fully funded (fees, stipend, and research budget) PhD opportunities. These are through the ENVISION Doctoral Training Program (http://www.envision-dtp.org/), and both linked between Lancaster University and Bangor University, UK. The full funding is available to UK applicants, or EU applicants resident in UK for past 3 years.


1) Capturing Ecosystem Service Delivery from Coral Reefs - http://www.envision-dtp.org/portal/projects/002701/capturing-ecosystem-service-delivery-from-coral-reefs. This interdisciplinary project will assess stakeholder (fishers, tourism operators) perceptions of ecosystem service provision from reefs in differing condition. It will go on to quantify various aspects of the ecological and physical environment of the reefs to assess if biophysical proxies of ecosystem services can capture stakeholder perceptions. The fieldwork for this project will be in the Indian Ocean, while the student will be based at Lancaster University. Supervisory team will include Prof Nick Graham (Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University), Dr Gareth Williams (School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University), and Dr Christina Hicks (Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University). Additional supervision and a research funding top up will come from Dr Albert Norström (Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University).



2) Biological Signals of the Island Mass Effect - http://www.envision-dtp.org/portal/projects/002713/biological-signals-of-the-island-mass-effect.. This project will allow a student to investigate some of the natural dynamics of reefs on remote oceanic islands and atolls. Linking oceanography with biogeography, the project will assess the influence of oceanic productivity and the drivers of that productivity on oceanic coral reef systems. Travel associated with this project will include Hawaii, and fieldwork in the Chagos Archipelago, British Indian Ocean Territory. Supervisory team will include Dr Gareth Williams, Dr John Turner and Dr Mattias Green (School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University) and Prof Nick Graham (Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University). Additional supervision, training, and research funding will come from Dr Jamie Gove (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA), and Prof Charles Sheppard (Chagos Conservation Trust).

Deadline for applications is 13th January 2016, with PhD's due to start in October 2016. In the first instance, interested applicants should send any questions, a short statement of interest, and a CV to Nick Graham (nick.graham@lancaster.ac.uknick.graham@lancaster.ac.uk>) for the first project, and Gareth Williams (g.j.williams@bangor.ac.ukg.j.williams@bangor.ac.uk>) for the second.