2025 Studentships

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Iapetus projects for the 2025/26 cohort will be added here from November 2024. The Studentship Competition has now closed. Please see this page for more details.

The impact of abrupt global warming on soil erosion and the carbon cycle – lessons from the past for the future

Past ocean oxygen and pH changes

The origin of life at ancient alkaline hydrothermal vents

Defining interactions between diet and season on gastrointestinal tract health and microbiome of domestic animals

How does ice flow enhancement and rearrangement impact the West Antarctic Ice Sheet?

Modelling Natural Hydrogen systems using Agent Based modelling

Peat-forming seasonally flooded forests of the Peruvian Amazon: distribution, carbon storage, and long-term ecology

Wild Atlantic Woods: how to recognise and maintain their cultural and conservation value.

Aiding emergency services by detecting floods in urban areas using radar satellite data and machine learning

Do genes that evolve under sexual selection cause speciation in Drosophila pseudoobscura?

The impacts of electromagnetic fields from offshore cabling on lobster (Homarus gammarus) and crab (Cancer pagurus) behaviour

Relict Landscapes as Archives of Past Climate and Tectonics

Computational innovation for the energy transition: Bayesian stratigraphic correlation of subsurface data

Landslide-flood interactions in the Himalayan mountain range in a warming climate

Shining the light on long-term patterns of sediment cover in bedrock channels

The Lake District Legacy: Tracking and tracing past, present and future delivery of contaminated sediment from historic mining headwater catchments

Late Glacial and Holocene glacier dynamics in southeast Alaska / British Columbia

Communicating Pleistocene fluvial environments and human occupation from the terraces of principal rivers (PhD by creative portfolio)

Reconstructing past volcanism using trace metals in ice cores

Microbial ecological archaeology of Antarctic microbes through single cell genomics

Examining ecological shifts and impacts of adaptive divergence in response to geothermal habitats

Multiscale interpretations of the internal complexity of evaporite sequences from mine workings, borehole and seismic data

The impacts of gigaton-scale direct air capture of carbon dioxide on natural resources

Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for the Automated Tracking of Icebergs through Drift and Fracture

Achondrite meteorites as snapshots of Earth’s earliest history

Blue Carbon accumulation, transformation and storage: Quantifying biogeochemical processes in saltmarsh ecosystems.

The genetic diversity and adaptive potential of mountain birch in Scotland for high-altitude nature recovery

Sustainable Flood Management: Feasibility and Effectiveness of Catchment Scale Nature-based Solutions for Flooding and Biodiversity Restoration

Rock, charcoal and compost: Investigating synergistic effects of enhanced rock weathering, biochar, and compost amendments for soil remediation and carbon sequestration.

Horse power: hoofed animals as agents of rewilding

Uncovering the impacts of volcanic ash deposition on plant and soil communities

Assessing ecosystem service trade-offs in omnivorous generalist beetles using network inference, molecular dietary analysis and nutritional networks

The Ocean’s Evolution: Deciphering Circulation Changes Since the Last Glacial Maximum

Bridging tradition and technology: advanced remote sensing and local knowledge for tropical forest biodiversity and biomass mapping in Amazonia.

Weathering vs. climate change: Quantifying recent silicate weathering using novel isotope tracers

Novel statistical models accounting for misidentification in ecological data

Bridging the divide between distant water fleets and coastal communities in the biggest unregulated fishery in the world

Giant megathrust earthquakes: structural and sedimentary controls on tsunamigenic shallow slip

The tactics of rheotaxis: movements of higher vertebrate predators in relation to Southern Ocean currents

Exploring CRM Mineralisation Processes in Layered Intrusions with AI: A Corescale to Microscale Journey and Back Again

Reactivation and mineralisation associated with the Lake District Boundary Fault

Glacial valleys in a changing climate: understanding links between glacial valley morphology, sediment dynamics, and climate variations

Unlocking Earth’s volcanic record with novel computer vision approaches

Understanding the potential soil carbon benefits of agroforestry

Impacts of rapid proglacial lake formation on glacial and proglacial systems in SE Iceland

Tracing Micronutrient behaviour accompanying forestation and climate change

How did Earth become a habitable planet? Revealing the origins of Earth’s water using Antarctic meteorites

Investigating past changes in Greenland melting and its impacts on ocean circulation as a key to the future.

Disentangling the interactions between climate change and land-use change in a 3D world

Feathered Witnesses: Unravelling the Impact of Habitat Loss on Neotropical Avifauna with Stable Isotope Analysis

Physics-informed neural networks for urban flood modelling

Humpback whales sentinels of ocean health: population dynamics and drivers for occurrence in breeding locations off East Africa

Grounds for an Equitable Transition

Machine learning for GNSS time series analysis: benchmarking and application in geosciences

Origin and evolutionary dynamics of rainforest assembly in the Fiji Islands

Reservoirs of Bacterial Pathogens in Captive Animal Enclosures: Evolutionary Drivers in a Changing Climate

Northern Farming: Sustainable Practice Through Time

Use of remote sensing data to improve predictions of ozone and drought impacts on crop yield.

Brain evolution and comparative anatomy across bumblebee species

Novel insights into tick-borne disease ecology through host blood meal identification

Landscapes of resilience? Archaeobotanical and stable isotope analysis of archival material from the First Millennium CE in the Anglo-Scottish borders

Resilient Coastal Communities: Nature-based Solutions to Mitigate Compound Flood Risks

The contribution of mesopelagic fish to the functioning of the Southern Ocean Ecosystem in a changing climate – an isotopic study.

Machine Learning for Innovative Slope Design to Radically Decarbonise Open Pit Mining

Heavy metal insights into the formation of planet Earth

Representing runout in landslide nowcasts to improve disaster information and response

Environmentally sustainable creel fisheries

Exploring the impact of pollution on coastal marine environments in NE England

Explorations of symbiosis along a parasite-mutualist continuum

Refining dietary interpretation of archaeological humans in the Holocene of northwestern Europe using paired apatite and collagen carbon isotopes

How development shapes the pace-of-life of animals

Long-term pastoral impact on mountain soils

Do organic-mineral interactions increase or decrease greenhouse gas release from rivers?

Why are we not making soil? Learning lessons from the historic anthropogenic soils of UK and Germany

Laboratory modelling of internal tsunami generation due to ice calving

Migratory patterns and feeding grounds of stranded beaked whales explored through biomarkers and isotopic signatures of blubber

Quantifying variations in Southern Ocean primary productivity over the last 2000 years from Sulfur Isotopes in Antarctic Ice cores

Mapping Arctic Marine Mammals: understanding the distribution of species in a rapidly changing north

When blue spaces turn brown: understanding the influence of poor water quality on blue health (dis)benefits

Elucidating the function of lasso peptides in bacterial interspecies interactions

Can artificial intelligence improve flood risk management?

Anthropogenic ocean carbon uptake and acidification – establishing the “hockey stick” for ocean CO2

Getting to the core of the Great Glen Fault

Unravelling nutrient feedbacks across the Great Oxidation Event

Holocene Antarctic Peninsula Tephrochronology (HolAP-Tephra): Using Antarctic Peninsula ice core records to assess Holocene volcanic activity climate impacts.

Female mate choice, genetic effects, and the diverse reproductive strategies of live-bearing and egg-laying lizards

Developing nature-based solutions for reducing microbial pollution in lakes and rivers

Investigating multiple causes of saltmarsh compaction – how important is biodegradation?

Telling the time in turbulent oceans: How do phytoplankton use clocks and carbon to survive deep mixing?

Understanding the ecological interplay between tree planting and natural processes to create future forests

Carbon capture and storage: can a transdisciplinary framework for environmental impact assessment deliver a fair and equitable net-zero carbon future?

Rewilding: integrating technologies and data to monitor upland food-web change

Mineral-microbe transformations in carbon critical environments

The impact of horizontal gene transfer on the evolution of eukaryotes

The evolution of reproductive isolation in rubyspot damselflies

Impact of perfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) on soil structure and microorganisms

Monitoring Scotland’s fresh waters from space: re-engineering the state-of-art using artificial intelligence

Mandrills and microbes II: the gut microbiome

Developing drone and satellite remote sensing to support catchment scale monitoring and management of invasive plant species.

Improving spatial estimates of species’ extinction risk for conservation planning

The origin of animals: Building a precise timeline from the geological record

Identification of native vegetation species by linking UAV imagery with terrestrial spectroradiometers

Understanding the role of complexity and diversity in riparian woodland resilience to extreme events.

Investigating records of terrestrial precursors in the early Solar System using Cr, Ni and Zn isotope compositions of meteorites

Time travelling with ancient DNA: revealing past adaptations of plants to changes in atmospheric temperature and CO2 levels

Greenhouse gas balance in an agricultural grassland system with enhanced rock weathering of basalt as a carbon dioxide removal strategy

Assessing the environmental risk of contaminant accumulation and release from retreating glaciers

Passive Seismic Imaging of Under-explored Central Iceland

How to peel a slab: Insights into slab weakening and slab-plume interactions in the Afar region

The rocks of the future: lithification of anthropogenic geomaterials in the Anthropocene

How does climate change impact reindeer populations? Reconstructing Arctic environments using lipid biomarkers in lake sediments.

Explaining and predicting the migratory behaviour and population dynamics of a long-distance migratory bird.

Automated Continuous In-situ Dissolved Metal Monitoring & Modelling (ACID M3)

Understanding pathways to extreme heat using large ensembles

Understanding the role of coastal habitats to fisheries using bioacoustics and machine learning

Plinian eruption deposits from Las Cañadas Caldera, Tenerife: constraining eruption frequencies, eruption cycles and the Quaternary evolution of the island

Uncovering the effects of climate change on forest ecosystems through the lens of animal behaviour

Active deformation and landscape evolution in the western Ordos, northern China

Investigating how well coastal protection strategies trap and keep sediment for mangrove rehabilitation in the Guiana Shield

Applying social network and personality trait analyses to understanding and managing human-macaque sympatry in urban Singapore

Modelling landscape-level approaches for mitigating the evolution of pesticide resistance

Invasions and extractions in Lough Neagh and their role in water quality deterioration

Assessing the Hydro ecological Impacts of Climate-Driven Extreme Events on UK Rivers

The importance of location of origin for wildflower seed mixes

Adders in the north: Conserving northern England’s adder (Vipera berus) populations

Habitat restoration planning: Investigating the synergism between biochemical and acoustic cues for successful settlement of native European oysters

Determining the Widespread Risk of Atmospheric Aerosols Released During Environmental Hazard Events, using Satellite-based Observations.

Nocturnal predators in landscapes of the Anthropocene: how light and sound pollution affect movement ecology and diet of Tawny owls (Strix aluco)

Role of turbidity currents in organic carbon and nutrient transport to deep-sea environment

Can restored landscapes mitigate disease outbreaks? The effects of habitat restoration on zoonotic vector-borne disease risk in Scotland

Quantifying fluvial geomorphic change in response to changing glacier dynamics

Drivers and impacts of extreme high temperature events over coastal Antarctica

Nature-based solutions for coastal management – The role of biofilms in induced carbonate precipitation and sediment stability

Diffusion Clocks: Decoding Magma Ascent Speed Beneath Volcanoes

Flax forever: the possibility of immortality in the meristems of an annual plant

In hot water: Climate change, water level, and the future of water quality in lakes

Sensing the air: ammonia, ammonia sensors and improving rural air quality

Communicating the air: identifying better methods to support public engagement with air pollution to help minimise air pollution exposures

Assessing the eco-hydrological and geomorphic effects of floodplain restoration.

Time-evolving hazard and risk from Glacial Lake Outburst Floods in Bhutan.

Future Seas: Intraspecific differences in the ecological and transcriptional stress responses of intertidal ecosystem engineers

Microbial degradation of glacial POPs

How important is mantle carbonation in Earth’s long-term carbon cycle?

Impact of environment and climate change on shallow-water foodwebs in polar ecosystems

Palaeoglacier and palaeoclimate reconstructions in the Chilean and Argentinian Lake District, Patagonia

Impact of climate change on the northern Greenland Ice Sheet over the Late Cenozoic based on a novel geochemical technique and climate modelling

Geomechanics of salt cavern operation for underground hydrogen storage

History of tropical peatland vegetation: controls on the recent development of peatland pole forest in Peruvian Amazonia

Underground heat storage in abandoned coals mines for Net Zero

Population-scale impacts of metals on microbial communities