ESRC PhD Studentship Interdisciplinary Pathway Climate Change, Sustainability and Society
Program Overview
This interdisciplinary PhD pathway focuses on sustainability challenges, combining expertise from natural and social sciences. Students will work with supervisors funded by AHRC, EPSRC, NERC, and ESRC. The pathway supports students with research clusters, post-doctoral assistants, and training courses in data skills and advanced quantitative methods. Research projects are available in areas such as human-wildlife interactions, climate change adaptation, and sustainable food systems.
Program Outline
Degree Overview:
This pathway includes interdisciplinary work across natural and social sciences to tackle a range of sustainability challenges. Potential supervisors for projects in this pathway have cross-UKRI expertise, having run research projects funded by AHRC, EPSRC and NERC in addition to the ESRC. They lead an interdisciplinary BU research cluster, ‘Resolving the extinction crisis: sustainable and technological solutions for biodiversity and society’, with four BU-funded post-doctoral research assistants to provide support to PhD students. Students will also join our aligned research cluster, ‘Communicating Climate Change and Sustainability for Society’, led by the pathway lead Phillipa Gillingham. They have strengths in data skills and advanced quantitative methods and have run several training courses in data analysis, for example the NERC-funded ‘Management of Marine Protected Areas using Bayesian Belief Networks’ and a workshop for the British Ecological Society on agent-based modelling.
Other:
We would welcome applications for research projects in the following areas:
- Human/wildlife interactions
- Human impacts on wildlife and the environment
- Access to greenspace
- Equitable designation of nature reserves
- Climate change adaptation
- Coastal zone management
- Nature-based solutions to climate change
- Citizen science and public engagement
- Valuing nature
- Green economy
- Behavioural change for sustainability
- Sustainable food systems
- Sustainable travel
- Gender equality and sustainability in sport/events.
Entry Requirements:
- Outstanding academic potential: This is typically measured by a 1st class honours degree or equivalent Grade Point Average (GPA), or a Master’s degree with distinction or equivalent.
- English Language Proficiency: If English is not your first language, you'll need an IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5 minimum (with a minimum 6.0 in each component, or equivalent).
- ESRC Criteria: Students wishing to undertake a PhD only (+3 awards) must meet the ESRC criteria in terms of previous Master’s level study.
Language Proficiency Requirements:
- IELTS (Academic): Minimum score of 6.5 overall, with a minimum of 6.0 in each component.
- Equivalent Tests: Other English language proficiency tests may be accepted, but the specific requirements should be confirmed with the university.
