Do you have a Master’s degree and are looking for fully funded PhD opportunities? University of Plymouth, Plymouth, England is now accepting applications for several funded PhD programs across a range of research areas.
1. Fully Funded PhD in Sustainable lighting for coastal cities
Summary of Funded PhD Program
Artificial Light at Night (ALAN) has demonstrated impacts on biological processes in the sea. Opportunities exist to reduce the ecological harm caused by street lighting using a variety of alternative lighting strategies. This project will provide critical information for reducing natural capital losses caused by existing street lighting infrastructure as it is replaced over the next ten years. The student will undertake an interdisciplinary, holistic studentship involving natural and social sciences in collaboration with Plymouth City Council. The student will develop and deploy skills in social science, community ecology and hydrological modelling to quantify the social and ecological trade-offs of coastal city lighting.
Application Deadline: 3 February 2025
Follow for daily update
Telegram
2. Fully Funded PhD in Integrating novel fishery-independent techniques to monitor the recovery of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in Southwest UK waters
Summary of Funded PhD Program
This project collaborates with recreational fishers in the Southwest. Aerial drone mapping from angling boats will be used to extract key BFT school metrics (school and individual sizes) and foraging behaviour. Oceanographic profiling with a handheld CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) and novel plankton imaging sensors will characterise the water column, while satellite remote sensing will explore links between ocean surface features (e.g. fronts) and foraging. Water samples will be collected to determine multi-species BFT foraging aggregations using state-of-the-art plankton and fish eDNA metabarcoding.
Application Deadline: 3 February 2025
3. Fully Funded PhD in Tools to understand energy use in wild fish populations: Habitat solutions for sustainable fisheries
Summary of Funded PhD Program
Partitioning of energy among interlinked processes of growth and metabolism is central to an organism’s performance. Commonly measured in the laboratory, few options exist to quantify growth and metabolic rate in the field, but this is essential for assessing the status of wild populations and therefore identifying approaches to safeguard biodiversity, mitigate climate change and sustainably manage marine resources. Coastal fisheries are dominated by species that rely on vulnerable inshore habitats (e.g. seagrass, saltmarsh) as juveniles. Despite initiatives to protect and restore nurseries supporting high juvenile abundances, the extent to which different habitats support growth is often unknown.
Application Deadline: 3 February 2025
Explore Fully Funded Master’s Programs
4. Fully Funded PhD in Predicting marine biodiversity heatwave vulnerability at management relevant scales: A novel approach for adaptive conservation
Summary of Funded PhD Program
Heatwaves are becoming frequent and severe, with devastating consequences for human health, economies, and ecosystems. Recent record-breaking global temperatures and multiple regional heatwaves across the globe highlight the urgent need to predict the vulnerability of natural populations to heatwaves. This vulnerability is determined by the level of heat challenge, and crucially, but overlooked, the physiological sensitivity of the organisms constituting a population. These determinants vary significantly locally due to microclimates, microhabitats, and local adaptation. Yet, they are not factored into predicting heatwave impacts, identifying high- and low-risk areas, or ultimately determining conservation strategies.
Application Deadline: 3 February 2025
5. Fully Funded PhD in Wave-induced transport and maritime pollution
Summary of Funded PhD Program
This project will advance our understanding of wave-driven particle transport in the ocean by combining mathematical modelling, flume experiments, and numerical simulation. It will provide valuable insight into the underlying equations that describe particle movement on and under waves, contributing to our understanding of the dispersion of ocean pollutants such as microplastics and harmful bacteria. These findings will be critical for improving particle-tracking and other predictive models and informing future efforts to mitigate ocean pollution.
Application Deadline: 3 February 2025
Explore Fully Funded PhD Programs in United States
6. Fully Funded PhD in Forever in a moment: Seaweed-based nanomaterials for ecotoxin remediation
Summary of Funded PhD Program
Global demand for safe, clean drinking water is growing, yet an estimated 10–15% of the world’s population still lacks access to this vital resource. While high-throughput sewage and wastewater treatments enable water recirculation in urban areas, they often fail to remove all contaminants, especially complex organic pollutants like polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). These “forever chemicals,” known for their stability and resistance to degradation, persist in the environment, posing significant risks to marine life. PFAS contamination is a growing concern due to its cancer links in humans and its detrimental effect on marine ecosystems, where it disrupts phytoplankton growth and photosynthesis, leading to bioaccumulation in aquatic food chains.
Application Deadline: 3 February 2025
7. Fully Funded PhD in AI-driven biodiversity insight: enhancing underwater ecosystem monitoring through advanced computer vision
Summary of Funded PhD Program
This project offers extensive training in AI, machine learning, and computer vision, with a focus on their application in marine biology. The student will gain proficiency in programming languages like Python and will work with AI frameworks such as TensorFlow or PyTorch. Additionally, the candidate will learn advanced techniques in marine data collection and analysis, providing comprehensive skills set that span both computational and ecological domains. The project also includes opportunities for collaboration with international research teams and attendance at leading conferences in both fields of AI and marine science.
Application Deadline: 6 January 2025
Explore Fully Funded PhD Programs in UK
8. Fully Funded PhD in Sea to Sky: leveraging AUVs and satellites to determine floating wind impacts on Celtic Sea key ecosystem drivers
Summary of Funded PhD Program
This project will utilise autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), equipped with novel sensors, and high-resolution satellite remote sensing to understand FLOW interactions with ocean dynamics in the Celtic Sea. NERC’s Autosub Long-Range 1500 AUV will collect data on shelf-sea dynamics (stratification, currents, turbulence), biogeochemistry (oxygen, nutrients), phyto- and zooplankton diversity and abundance, and forage fish distribution. These measurements will be compared with satellite data on thermal and ocean colour fronts, providing insights into their location, timing, structure and persistence in relation to FLOW.
Application Deadline: 6 January 2025
9. Fully Funded PhD in Understanding the response of marine ecosystems to ocean-based carbon dioxide removal
Summary of Funded PhD Program
The project will examine the impact of OAE on marine phytoplankton, testing the resilience of various species to episodes of low carbon dioxide. Identifying these groups will help us understand how, when and where oCDR technologies can be deployed. The student will have the opportunity to learn multiple experimental techniques, including the design and application of OAE approaches. Further techniques will include phytoplankton physiology, field sampling and advanced microscopy. Full training will be provided. The student will also be able to work with a range of international collaborators examining OAE.
Application Deadline: 6 January 2025
Explore Fully Funded PhD Programs in Europe
10. Fully Funded PhD in Anthropogenic impacts on growth and protein metabolism in the European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax
Summary of Funded PhD Program
The project will expose fish to four water temperatures and to sewage pollution levels that are regularly detected in UK coastal waters that fail safe bathing standards (Escherichia coli >500 cfu/100ml; Intestinal enterococci >185 cfu/100ml). Experimental water temperatures will range from current UK summer temperatures to temperatures that seabass are likely to experience in the UK in the next few decades. Fish will be individually maintained in recirculating seawater aquarium and fed daily. At the end of the experiments, growth, protein synthesis and protein degradation will be measured.
Application Deadline: 8 January 2025
11. Fully Funded PhD in Evaluating efforts to create temperate rainforest: recruitment of biodiversity and resilience to natural enemies
Summary of Funded PhD Program
This project will assess the recruitment of biodiversity (above and belowground) and health (extent of pathogen infection and herbivore damage) of woodlands created by tree planting and natural regeneration in the temperate rainforest zone of SW England. Long-established temperate rainforest sites will be used as a control habitat for these comparisons. Aboveground surveys of epiphytes and natural enemies (insect herbivores and pathogens) will be conducted, as well as DNA metabarcoding of soil fungal communities to provide insight into the recruitment of key mycorrhizal fungal partners. Additional sampling of planted sites along a temperature and precipitation gradient identified from recent climate mapping of SW rainforest [4], using the approach adopted in [5], will provide insight into climatic effects on the recruitment of rainforest indicator species.
Application Deadline: 8 January 2025
Explore Fully Funded PhD Programs in Sweden
12. Fully Funded PhD in Using hermit crab personality to understand the effects of human induced rapid environmental change (HIREC)
Summary of Funded PhD Program
Human induced rapid environmental change (HIREC) places new selection pressures on natural populations. The strength of these will depend on the balance between adaptive phenotypic plasticity, maladaptive impairment, and individual differences in these responses [1]. Behaviour is very sensitive to HIREC [1] so understanding its effects on behaviour is key to predicting long-term consequences for animal populations [1]. Hermit crabs are a model species for studying behavioural responses to HIREC [2] including elevated temperature [1], light pollution [3], noise pollution [4], ocean acidification [1] and microplastics [5], and a model for animal personality, a framework for probing between- and within-individual variation in behaviour [1]. Behavioural responses have been investigated for individual HIRECs but in nature these do not occur in isolation.
Application Deadline: 8 January 2025
13. Fully Funded PhD in Swamped: Is Crassula helmsii a significant threat to wetland biodiversity?
Summary of Funded PhD Program
Biological invasions represent one of the most significant threats to biodiversity. Freshwaters are disproportionately affected by such invasions, and home to a disproportionately large proportion of biodiversity, especially invertebrates. They also provide crucial ecosystem services. Crassula helmsii, a native Australasian plant, has been aggressively invading European freshwaters for over 30 years, with drastic consequences for their floristic diversity. Understanding of Crassula’s impacts on invertebrates, which make up the bulk of freshwater diversity, are more limited. Our work suggests that whilst Crassula invasion changes community composition and function, it does not lead to drastic declines in fully aquatic macroinvertebrate diversity or biomass.
Application Deadline: 8 January 2025
Explore Fully Funded PhD Programs in Switzerland
Explore Fully Funded PhD Programs in Denmark
Explore Fully Funded PhD Programs in Netherlands
