Our environmental group is delighted to announce 1 fully funded and 1 fees-only funded PhD opportunities. See below and follow the links provided for further information.
Start date: Successful applicants will be expected to start May or October 2023.
Peatlands are increasingly being seen as part of nature’s solutions to deal with the environmental challenges of today, from tackling climate change through to flood protection and enhancing biodiversity. However, while all peatlands provide these services, research and conservation efforts have focused largely on deep peats (>40cm depth). Therefore this project will investigate the impact of different management practices on shallow peatland carbon balances. A field campaign will enable multiple sites across the North York Moors to be surveyed and monitored for peat and pore water chemistry, microbial communities and carbon dynamics.
Start date: Successful applicants will be expected to start May or October 2023.
This project will quantify changes in biodiversity, ecosystem function, carbon stocks and their interactions during the initial phases of rewilding. At the primary field site, some 66 experimental fixed plots are set up within formerly agricultural land comprising a variety of arable, improved, and natural grasslands. Rewilding was initiated in 2022, with the cessation of agricultural activities which will be followed by large herbivore re-introduction (eg hardy free-ranging cattle and pigs). The analysis will quantify ecosystem changes in time, against baseline data collected in 2021-2022, and enable an assessment of rewilding contribution notably to net-zero and nature recovery policies.
We anticipate the project to be a unique opportunity to work with a range of collaborators inside and outside academia. We are looking for candidates with a strong interest in combining biodiversity, microbiological and environmental science, to develop novel evidence contributing to the UN decade of ecosystem restoration.
As part of ongoing work to better understand and monitor seal populations in the Tees and surrounding areas, the Tees Seal Photo ID Project (TSPIP) is a new citizen science initiative giving members of the public (that’s you!) the opportunity to get involved in conservation research. Photo ID involves taking photographs of seals to capture the unique patterns on each seal’s fur. These patterns can be used to identify individual animals and monitor them over time. We can then get a clearer idea on population numbers, see which sites seals prefer and whether this changes over time, learn how far they travel and which other populations they interact with, and even see which seals here in the Tees like to hang out together. The non-invasive nature of photo ID means it’s possible to get all this information without ever having to touch or disturb a seal.
Some of the seals who call the Tees home. THg007, also known as Puzzle, is very much a regular sight and was seen at Greatham Creek every month over summer 2022. Photos; F. Pellie.
Students at Teesside University are already at work photographing seals and compiling catalogues of individuals which show their markings from different angles, allowing us to efficiently compare new photographs to animals we’ve seen before. There’s only so many places we can be at once though so we’re reaching out to the community to ask you to consider taking photographs of the seals you see and sending these to us. In doing so, you’ll be helping us to expand our catalogues and build upon our understanding of the seals we’ve already logged. At the time of writing, our catalogues contain 132 local seals.
Catalogue pages for a harbour seal (TPv073, “Moose”) and a grey seal (THg004, “Bea”). Photos; F. Pellie.
Any picture of a seal could potentially be useful, but the easiest photographs for us to match show the whole left or right side of the animal. If the seal is swimming and you just capture the side of its head, don’t worry – we can use those images too! Photos of seals’ undersides are also helpful as they can allow us to record the sex of the animal.
Want to get involved? Simply send your seal photos to F.Pellie@tees.ac.uk. Please include the date and location the photos were taken in the email.
Want to learn more about the project? This project is coordinated by Freya Pellie, an environmental science PhD student at Teesside University; feel free to drop Freya an email with any queries you may have: F.Pellie@tees.ac.uk.
Our Department is advertising for one permanent position of lecturer in environmental science. The newly appointed lecturer has an opportunity to take a leading role in our Earth, Ecology and Environment research collective and bring their own research and/or consultancy expertise.
The job ad can be found following the two links below:
If you would like to discuss how your research could fit within the Earth, Ecology and Environment research collective – please get in touch with Ambroise a.baker@tees.ac.uk.
Our Department is advertising for one permanent positions of lecturer in geography with specialism in GIS and river and coastal systems. The newly appointed lecturer has an opportunity to take a leading role in our Earth, Ecology and Environment research collective and bring their own research and/or consultancy expertise.
The job ad can be found following the two links below:
If you would like to discuss how your research could fit within the Earth, Ecology and Environment research collective – please get in touch with Ambroise a.baker@tees.ac.uk.
Our Department is advertising for two permanent positions of lecturer in environmental science. The newly appointed lecturers have an opportunity to take a leading role in our Earth, Ecology and Environment research collective and bring their own research and/or consultancy expertise.
The job ad can be found following the two links below:
If you would like to discuss how your research could fit within the Earth, Ecology and Environment research collective – please get in touch with Ambroise a.baker@tees.ac.uk.
