E4 Cohort 2023

PhD Project title: Predicting adaptive potential from genomic data and its implications for conservation

Supervisors: Jarrod Hadfield (School of Biological Sciences, Institute of Evolutionary Biology) and Susan Johnston (School of Biological Sciences, Institute of Evolutionary Biology)

PhD Project title: Does  competition with honeybees (Apis mellifera) adversely affect wild pollinator populations?

Supervisors: Gail Jackson (UoE School of GeoSciences), Fiona Highet (Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture), Alexander P Reid (Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture) and Stace Fairhurst (UoE School of GeoSciences)

External Collaborative Partner: Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture

Student Profile

PhD Project title: Electricity capacity risk assessment and procurement against a background of uncertain climate

Supervisors: Chris Dent (UoE School of Mathematics), Gabriele Hegerl (UoE School of GeoSciences) and Amy Wilson (UoE School of Mathematics) 

External Project Partner: Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Student Profile

PhD Project title: Muddy Waters, Africa’s uncharted forest ecosystem.

Supervisors: David Harris (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh) and Kyle Dexter (UoE School of GeoSciences)

PhD Project title: A green gold rush? Natural capital investments and implications for communities in the Scottish uplands

Supervisors: Janet Fisher (UoE School of GeoSciences) and Mark Metzger (UoE School of GeoSciences)

CASE Project Partner: Scottish Land Commission

PhD Project title: Roadside halophytes as a model for Anthropocene range shifts

Supervisors: Richard Milne (School of Biological Sciences, Institute of Molecular Plant Science), Alex Twyford (School of Biological Sciences, Institute of Evolutionary Biology) and Markus Ruhsam (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh)

External Collaborative Partner: Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

PhD Project title: Ecological and population genomics of the British Flora

Supervisors: Pete Hollingsworth (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh) and Alex Twyford (School of Biological Sciences,  Institute of Evolutionary Biology)

External Collaborative Partner: Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

PhD Project title: The dynamics of pyroclastic flows at active volcanoes : high mobility and bulking through substrate entrainment

Supervisors: Eric Breard (UoE School of GeoSciences),  Eliza Calder (UoE School of GeoSciences), Mattia de'Michieli Vitturi (Instituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia) and Samantha Engwell (British geological Survey)

External Collaborative Partners: Instituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia and British geological Survey

PhD Project title: Assessing and explaining the per-unit effects of non-native plant species

Supervisors: Guillaume Latombe (School of Biological Sciences,  Institute of Ecology and Evolution) and Ally Phillimore (School of Biological Sciences,  Institute of Ecology and Evolution)

PhD Project title: The restoration potential of African savannas

Supervisors: Casey Ryan (UoE School of GeoSciences), Lorna Street (UoE School of GeoSciences), Pietro Carpena (Tree AID) and Nick Berry (The Landscapes and Livelihoods Group LLP)

CASE Partner: Tree AID

External Collaborative Partner: The Landscapes and Livelihoods Group LLP

Student Profile

PhD Project title: Food and dietary trends: social media drivers and consequences for environment and society

Supervisors: Mark Rounsevell (UoE School of GeoSciences) and Peter Alexander (UoE School of GeoSciences) 

PhD Project title: Connecting soils and streams: understanding the impact of peatland restoration on catchment scale biogeochemistry

Supervisors: Nicholle Bell (School of Chemistry) and Amy Pickard (Centre for Ecology and Hydrology) 

External Collaborative Partner: Centre for Ecology and Hydrology

PhD Project title: Evolutionary genomics of immune responses in a wild mammal

Supervisors: Susan Johnston (School of Biological Sciences, Institute of Evolutionary Biology) and Dan Nussey (School of Biological Sciences, Institute of Evolutionary Biology)

PhD Project title: Sexual conflict in a fly with unusual sex determination

Supervisors: Laura Ross (School of Biological Sciences, Institute of Evolutionary Biology) and Simon Martin (School of Biological Sciences, Institute of Evolutionary Biology)

PhD Project title: Understanding micronutrients provision in a changing global food system

Supervisors: Vera Eory (Scotland's Rural College) and Peter Alexander (UoE School of GeoSciences)  

External Collaborative Partner: Scotland's Rural College

Student Profile

PhD Project title: Assessing the principal ecological strategies of trees in African woodlands and their implications for ecosystem dynamics and functionality

Supervisors: Kyle Dexter (UoE School of GeoSciences), John Godlee (UoE School of GeoSciences), Claudia Colesie (UoE School of GeoSciences) and Vera de Cauwer (Namibian University of Science and Technology)

CASE Partner: Ongava Research Centre

External Project Partner: Namibian University of Science and Technology

Student Profile

PhD Project title: Advancing hydrogen storage through in-situ wettability characterisation

Supervisors:  Katriona Edlmann (UoE School of GeoSciences), Xianfeng Fan (School of Engineering - Institute For Materials and Processes) and Ali Hassanpouryouzband (UoE School of GeoSciences)  

PhD Project title: The evolution of dinosaur brains, senses, and intelligence

Supervisors: Steven Brusatte (UoE School of GeoSciences), Lawrence Witmer (Ohio University), Ornella Bertrand (UoE School of GeoSciences) and Mathias Osvath (Lund University)

External Project Partners: Ohio University and Lund University

PhD project title: Towards a carbon-free future: Using underground storage of hydrogen in porous rocks to enable grid-scale energy storage

Supervisors: Ian Molnar (UoE School of GeoSciences), Niklas Heinemann (UoE School of GeoSciences) and Mark Wilkinson (UoE School of GeoSciences)

PhD Project title: Controls on precious and critical metal enrichment in VMS deposits of the Caledonian-Appalachian orogen

Supervisors: Steven Hollis (UoE School of GeoSciences), Mark Cooper (Geological Survey of Northern Ireland / Department for the Economy), Stephen Piercey (Memorial University of Newfoundland) and Ian Butler (UoE School of GeoSciences)

CASE Partner: Geological Survey of Northern Ireland / Department for the Economy

External Collaborative Partner: Memorial University of Newfoundland

Student Profile

PhD Project title: Neolithic lake sites, fossil insects and the spread of agriculture

Supervisors: Eva Panagiotakopulu (UoE School of GeoSciences), Amy Bogaard (University of Oxford), Alfy Gathorne-Hardy (UoE School of GeoSciences / GAAFS) 

External Collaborative Partner: University of Oxford

Student Profile

PhD Project title: Stability of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet from radar-sounded englacial structures

Supervisors: Rob Bingham (UoE School of GeoSciences), Sohan Seth (School of Informatics), Andy Hein (UoE School of GeoSciences) and Martin Siegert (UoE School of GeoSciences) 

Student Profile

PhD Project title: Using myco-centric techniques to increase tree growth in reforested broadleaf woodlands native to Scotland

Supervisors: Lorna Street (UoE School of GeoSciences), Andy Taylor (James Hutton Institute) and Kyle Dexter (UoE School of GeoSciences)

External Collaborative Partner: James Hutton Institute

PhD Project title: Mechanisms and implications of climate-induced shrub expansion in the Arctic

Supervisors: Claudia Colesie (UoE School of GeoSciences), Isla Myers-Smith (University of British Columbia), Kevin Newsham (British Antarctic Survey) and Lorna Street (UoE School of GeoSciences)

External Collaborative Partner: British Antarctic Survey

PhD Project title: Tomographic imaging of New Zealand's Southern Alpine Fault to study seismic hazard and earthquake triggering

Supervisors: Andrew Curtis (UoE School of GeoSciences), Karen Lythgoe (UoE School of GeoSciences), Brian Baptie (British geological Survey) and John Townend (University of Victoria, Wellington)

External Collaborative Partners: British geological Survey and University of Victoria (Wellington, New Zealand)

Student Profile

PhD Project title: Understanding Preservation of Potential Biosignatures by Martian Soils

Supervisors: Valentina Erastova (UoE School of Chemistry), Sean McMahon (UoE School of Physics and Astronomy) and Charles Cockell (UoE School of Physics and Astronomy)

PhD Project title: Heat, drought and fire: Risk from compound extreme weather and climate events

Supervisors: Gabriele Hegerl (UoE School of GeoSciences), Michael Evans (University of Mariland), Andrew Schurer (UoE School of GeoSciences) and Mat Williams (UoE School of GeoSciences)

External Collaborative Partner: University of Mariland

PhD Project title: Networks of influence: how soil microbial communities respond to land use

Supervisors: Thorunn Helgason (School of Biological Sciences, Institute of Evolutionary Biology) and Joe Taylor (Centre for Ecology and Hydrology) 

External Collaborative Partner: Centre for Ecology and Hydrology

PhD Project title: Sediment mobility in Himalayan rivers recorded by seismic monitoring with implications for flood risk under a changing climate

Supervisors: Hugh Sinclair (UoE School of GeoSciences), Mark Naylor (UoE School of GeoSciences) and Mikael Attal (UoE School of GeoSciences)

External Collaborative Partner: Centre for Ecology and Hydrology

PhD Project title: The petrogenesis of Virgin Island granitoids: Implications for continental growth on the early Earth

Supervisors: Alan Hastie (UoE School of GeoSciences), Godfrey Fitton (UoE School of GeoSciences), Richard Palin (University of Oxford) and Marc-Alban Millet (Cardiff University)

External Collaborative Partners: University of Oxford and Cardiff University

Student Profile