The Queen's Anniversary Prize winning Institute for the Environment
at Brunel University, London, is offering an innovative PhD project
on "Taxonomy and ecology of Caspian dinocysts: a tool to reconstruct
the past" via the NERC London Doctoral Training Partnership in
collaboration with the Natural History Museum (Dr Steve Stukins).
Project Description:
Since the Caspian Sea (CS) has long been isolated from global ocean,
a diverse endemic fauna and flora has developed. The CS is an area
that exhibits rapid sea-level changes, a hundred times faster than
global ocean. To appreciate these past dynamics one needs to extend
the short records made by instruments by information trapped in
sediment. The cysts of small organisms (dinocysts) are a good tool to
reconstruct salinity (hence sea-levels), temperature (hence climate)
and nutrients. However, in order to use modern assemblages as analogs
for past conditions, it is essential to establish a robust taxonomy
to be used by all researchers of the region and to establish the
ecological conditions that drive their spatio-temporal fluctuations.
This project proposes to address this by studying surface sediment
sampled across diverse ecological zones of the modern CS; developing
the dinocyst taxonomy; establishing their ecology by comparing to
in-situ physico-chemical measurements.
Suitable candidates should have a first degree in geography, geology,
biology, or a closely related environmental science.
Applicants should apply via the NERC London DTP website:
<http://london-nerc-dtp.org/2014/11/03/applications-are-now-open/>
The NERC DTP studentships are available to UK nationals and other EU
nationals that have resided in the UK for three years prior to
commencing the studentship. If you meet this criteria, funding will
be provided for tuition fees and stipend. If you are a citizen of a
EU member state you will eligible for a fees-only award. There are
however a limited number of studentships offered by the consortium
that will fund EU nationals for both fees and stipend.
More information about the Institute for the Environment can be found at:
<http://www.brunel.ac.uk/ife>
The deadline for applications is midnight on Monday 11th January 2015
Informal enquiries can be made to Prof. Suzanne Leroy,
[email protected]
Suzanne A. G. Leroy
Professor of Geography and Earth Sciences
T +44 (0)1895 266087 | F +44 (0)1895 269761
[email protected]
Brunel University London, Institute for the Environment
Halsbury Building, Brunel University London,
Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, United Kingdom
T +44 (0)1895 266278
www.brunel.ac.uk/ife/staff-profiles/academic-staff/professor-suzanne-a-leroy
The past is all we know of the future. (Barbara Kingsolver)
