Physical Science PhD topics
The Department of Geography and Scott Polar Research Institute are pleased to be active and successful participants in the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Cambridge Climate, Life and Earth (C-CLEAR) Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP)
Prospective students who wish to apply for an advertised project are asked to browse the DTP webpages and identify the project or projects that they wish to apply for.
The DTP has divided all its PhD projects into three themes. Members of the Department of Geography and SPRI have projects advertised in all three themes.
From the DTP webpages, you can search: 1) by broad theme (Climate Change and Environmental Processes, Biology and Conservation or Solid Earth and Geological Hazards); 2) by staff member/department (Staff Directory); or 3) by searching for keyword (e.g. 'Geography' or 'Antarctica').
To help you, we provide links to all the PhD topics involving Geography/SPRI supervisors below.
You may also choose your own topic that relates to the research interests of any member of the Physical Geography/SPRI staff, and that may also be suitable and eligible for funding by the DTP.
Further information on the application process is provided via the DTP webpages, the Geography Department webpages and the University Postgraduate Admissions pages. The deadline to be considered for DTP funding at the home fees rate is 6 January 2022, which includes references. International students wishing to be considered for DP funding are strongly encouraged to apply by the earlier deadline of 2 December 2021 in order to be considered not only for all other sources of funding, but also funding to cover the difference between the home and international fees rate.
PhD topic listing
Biology and Conservation theme
- BC309: Passive rewilding the woodlands in the Southern Alps of New Zealand (Lead Supervisor: David Coomes, Plant Sciences)
- BC321: How the tree got its rings (Lead Supervisor: Andrew Friend, Geography)
Climate Change and Environmental Processes theme
- CE301: *Priority CASE Project* Gas ash-particle separation and the role of particle aggregation in volcanic plumes (Lead Supervisor: Michael Herzog, Geography)
- CE306: Modelling Melt, Refreezing and Flow of Water on Antarctic Ice Shelves (Lead Supervisor: Neil Arnold, Scott Polar Research Institute)
- CE310: IceFibre: Glacier monitoring with fibre-optic sensors (Lead Supervisor: Poul Christoffersen, Scott Polar Research Institute)
- CE311: Crack & bang: Shear margin evolution on Thwaites Glacier, Antarctica (Lead Supervisor: Poul Christoffersen, Scott Polar Research Institute)
- CE312: Will forests be effective nature-based solutions as the world's climate changes? (Lead Supervisor: David Coomes, Plant Sciences and Conservation Research Institute)
- CE315: In the balance: unravelling ecological and physiological controls on the global terrestrial carbon balance (Lead Supervisor: Andrew Friend, Geography)
- CE317: Improving parametrizations for convection in climate models (Lead Supervisor: Michael Herzog, Geography)
- CE318: What are the atmospheric drivers of melt on George VI Ice Shelf, Antarctica? (Lead Supervisor: Amelie Kirchgaessner, British Antarctic Survey)
- CE319: Forest - landscape dynamics (Lead Supervisor: Emily Lines, Geography)
- CE320: The forgotten forests: remote sensing and predictive modelling to understand the structure, function and future of wet woodlands (Lead Supervisor: Emily Lines, Geography)
- CE322: Improving the synchronization of ice cores for reconstructions of global volcanism and solar activity (Lead Supervisor: Francesco Muschitiello, Geography)
- CE323: Machine Learning for past climate reconstruction: Identifying AMOC variations using proxy-climate fingerprints (Lead Supervisor: Francesco Muschitiello, Geography)
Solid Earth and Geological Hazards theme