SUPER PhD projects starting in October 2021

Opportunities available at the University of Strathclyde:

• Plankton size diversity in Scottish coastal waters: combining modelling and long-term observations to understand climate change impacts on planktonic communities and food webs. PI: Bingzhang Chen. Applications now closed.
• On the edge of the abyss: applying an energetics approach to explaining Atlantic salmon survival at sea. PI: Neil Banas. Applications now closed.

Opportunities available at the University of the West of Scotland:

• Neoparamoeba peruans: its unique microbiome and impact on Amoebic Gill Disease and gill health in Salmon. PI: Fiona Henriquez. Applications now closed.
• The effects of contaminants on mechanisms underlying invasive species impact. PI: Mhairi Alexander. Applications now closed.

Opportunities available at Edinburgh Napier University:

• Quantifying antibiotic resistance and antibiotic resistance selective chemicals in the River Almond catchment area – a baseline for risk assessment and intervention targets. PI: Donald Morrison. Applications now closed.
• The effects of parasites on food web structure and dynamics: new ways to improve accuracy and ecological realism. PI: Sonja Rueckert. Applications now closed.
• Marine soundscapes and eDNA for assessing biodiversity and functioning of re-establishing European Flat Oyster Reefs. PI: Karen Diele. Applications now closed.

Opportunities available at the University of Stirling:

• The blue mussel Mytilus edulis as an indicator species for modelling marine connectivity in Scotland. PI: Darren Green. Applications now closed.

Opportunities available at the University of St Andrews:

• Development of an acoustic classifier for delphinid species off the west coast of Scotland. PI: Julie Oswald. Applications now closed.
• Examining the human-predator interface of the North Sea: interactions between man-made subsea structures, marine predators and commercial fisheries. PI: Debbie Russell. Applications now closed.
• Sources, sinks and subsidies of carbon within coastal saltmarsh habitats. PI: William Austin. Applications now closed.

Opportunities available at the University of the Highlands & Islands:

• Investigating minke whale acoustic and foraging ecology to underpin MPA-based conservation. PI: Denise Risch. Applications now closed.
• River robots: utilising novel autonomous technologies, observations and models to investigate freshwater coastal dispersion. PI: Mark Inall. Applications now closed.
• Assessing benthic recovery following cessation of salmon farming using eDNA metabarcoding. PI: Tom Wilding. Applications now closed.
• Multistressor impacts of ocean acidification and warming on regeneration and biomineralisation in coastal sea urchins. PI: Michael Burrows. Applications now closed.

Opportunities available at Aberdeen University:

• An evo-devo approach to invasive biology and adaptation to climate change. PI: Victoria Sleight. Applications now closed.
• Water bodies as interfaces and pathways for zoonotic and livestock pathogen transmission in Africa and Scotland. PI: Mark Moseley. Applications now closed.
• Integrating genomics and modelling to predict climate change response and identify drivers of decline in the endangered freshwater pearl mussel. PI: Kara Layton. Applications now closed.
• Towards enhanced black-legged kittiwake metapopulation modelling in the context of global change and renewable energy development. PI: Ana Payo-Payo. Applications now closed.

Call for Proposals from HEI PIs

Our third call for PhD studentship proposals has now closed.

The SUPER remit supports the holistic study of the ecological dynamics of systems from headland rivers and catchments through lowland regions and riparian systems to estuarine and coastal waters and marine ecosystems.

We are grateful to The INSITE Programme, Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre, Nature.Scot, Marine Scotland Science, and the Marine Management Organisation who all provided outline project areas suggestions.