Studentship opportunities

Please note: Application deadline for SSCP DTP 2020 has passed and is now closed

 

About the Studentship

The SSCP DTP awards 14 fully funded NERC studentships every year which include home/EU tuition fees, a London-weighted stipend and an additional consumables budget. Applicants can choose from a number of projects which have been proposed by various Imperial academics and researchers from our partner institutions.

Should you have any questions about our studentships, please see our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page.

 

DTP studentsEligibility Criteria

Applicants should be aware that as these studentships are funded through NERC (Natural Environment Research Council), to be eligible for a full award they must have either:

  • British Citizenship or; 

  • Settled status in the UK, meaning they have no restrictions on how long they can stay,
  • Been ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK for 3 years prior to the start of the studentship - (For non-EU citizens, this must NOT have been in full time education.)
    This means they must have been normally residing in the UK (apart from temporary or occasional absences).  This does not apply to UK nationals. 

If you have further questions regarding eligibility, download this PDF, then please contact the specific Registry Admissions team for the Faculty within which the studentship is based.

List of 2020/21 Projects 

Project TitleSupervisorDepartment
A global network of conceptual groundwater models Dr Christopher Jackson British Geological Survey
Understanding the role of phytochelatins in detoxifying toxic metal pollutants in invertebrate species Professor David Spurgeon Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
Developing new UAV-based survey approaches for monitoring tree and soil health indices in SE Asian oil palm plantations Dr Paul Scholefield Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
Development of viable business models for CCS and GGR Dr Niall Mac Dowell Centre for Environmental Policy 
Risk communication and messaging around UK plant health: an investigation focussed on Xylella fastidiosa in the UK Professor Clive Potter Centre for Environmental Policy 
Understanding hydrological uncertainties for creating a climate resilient society Dr Bhopal Pandeya Centre for Environmental Policy 
Institutions, Governance and Policy for Addressing Wildfire Challenges in a Changing Global Environment Dr Yiannis Kountouris Centre for Environmental Policy 
Technological change in agricultural systems and its impacts on sustainable development and climate action Dr Jeremy Woods Centre for Environmental Policy 
Explaining the spread of biodiversity conservation initiatives Dr Morena Mills Centre for Environmental Policy 
From waste to raw material: Chemical recycling of plastic waste Dr Roberto Rinaldi Chemical Engineering
Sustainable Zero-Carbon Solar Heating, Cooling and Power in Urban and Off-Grid Environments Professor Christos N. Markides Chemical Engineering
Advanced Membranes for Carbon Capture and Clean Water Dr Qilei Song Chemical Engineering
High performance sustainable resins from lignin Professor Jason Hallett Chemical Engineering
Fuelling the Future from Carbon Dioxide: Novel strategies for the catalytic hydrogenation of CO2 Dr Andrew Ashley Chemistry
New Routes for the Chemical Remediation of CO and CO2 Dr Mark Crimmin Chemistry
Azoheteroarenes: Next-generation solid-state solar thermal fuels for heat release applications Professor Matthew Fuchter Chemistry
Can buildings purify polluted air? Developing solar-activated coatings that purify the air we breathe Dr Andreas Kafizas Chemistry
Impact of soil erodibility on resilience of UK flood protection infrastructure Professor Catherine O'Sullivan Civil and Environmental Engineering
Modelling global wetland dynamics under a changing climate Dr Athanasios Paschalis Civil and Environmental Engineering
New rock mechanics models for excavation, mining and geohazards Dr Emilio Martínez Pañeda Civil and Environmental Engineering
Anthropogenic heat uptake by the oceans Dr Ali Mashayek Civil and Environmental Engineering
Climate Change Adaptation: Role of Natural Ecosystems Dr Ioannis Karmpadakis Civil and Environmental Engineering
Metabolism and ultimate fate of persistent synthetic organic chemicals in the economy and environment Dr Rupert J. Myers Civil and Environmental Engineering
Continuous simulation of groundwater supply yields: development and evaluation of numerical, statistical and machine learning methods Professor Adrian Butler Civil and Environmental Engineering
Data and model-based analysis of the risk of groundwater flooding to urban wastewater infrastructure Dr Ana Mijic Civil and Environmental Engineering
Design optimisation and data assimilation for desalination outfalls Dr John Craske Civil and Environmental Engineering
Aviation and Climate Change: Climate Impact of Contrails and Aviation-Induced Cirrus Dr Marc Stettler Civil and Environmental Engineering
Observing urban metabolism through crowd-sourced stocks and flows data Dr Rupert J Myers Civil and Environmental Engineering
Local earthquake analysis to reveal mud-volcano plumbing systems and slow slip mechanisms along the Hikurangi subduction zone, New Zealand Dr Rebecca Bell Earth Science and Engineering
Validating Earthquake Hazard Models For Critical Engineered Structures Using Geologic Data And Cosmogenic Isotopes Dr Dylan Rood Earth Science and Engineering
Using Cosmogenic Surface Exposure Dating to Reconstruct Late-Holocene Glacier and Climate Stability to Determine Precedence for Recent Declines in Snowpack and Water Resources in the American Pacific Northwest Dr Dylan Rood Earth Science and Engineering
The importance of glaciated environments for seawater chemistry and the global carbon cycle – a case study from Greenland Professor Tina van de Flierdt Earth Science and Engineering
Understanding Modern Biogeochemical Cycles in the context of the international GEOTRACES project – Lead, cadmium, neodymium Professor Tina van de Flierdt Earth Science and Engineering
Tectonics of the North America/South America plate boundary Professor Jenny Collier Earth Science and Engineering
Biodiversity and the Evolving Earth: New Data, New Methods, New Insights Dr Gareth Roberts Earth Science and Engineering
Understanding how serpentinization affects marine magnetic anomalies Dr Adrian Muxworthy Earth Science and Engineering
Multi-parameter geophysical imaging and interpretation of magmatic systems Professor Joanna Morgan Earth Science and Engineering
High resolution 3D imaging of an oceanic core complex: interaction of magma, water and faults on the mid-Atlantic ridge Dr Michele Paulatto Earth Science and Engineering
Multi-scale characterization of water flow in submarine hydrothermal systems Dr Michele Paulatto Earth Science and Engineering
Sediment flux from the continents and carbon sequestration in time and space Professor Peter Allison Earth Science and Engineering
Tectonics from topography in Central Greece: decoding the history of fault growth and landscape evolution in the Corinth Rift Dr Alexander Whittaker Earth Science and Engineering
Submarine channels, structural deformation and sediment delivery to the deep ocean Dr Lidia Lonergan Earth Science and Engineering
Structure and evolution of the African plate from geophysical data Professor Saskia Goes Earth Science and Engineering
Understanding how subduction has shaped Circum-Pacific tectonics using 3D numerical models Professor Saskia Goes Earth Science and Engineering
Developing a quantitative framework for the biogeochemistry of trace elements and isotopes in the ocean Dr Yves Plancherel Earth Science and Engineering
Fingerprinting the influence of performance biases in climate and ocean models on climate model simulations  Dr Yves Plancherel Earth Science and Engineering
Ice and Fire: Investigating Links between Mantle Dynamics and Ice Sheet Stability Dr Fred Richards Earth Science and Engineering
The evolving jigsaw puzzle: origins, diversity, modifications and development of skull sutures Dr Arkhat Abzhanov Life Sciences
Optimising the recovery of degraded tropical rainforest logging estates Professor Robert Ewers Life Sciences
Comparative genomics, speciation and sustainable palm futures Professor Vincent Savolainen Life Sciences
Distribution modelling of European forest mycorrhizas Professor Martin Bidartondo Life Sciences
ArcticBuzz: bumblebee community responses to climate change in Lapland Dr Richard Gill Life Sciences
Effect of mycorrhizas on the establishment of native woody species Professor Martin Bidartondo Life Sciences
Conservation of marine phylogenetic diversity in the face of global change Dr James Rosindell Life Sciences
Phenology shifts, gut microbiomes, and fitness consequences Dr Julia Schroeder Life Sciences
Synthetic ecology: Simple rules for building complex miniature ecosystems Professor Thomas Bell Life Sciences
Mapping the hidden arthropod biodiversity of UK soils using high-throughput sequencing Professor Alfried Vogler Life Sciences
How can microbiomes and soil biodiversity support food security? Dr Anne D. Jungblut Life Sciences
Bacteria-virus interactions in a warming world Dr Emma Ransome Life Sciences
How social stratification in urban admixing populations shaped their genetic structure: novel insights from population genomics and deep learning Dr Matteo Fumagalli Life Sciences
The role of hydrodynamics in mediating effects of climate change on ecosystem stability and functioning Dr Samraat Pawar Life Sciences
Beaver reintroductions: quantifying ecosystem impacts Professor Guy Woodward Life Sciences
Gulf stream's role in regulating the climate system Professor Pavel Berloff Mathematics
Next generation atmosphere modelling Professor Colin Cotter Mathematics
Niche evolution and trophic diversity in birds and mammals Professor Andy Purvis Natural History Museum 
Reconstructing skull evolution of fossil crown birds Professor Anjali Goswami Natural History Museum 
To warm or not to warm: Exploiting far-infrared measurements of cirrus cloud in support of the FORUM satellite mission Dr Helen Brindley Physics
Gulf Stream forcing of mesoscale instabilities and their effect on downstream weather and climate Dr Arnaud Czaja Physics
Processes affecting tropical cyclone landfall Professor Ralf Toumi Physics
The role of peat fires in shaping future atmospheric composition, the carbon cycle and climate Dr Apostolos Voulgarakis Physics
Understanding energy and resource costs of low-carbon fuel technologies in transportation and energy storage Professor Jenny Nelson Physics
Air pollution: Sources and sinks of carbon monoxide in the atmosphere Dr Heather Graven Physics
Why does climate sensitivity depend on forcing? Dr Paulo Ceppi Physics
How does moisture affect the circulation of the atmosphere? Dr Paulo Ceppi Physics
Uniting Museum Collections and Genomics to Trace Emerging Pathogens across the Anthropocene Professor Matthew C. Fisher School of Public Health
The evolutionary history and diversity of sedges in Madagascar Professor Isabel Larridon Royal Botanical Gardens (Kew)
Managing ecosystem services of Andean wetlands for sustainable development Dr Carolina Tovar Royal Botanical Gardens (Kew)
Identifying how and why the Earth’s outgoing longwave energy spectrum has changed over the last decade Dr Richard Siddans Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Nature-based tourism in a changing climate: costs and benefits for endangered species Professor Rosie Woodroffe Zoological Society of London
What works? Counting badgers to evaluate lethal and nonlethal approaches to bovine TB control Dr Marcus Rowcliffe Zoological Society of London
Developing Environmental DNA techniques as a marine biodiversity monitoring tool in the Indian Ocean Dr Chris Yesson Zoological Society of London
 
List of NPIF Projects