The Quaternary period is noted for its profound climatic and environmental changes. These changes have varied spatially and temporally, short-term and long-term, and have been driven by varying forces and events. Despite the vast amount of research in Quaternary change, there are many questions still be answered about the nature and the drivers of change, and how our knowledge and understanding of the past can inform future predictions.

The Holocene is the latest epoch (and current epoch) of the Quaternary period. Its palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimate reconstructions can provide insights into past environmental change and the factors which drive change, natural and anthropogenic. Studies can incorporate the application of palaeoecology and geochronology and the study of environments such as peat bogs, lakes and small forest hollows. Developing understanding of past environmental drivers of change have applications in contemporary and future management and policy. 

Examples of ideas we are interested in are those that investigate and seek to understand:

• Late Quaternary and Holocene environmental change utilising palynological and paleolimnological techniques.
• Understanding the impacts of past volcanic eruptions.
• Palaeotempestological studies, investigating hurricane occurrences during the Holocene.
• Evidence, extent and impacts of palaeotsunami.
• Stand-scale palynology is the study of pollen preserved close to its source vegetation, generally in sediments accumulated within the woodland and under the forest canopy.  Stand-scale investigations have used pollen and plant macrofossils, as their primary proxy but have not utilised other techniques, such as charcoal, diatoms.  Suitable projects may explore the similarity in these fossil records of woodland disturbance and management.
• Palaeofires: Fire is an important disturbance mechanism in the Earth system, affecting ecosystems and the global carbon cycle.  It has been present in the geological record since the appearance of terrestrial plants and some eight billion tonnes of vegetation are burned each year by natural wildfires.  Knowledge of past fire regimes is key to understanding the relationship between burning, climatic change, vegetation patterns and anthropogenic activities, especially as this is becoming increasingly important for conservation and management practice. A palaeofire project may aim to identify the changing dominant drivers and controls of fire throughout the early, mid- and late Holocene, utilising both primary and secondary proxy data, i.e. charcoal, pollen, etc. from a range of locations.  The combination of charcoal and vegetation data, using related pollen records will provide information on vegetative response to fire and human manipulation of the environment through the use of fire.

This PhD project will critically examine the Asylum Industrial Complex, focusing on how private, public, and non-profit sectors intersect in managing asylum seekers in the UK. The research will explore the roles of private companies involved in detention centres, surveillance, and accommodation services alongside the public sector’s regulatory and enforcement duties. It will also analyse the influence of profit-driven motives and the growing involvement of non-profit organisations that, while providing essential support, may also become embedded in a system driven by market logic. The project aims to understand how these dynamics shape asylum policies, practices, and the lived experiences of asylum seekers.

The Triassic halite karst in Cheshire, UK presents a significant geohazard for infrastructure and building development, particularly in the context of climate change, in terms of its impact on reactivation of stable former brine runs. It is essential to improve understanding and prediction of such risks and impact on the geoenvironmental through:

• Investigation of triggers for reactivation of dormant former brine runs
• Design of surface water drainage schemes in halite karst areas
• Use of LiDAR/Digital terrain modelling and satellite-based InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) to map subsidence zones and their activity (i.e. whether active or inactive) to inform design considerations for future development in such locations

Between the terrestrial and deep ocean spheres is the white ribbon zone where we have a very poor understanding of seabed depth and structure. An understanding of the biodiversity, habitat structure and ecosystem function of these regions depends on reliable and accurate measurements of sub-aquatic structure. To now, this information is unknown due to the complexity, impracticality and prohibitive cost of being able to routinely monitor these vital zones where humanity and the oceans meet. New spaceborne measurements help fill this knowledge gap by collecting depth data remotely and combining them with a range of satellite sensors to generate 3D bathymetric models where they are most needed. In this remote sensing PhD project, you will use spaceborne lidar and optical sensors to derive enhanced estimates of shallow water depth and changes and will target the following questions:

• What is the ability of Remotely sensed data to derive large geographical area bathymetric DEMs?
• What vertical depths and accuracies can be achieved across a range of environments?
• Can changes in ocean depth be monitored from space, routinely and accurately?
• How does depth information enhance our understanding of shallow water habitats?
• How geographically transferable are bathymetric training samples?
• What are the controls upon and limits of satellite-derived bathymetric models?

A suitable student will have a good foundational knowledge of remote sensing systems, with a working knowledge of lidar and optical systems. Some experience of using Python for geospatial processing and a working knowledge of Machine Learning is a bonus. Motivated students with a background in ocean sciences/oceanography in place of strong technical/geospatial skills are encouraged to apply.

The Environmental Land Management scheme aims to reduce river fine sediment loads by 40% by 2038. This project focuses on fine-grained sediment, which, as a diffuse pollutant impacts water quality, ecological functioning of river systems and can increase flood risk. However, for many UK river catchments we do not have full sediment budgets related to the multiple sources (agricultural run-off, changes in land-use, bank erosion and the impact of invasive non-native species such as Himalayan Balsam and Signal Crayfish) and stores of sediment within the system. Therefore, we do not know which land uses, activities and pressures to focus management efforts towards. Of particular interest is the impact of Signal Crayfish, which have been known to impact sediment loads at low flow. This project will use sediment fingerprinting (e.g., using sediment grainsize and XRF analysis) to understand source areas of sediment within catchments and will investigate how far downstream fine sediment pollution from each source area extends, e.g., how far do overnight plumes of fine sediment recruited by burrowing Signal Crayfish extend downstream? This project can involve a combination of fieldwork, laboratory analysis, and modelling if required (e.g., Soil Water Assessment Tool / HEC-RAS). Industry stakeholders will be invited to collaborate on the project where applicable.

Microplastics (<5mm, MP) are released into river networks and can remain there for up to hundreds to thousands of years where they can have short- and long-term impacts on water quality and the functioning of biological systems. However, we do not yet have a full understanding of 1) how different types of microplastics (e.g. fibre, bead etc.) are intermittently transported and stored in a river network; 2) how specific local river conditions such as pH, temperature, grainsize, energy etc. control the breakdown of microplastics within catchment or 3) the movement of microplastics through the floodplain into the groundwater. This is important to understand, especially as its easier to stop the problem at the source (e.g., terrestrial and fluvial realm before microplastics enter the marine realm) and is important when designing natural (e.g., wetlands and riparian buffers) and engineered (e.g., filtration systems and constructed wetlands) methods/techniques for catchment remediation that will improve water quality and support biological systems (e.g., vegetation and aquatic fauna).

This project will investigate the variation of microplastics in two catchments in the Northwest region (e.g., Mersey), specifically quantifying the movement of microplastics through different depositional environments e.g., the floodplain into the groundwater by taking sediment cores (which provides a historical account of microplastic distribution) and analysing borehole samples for water quality (amount and type of microplastics). The spatial dataset will focus on the collection of surface sediment and water samples from specific local depositional environments in the river catchment. This project will involve field and laboratory work and will require the analysis of datasets (which could include modelling if desired e.g., machine learning to calculate probability and upscale the results). Laboratory techniques (e.g., Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, micro-computed tomography) will be used to characterise microplastic species (chemistry, size and morphology) and relate this to local physio-chemical environmental conditions and to the position/ depositional environment in the river catchment. Industry stakeholders will be invited to collaborate on the project where applicable.

The Environmental Land Management Scheme was officially launched in 2021 and is set to be fully implemented 2024. It is designed to replace the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy subsidies, focusing on rewarding landowners for environmental goods such as slowing the flow, environmental sustainability, biodiversity and involves the implementation of natural flood management (e.g., improving soil management, installing leaky woody dams or planting trees) across the UK. Quantification of the impact of such schemes is paramount as understanding the effectiveness of the interventions. This project will focus on the Northwest region and will provide vital evidence on interventions for example baselining catchments pre- intervention and monitoring post interventions or quantifying the impact of existing projects (e.g., restoration). Factors such as change in hydrology, channel structure, water quality and sediment load will be used to evaluate the success of the schemes both spatially across the catchment and temporally during different flow events. Monitoring is likely to include deploying and analysing flow data, using drones to map, monitor and quantify channel and habitat change, and collecting water samples to analyse sediment, phosphate and nitrates. The monitoring data can further be used to validate modelled opportunity maps (e.g., Soil Water Assessment Tool, SD-Topmodel) which will allow the effectiveness of models to be investigated. Industry stakeholders will be invited to collaborate on the project where applicable.

The Teide-Pico Viejo volcanic complex is composed by two basanite-phonolite stratovolcanoes and numerous flank-vent systems located in Tenerife, Canary Islands. The complex has been active during the last 170,000 years, alternating explosive and effusive eruptions that vary in chemical composition between basanites and evolved phonolites, erupted from its main edifices and from satellite cones located in one of the three monogenetic volcanic fields that occur in the island. The project will study and model the evolution and generation of these two different magma types, constraining magma petrogenesis and forming intrinsic conditions (i.e., pressure and temperature), and its pre-eruptive evolution based on a detailed study of the conventional petrography, whole-rock geochemistry and mineral chemistry of the volcanic products from targeted eruptions from the main edifice and key satellite cones.

A suitable student must have good fieldwork skills with sampling experience, and a good foundational knowledge of igneous petrology, igneous geochemistry with a strong working knowledge of petrography of volcanic rocks. Some experience on using the scanning electron microscope or similar analytical technique is a bonus.