PhD Studentship: Nature recovery in the European palaeoecological record

DoS: Professor Ralph Fyfe (ralph.fyfe@plymouth.ac.uk)

2^nd Supervisor: Dr Jessie Woodbridge (jessie.woodbridge@plymouth.ac.uk)

3^rd Supervisor: Professor Stephen Shennan, University College London, Institute of Archaeology

Applications are invited for a 3.5 years PhD studentship.

The studentship will start on 01 October 2025

Project Description

Scientific background 

The recovery of nature is a pressing global issue. Nature recovery is difficult to predict, and different recovery strategies are implemented from tree planting to diverse forms of rewilding. Across Europe, humans transformed the vegetation of the continent through forest clearance for agriculture over millennia [1,2]. However, within that long-term transformation, multiple major population collapses occurred, in prehistory and the historic period. These collapses offer unparalleled opportunities as ‘long term’ experiments to understand natural nature recovery: reductions in population and land use pressure should result in ecological change [3]. This PhD project will develop detailed long-term data using palaeoecology and archaeology to assess past ecological recovery, using pandemics as disrupters to past human systems. 

Research methodology

The project will focus on two time periods: the early Neolithic, and the medieval Black Death. The first has been characterised by “boom-and-bust” cycles of population growth and collapse [5], likely driven by plague [4]. The Black Death removed up to 50% of the population of Europe, with different impacts across the continent [3]. This project will therefore provide a critical assessment of how ecosystems adapted and responded to associated reductions in land-use pressure, focussing on recovery and resilience (do systems return to pre-existing conditions or states?), temporality (what sort of timescales do systems change or regenerate over) and stability (can, or do, systems reach equilibrium states?). The project will analyse the nature of pre-pandemic land use and economic/ecological systems, drawing on the archaeological/historical literature, to understand how landscape preconditioning influences recovery. 

Training

The supervisory team will provide training in pollen analysis, multivariate statistics, and demographic modelling using archaeological radiocarbon dates. You will attend training courses on vegetation, climatic and modelling. You will learn to use a range of programmatic approaches to integrate and analyse diverse datasets. The project will involve analyses of existing databases, and training will be provided in working with open palaeoecological and archaeological data.

Person specification

We seek an enthusiastic individual with a 2:1 degree grade or above within Geography, Environmental Science, archaeological science or related disciplines.  Experience of palaeoecology, long-term ecology or environmental archaeology is desirable.

For information on Eligibility and Funding, please click on the links below: 

• Eligibility 
• Funding

To apply for this position please click on the Apply button above.  

Please clearly state the name of the DoS and the studentship that you are applying for at the top of your personal statement. 

Please see here for a list of supporting documents to upload with your application.

For more information on the admissions process generally, please visit our How to Apply for a Research Degree webpage or contact the Doctoral College.

The closing date for applications on 8^th January 2025.

Shortlisted candidates will be invited for interview after the deadline. We regret that we may not be able to respond to all applications.

Applicants who have not received a response within six weeks of the closing date should consider their application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.

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