PhD Studentship - Miniaturising Gross Proximate Composition Analysis Techniques to Develop Accurate Ecological Models of Marine Species Interactions at the Scale of Offshore Windfarms

Supervisor(s)

Dr. Samantha Richardson, University of Hull, Samantha.Richardson@hull.ac.uk
Dr. Magnus Johnson, University of Hull
Christopher Lynam, Cefas
Murray Thompson, Cefas

Enquiries email: Samantha.Richardson@hull.ac.uk

This research project is sponsored by CEFAS.

Offshore Windfarms are the most significant physical anthropogenic change to the North Sea and will significantly change the seascape and surrounding ecosystems. Currently there is little understanding of these impacts, which is particularly acute for benthic organisms as they have limited habitat mobility and thus likely to be significantly affected by changing sea beds. Benthic organisms are typically small and thus are challenging to study meaning little is known about how their proximate composition changes, this limits our ability to predict how wind farms could affect food chains.

Ecological models are a key route to understanding what the impacts of climate change could be on our marine systems. They are very data hungry requiring, ideally, information on who eats who, how much and what nutritional quality is being consumed. However, very few ecological models incorporate nutrient fluxes and the temporal variation in nutritive value of prey items. To understand these complex nutritional relationships between prey and predator at a fine scale detailed proximate composition (PC) analysis is needed.

This project investigates how PC analysis can be miniaturised to enable more sustainable, efficient sampling at the small individual organisms level. Successful development of these techniques will enable understanding of changes at this scale and build a much more detailed picture of ecological relationships than analysis of grouped specimens.

Training & Skills

You will benefit from a taught programme, giving you a broad understanding of the breadth and depth of current and emerging offshore wind sector needs. This begins with an intensive six-month programme at the University of Hull and is supplemented by Continuing Professional Development (CPD), throughout your 4-year research scholarship.

The successful candidate will receive comprehensive research training including technical, personal and professional skills. The project is in partnership with CEFAS, it is envisaged that this will provide significant networking opportunities and access to a range of facilities and samples.

Eligibility requirements

If you have received a First-class Honours degree, or a 2:1 Honours degree and a Masters, or a Distinction at Masters level with any undergraduate degree (or the international equivalents) in a relevant discipline/subject area e.g. marine biology, chemistry, environmental sciences, biochemistry, we would like to hear from you.

A suitable candidate from this project would have an interest in marine environmental sciences, laboratory analysis and data handling. They would be motivated by problem solving and enjoy method development and exploring the scientific inference between chemistry and environmental analysis.

If your first language is not English, or you require a Student Visa to study, you will be required to provide evidence of your English language proficiency level that meets the requirements of the Aura CDT’s academic partners. This course requires academic IELTS 7.0 overall, with no less than 6.0 in each skill.

For more information, please see the project page on the EPSRC CDT in Offshore Wind Energy Sustainability and Resilience website.

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