PhD Studentship: What role do gulls play in spreading disease and anti-microbial resistance? NERC GW4+ DTP PhD studentship for September 2025 Entry Ref: 5431

About the Partnership

This project is one of a number that are in competition for funding from the NERC Great Western Four+ Doctoral Training Partnership (GW4+ DTP). The GW4+ DTP consists of the Great Western Four alliance of the University of Bath, University of Bristol, Cardiff University and the University of Exeter plus five Research Organisation partners: British Antarctic Survey, British Geological Survey, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the Natural History Museum and Plymouth Marine Laboratory. The partnership aims to provide a broad training in earth and environmental sciences, designed to train tomorrow’s leaders in earth and environmental science. For further details about the programme please see http://nercgw4plus.ac.uk/

Project details

For information relating to the research project please contact the lead Supervisor via N.J.Boogert@exeter.ac.uk

Project Aims and Methods

Herring gulls divide public opinion: they are of high conservation concern due to dramatic declines of natural colonies in recent decades, yet they are also considered a pest due to the rapid expansion of urban colonies. Herring gulls’ scavenging and human food theft, alongside their voluminous excrement, cause conflict with people in towns where herring gulls breed and feed. While there is emerging evidence that gulls transmit pathogens of human health concern (e.g. avian influenza), as well as harbouring bacteria with anti-microbial resistance, the mechanisms underlying their role in pathogen and AMR transmission have yet to be elucidated.

This PhD aims to:

• assess the prevalence of key pathogens and AMR markers in a well characterised urban gull population, and link this to physiological and environmental factors to ascertain which gulls pose most risk (e.g. based on age, foraging range, position within the colony); 
• track behaviour of gulls and frequency of human interactions using the latest GPS- and Bluetooth-tracking technology to test the extent to which gulls pose risk to their human neighbours;
• incorporate the detailed empirical data about gull risk and interaction rates with humans into disease transmission models.

Training

The DTP offers funding to undertake specialist training relating to the student’s specialist area of research.

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