Menu AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) Studentship

ENGINEERINGUK; Oxford; Hybrid; GBP 20,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job description

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Title: Compound climate hazards and the future of vegetation management on built heritage in England (with English Heritage and in association with St Cross College).

Eligibility: Students eligible for home or overseas fees.

Application Deadline: 12 noon on 9th May 2025
Interviews will take place on Tuesday 20th May or Wednesday 21st May 2025.

The project will investigate how compound hazards affect the growth and management of vegetation at heritage sites across England using numerical modelling and case studies, with results aiding the development of practical guidelines for managing vegetation at ruined sites. This project will be jointly supervised by Prof. Heather Viles (University of Oxford), Dr Paul Lankester (English Heritage), and Dr Jenny Richards (University of Oxford) and the student will be expected to spend time at both the University of Oxford and English Heritage, as well as becoming part of the wider cohort of CDP funded students across the UK.

Project Overview

Compound climate hazards (such as the combination of temperature and rainfall changes and extreme events) pose serious risks for England’s built heritage. In particular, compound hazards will affect vegetation growth – some species of which are known to cause deterioration, while other forms of vegetation provide protection. This project aims to understand how such compound hazards will affect the growth and management of vegetation across the National Heritage Collection, with a focus on ruined sites. The project will combine a numerical modelling approach (to provide a generalised picture of risk across the whole Collection) with a case study-based approach (to provide a more detailed assessment of how compound hazards will affect the nature and impacts of vegetation at varied sites across a range of locations).

Research objectives include:

• To understand the key vegetation types found at built heritage sites in England and whether they are deteriorative, benign or protective;
• To explore how compound climate hazards in future will affect the distribution of these vegetation types across the national built heritage collection in England, and what impacts this will have on deterioration risks;
• To determine how the challenges and opportunities of compound climate hazards and vegetation can best be anticipated and adapted to through pro-active sustainable management.

Details of Award

CDP doctoral training grants fund full-time studentships for 48 months (4 years) or part-time equivalent up to a maximum of 8 years. The award pays tuition fees up to the value of the full-time home fee. Research Councils UK Indicative Fee Level for 2024/2025 is £5,006. Students with an ‘overseas’ fee status are welcome to apply and will be required to reside in the UK until completion of the PhD.

The award pays an annual stipend for all students, both home and international students. This stipend is tax free, and is the equivalent of an annual salary, enabling the student to pay living costs. The UKRI Minimum Doctoral Stipend for 2024/2025 is £20,780 plus an allowance of £1000/year as the partner organisation (English Heritage) is based in London, but the University is outside of London. There is also a CDP maintenance payment of £600 per year.

The successful candidate is eligible to receive an additional travel and related expenses grant during the course of the project courtesy of HBMCE worth up to £1000 per year for 4 years.

This research studentship is one allocated to the University of Oxford by the AHRC. The successful student will be expected to spend time carrying out research and gaining relevant experience with the partner at English Heritage sites across the country as part of the studentship.

The student will be a member of St Cross College.

Minimum Requirements:

• Applicants should ideally have or expect to receive a relevant Masters-level qualification in a relevant subject: Geography, Environmental Science, Heritage Science, Data Science, Archaeology, Climate Science or Ecology or be able to demonstrate equivalent experience in a professional setting.
• Applicants must be able to demonstrate an interest in the natural and historic environment and potential and enthusiasm for developing skills more widely in related areas. Applicants should also be able to demonstrate an aptitude for using computational methods.
• As a collaborative award, students will be expected to spend time at both the University and English Heritage.

Applications must be made through the University’s online admission system. For details see: University of Oxford Admissions. For this studentship applicants are not required to submit a detailed research plan. Instead, we request that applicants submit a 1,000-2,000 word personal statement which describes the qualifications, experience, skills and attributes that they would bring to the project, as well as their eligibility to apply. You should upload this to the Supporting Documents tab of the application form in the slot for Statement of purpose and research proposal. You are also required to submit a piece of written work which should be uploaded to the relevant tab in the application form.