PhD projects

This PhD position aims to analyse whether aquatic sediments may become an internal source for phosphorus and other contaminants under changing climatic conditions and to test readily available adsorptive materials for trapping these contaminants in the field.

You will perform lab experiments to determine phosphorus and pollutant remobilization from sediments under various environmental conditions. The binding capacity of different adsorptive materials will be determined via laboratory and field experiments.

You will develop temperature-dependent mobilization and adsorption models to identify conditions and materials with a high release/trapping capacity and deduce management strategies for the mitigation of water pollution in human-impacted catchments in the future.

The PhD position includes short visits and secondments to BEYOND partners (e.g. Institut Agro Agrocampus Ouest Rennes, France; Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet, Sweden) for additional training and knowledge exchange.

The project will be supervised by Gabriele Weigelhofer (WasserCluster Lunz, Austria; BOKU University Vienna) and co-supervised by Magdalena Bieroza (Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet, Sweden). Miriam Glendell (James Hutton Institute, UK) and Michael Rode (UFZ, Germany) will be the advisors for the PhD. 

 Working place: WasserCluster Lunz – Biological Station GmbH, 3293 Lunz am See, Austria https://wcl.ac.at/en/; Home university: BOKU University Vienna https://boku.ac.at/en/

Lead supervisor: Roland Bol (Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany),

Co-supervisors: Michael Rode (UFZ, Germany), Gabriele Weigelhofer (BOKU, Austria)

Lead-supervisor: Magdalena Bieroza (SLU, Sweden),

Co-supervisors: Susana Bernal (CEAB-CSIC, Spain), Phil Jordan (Ulster University, UK)

Lead supervisor: Michale Rode (UFZ, Germany),

Co-supervisors: Roland Bol (Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany), Zahra Thomas (Institut Agro, France)

The aim of this PhD position is to determine how citizen science can be best engaged to contribute to water quality monitoring and protection.

The objectives include:

1. Investigate who does citizen science (CS) and why? Compare and contrast perspectives of the local community, NGOs, and other groups engaging in water improvement projects with and without CS
2. Evaluate how reliable CS data are for monitoring and assessment and quality control mechanisms based on existing and new data collections
3. Identify gaps that can be filled by citizen science
4. Develop a CS-based toolkit for identifying pressures at local and catchment scales
5. Evaluate existing and new frameworks for sustained CS projects

The project will be supervised by Mary Kelly-Quinn (University College Dublin), Jan-Robert Baars (University College Dublin) and co-supervised by Gabriele Weigelhofer (WasserCluster, Lunz, Austria).

The advisors for the PhD research include Per-Erik Mellander (Teagasc, Republic of Ireland), Alena Bartosova (SMHI, Sweden) and Eulyn Pagaling (James Hutton Institute, UK).

The position duration is <3 years (with an additional year if required). You will be based in the School of Biology & Environmental Science, University College Dublin, located in Dublin, Ireland.

Lead supervisor: Daire O’Huallachain (TEAGASC, Ireland),

Co-supervisors: Mary Kelly-Quinn (UCD, Ireland), Per-Erik Mellander (TEAGASC, Ireland)

This PhD position aims to investigate the impact of low flows and intermittency on stream metabolic activity, water chemistry and the capacity of streams to process carbon and nutrients. The research evaluates the spatiotemporal extent of low-flow conditions and the variability of stream water chemistry across different intermittent fluvial networks. You will use field and laboratory empirical approaches to measure in-stream carbon and nutrient cycling and associated greenhouse gas emissions. These measurements will help to assess how in-stream bioreactive capacity changes with varying land uses and hydrological conditions. You will run hydrochemical models to explore stream water quantity and quality changes under future water scarcity scenarios. The insights gained from this work will contribute to designing more effective water monitoring strategies for intermittent fluvial networks and provide recommendations to water stakeholders for ensuring water quality in these highly vulnerable aquatic systems.

As part of this PhD position, you will have an opportunity to take part in short visits and secondments to BEYOND partners (Institut Agro Agrocampus Ouest Rennes, France; Teagasc-Agriculture and Food Development Authority, Ireland; and others) for additional training and knowledge exchange.

The project will be supervised by Susana Bernal (Center of Advanced Studies of Blanes from the Spanish Research Council, CEAB-CSIC) and co-supervised by Per-Erik Mellander (Teagasc-Agriculture and Food Development Authority, Ireland) and Ophélie Fovet (French Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, INRAE, Rennes, France).

The position duration is three years. You will be based at the Center of Advanced Studies of Blanes (CEAB-CSIC) (https://www.ceab.csic.es/es/) located in Blanes, Spain.

The aim of this PhD position is to investigate:

1. How nutrient export dynamics (i.e. long-term trend, seasonal variations and storm responses) vary across spatial scales from small headwater catchments (<10 km²) to meso-scale catchments (50-500 km²)
2. How hydro-climatic extremes (droughts, heatwaves, extreme precipitation events) differentially influence water quality according to catchments size and stream order.

The research hypothesizes that the land-to-water delivery signal dominates nutrient export dynamics in the smaller catchments, while the influence of in-stream processes and point sources increases in larger catchments.

This project will rely on high-resolution water quality monitoring data from research catchments in Sweden, Germany, France, Ireland and the United Kingdom, complemented by analysing public water surveillance data across the EU.

In addition to the analysis of these long-term environmental observation data, you will implement a 2-year water quality monitoring downstream of one of the research catchments (Agrhys in western France https://eng-agrhys.rennes.hub.inrae.fr/, 5km²) to study how the water chemistry signal observed by current monitoring propagates downstream.

Data analysis methods will include statistical spatial and temporal data analysis and parsimonious modelling. As part of this PhD position, you can take part in short visits and secondments to BEYOND partners for additional training and knowledge exchange.

The project will be supervised by Rémi Dupas (INRAE, France) and Ophélie Fovet (INRAE, France) and co-supervised by Magdalena Bieroza (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) and Per-Erik Mellander (Teagasc, Republic of Ireland).

Miriam Glendell (James Hutton Institute, UK) and Michael Rode (UFZ, Germany) will be advisors of PhD.

The position duration is three years. You will be based in the joint research unit SAS https://eng-umrsas.rennes.hub.inrae.fr/ in Rennes, France.

Integrated agroecological management is seen as a potential solution to degrading agroecosystems. However, its impacts on water quality are still poorly understood, despite agroecology's focus on whole-system approaches that reduce reliance on external inputs and could potentially reduce water pollution.

The aim of this project is to examine whether and how systemic change in agronomic practices and spatial targeting of measures could scale up to allow the protection of water quality under future climate and socio-economic scenarios. Specifically, the PhD will:

1. Investigate the potential of agro-ecological agricultural practices to mitigate diffuse pollution from nutrients, sediments and other contaminants to deliver multiple ecosystem services (clean water availability, carbon stewardship, biodiversity conservation)
2. Investigate the potential of systemic change in agronomic practice to deliver resilient water quality and water resources under future hydrological extremes
3. Quantify the scale and targeting of interventions required for mitigation and adaptation to these impacts across a climatic gradient

This PhD will provide excellent multi-disciplinary training in catchment science (hydrology, water quality, soil science, agronomy) and system-based modelling, with an opportunity for limited field data collection and engagement with stakeholders in the farming sector.

The PhD will be able to take part in short visits and secondments to the world-leading Agricultural Research Program in Ireland, Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland, Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) and CARBERY food producer in Ireland for additional training and knowledge exchange.  

The project will be supervised by Dr Miriam Glendell and Dr Cathy Hawes from the James Hutton Institute and Prof. Phil Jordan at the University of Ulster, UK. The student will have access to additional support from Dr Nicholas Schurch from Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland, Dr Leah-Jackson Blake at NIVA in Norway and Dr Per-Erik Mellander from Teagasc in Ireland. You will be based in the Environmental and Biochemical Sciences Department (https://www.hutton.ac.uk/department/environmental-and-biochemical-sciences/) located in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Lead supervisor: Eulyn Pagaling (The James Hutton Institute, UK),

Co-supervisors: Phil Jordan (Ulster University, UK), Anna Lupon (CEAB-CSIC, Spain)