-----Original Message-----
From: Jones,Julia P G [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Dear all
Please can you forward this to any contacts potentially interested in
fully funded PhD fellowships in the general subject area of 'Forests
and Nature for Society (FONASO)'. This includes social forestry,
forest science, forest management, forest conservation etc. There are
categories for people from within the EU or outside.
Thanks
Julia
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------
Forests and Nature for Society, an EU funded PhD funding scheme has
launched its call for fully funded PhD fellowships to start Sept 2013.
Please have a look at the full list of topics on the FONASO website
(http://www.fonaso.eu/). I am co-supervising 5 of the proposed topics
(these are pasted below and atached in word format). If anyone is
interested in applying for my topics I'd be interested in hearing from
them. They should read the FONASO website carefully 1st to check
eligibility etc and then send me a draft proposal (following FONASO
guidelines) and a CV. The deadline for full applications is 1st
November 2012.
All the best
Julia
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------
1.3 How does biodiversity contribute to the cultural services provided
by forests?
It is increasingly recognised that society gets many benefits from
ecosystems. Biodiversity in its broadest sense clearly underpins the
supply of these ecosystem services as without biodiversity there would
be no functioning ecosystems. However in a world where anthropogenic
activities are resulting in loss of biodiversity at unprecedented
levels, a much better understanding of the complex linkages between
changes in biodiversity and human welfare is urgently needed. The
importance of cultural services is increasingly recognised as evidence
mounts that people value nature highly, that exposure to natural areas
impacts wellbeing and that recreation in natural areas is important to
mental and physical health. However, the extent to which biodiversity,
rather than other environmental variables, influence the cultural
services provided by ecosystems such as forests is poorly known. This
project will include field work in at least three countries (possibly
including the UK, Denmark, Madagascar, Bangladesh or Mauritius). Field
work (involving choice experiments, analysis of national geographical
data sets on biodiversity and cultural services, and semi-structured
interviews) will aim to answer the following
questions:
1) To what extent do various aspects of biodiversity influence the
cultural services people obtain from forests?
2) How do these patterns vary with cultural background? 3) How is this
affected by knowledge about biodiversity? Principal supervisor at
Bangor University Co-supervisor at University of Copenhagen
1.4 Maximising the potential of REDD+ to deliver biodiversity co-
benefits in tropical forest countries
Deforestation and degradation of forest ecosystems are important
sources of green-house gas emissions world-wide. Reducing Emissions
from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) offers financial
incentives for tropical forest countries to reduce= emissions from
forested lands through forest conservation, forest management or
enhancement. Many forest ecosystems also harbour important
biodiversity and the growing voluntary market in REDD+ carbon credits
frequently uses co-benefits, such as biodiversity conservation, as
part of their marketing. Key research questions in this PhD include:
1) What is the market for biodiversity-friendly credits and what
elements of biodiversity are valued by buyers?
2) How does the degree of congruence between biodiversity and carbon
stocks vary depending on the measure of biodiversity used?
3) How does the cost of directly monitoring elements of biodiversity
of interest to buyers influence which co-benefits can be marketed.
|