Dear all,

Please see PhD opportunities below and circulate widely to all potentially interested parties.

Best wishes,

Kath

School of Environment & Technology

Opportunities for PhD Research

Applications are invited for two fully-funded PhD research topics from the following:

Everyday lives in/of ‘alternative’ cities

This project will focus on the practical and gritty everyday lives in/of the ‘alternative’ city. An empirically rich and theoretically informed focus on particular ‘cities’ and/or urban districts that have developed reputations for being ‘alternative’, within and beyond normative conceptualisations of diversity, is envisaged. This could include considerations of social relations, bodies, communities, emotions, affects, materialities, governance, regulation, and/or citizenships. The specific case studies could examine particular counter cultures, LGBT communities, ‘alternative’ music scenes, acts of resistance, or the student could take a broader more conceptual view of ‘cities’ and the lives within. This project will adopt a largely qualitative approach where new methodological developments will be encouraged. The theoretical, methodological and case study focus will be developed with the student in relation to their interests. Supervisors: Dr Kath Browne (email: [log in to unmask]), Dr David Bissell, Prof. Andrew Church.

Climate variability & human livelihoods in NW India, 1600-1900

This project will use a variety of colonial administrative, governmental, newspaper and missionary archives to establish a detailed chronology of climatic variability for northwest India from the early 1600s to 1870, including the occurrence of major droughts, floods and variations in the onset/cessation of seasonal rains. It will also examine the scale of impact and nature of human responses to any extreme climatic conditions during this period, including adjustments to harvest failure, economic dislocation, disease and social strife, which may be driven by climatic variations such as changes in monsoonal rainfall patterns. The research will involve extended periods of archive work in London, Cambridge, Birmingham and Edinburgh. Supervisors: Dr David Nash (email: [log in to unmask]), Dr Rebecca Elmhirst, Dr Georgina Endfield (University of Nottingham).

Physical dynamics of small estuarine systems

This project will examine the application of empirical formulae, used by industry to model processes, developed from large estuaries, when applied to smaller estuaries, with an aim to improve accuracy for the modelling of smaller systems and the prediction of events. The investigation will focus on the physical characterisation of estuarine systems, taking account of chemical and biological factors; this multi-disciplinary approach is reflected in the supervisory team. The student will initially collect and analyse data from the Adur Estuary, Sussex, develop the project by carrying out comparable studies and then testing theories, in a variety of other small estuaries. This stage of the fieldwork and analysis will be split between heavily engineered estuaries and those which are in a near natural state. Supervisors: Dr Heidi Burgess (email: [log in to unmask]), Prof. Andy Cundy, Dr Chris Joyce.

Enterococcal Surface Protein (esp) gene as a practical microbial source tracking tool

This project will involve work with a team of researchers investigating the behaviour of pathogens and pathogen indicators in the natural environment. The project will provide new insights into the occurrence of a specific enterococcal surface protein (esp) gene amongst the species Enterococcus faecalis and E. faecium. The esp gene has been proposed as a potential indicator of human pollution in environmental waters, but information on its relative prevalence in human and animal faecal sources and its geographical stability is limited, and hence its full potential as an MST tool has yet to be determined. Supervisors: Dr James Ebdon (email: [log in to unmask]), Dr Huw Taylor.

How to apply

For further information and an application form, contact Edward Rhodes (School Research Administrator): email [log in to unmask], telephone +44 1273 642280. The closing date for applications is Friday 21 November 2008. Interviews will take place on Tuesday 9 December 2008, with a planned start date for the studentships of 1 January 2009. Studentships will cover UK/EU fees, a grant equivalent to those supported by the EPSRC and funding to cover travel, subsistence and laboratory costs. The successful candidates will have a first or good upper second-class Honours degree and normally a good Masters degree in a relevant subject. All successful applicants will be required to participate in University Research training and will register for an MPhil with possible transfer to PhD.

Dr. Kath Browne,

Senior Lecturer,

School of the Environment,

Cockcroft Building,

Lewes Road,

Brighton,

BN2 4GJ,

England.

Tel: +44 1273 642377

Email: [log in to unmask]

***OUT NOW!***

Geographies of Sexualities (Browne, K, Lim, J. and Brown G. eds)