The Earth Surface Science Institute (ESSI) PhD Projects

The Earth Surface Science Institute (ESSI) encompasses the study of past and present environmental and climatic conditions and the processes that produce them. Please have a look at our latest projects listed below and use the links to the right of your screen which give information about the application procedure, fees and scholarships, and other relevant information. If you have already secured sponsorship for your research degree study and have a specific research proposal, we would welcome an application form from you.

Projects with Guaranteed Funding

• NEW - Co-treatment of mixed radionuclides in large volumes of contaminated water by carbonate precipitation reactions Ian Burke (School of Earth and Environment); Doug Stewart (Civil Engineering) and James Graham (National Nuclear Laboratory) Application deadline 1 June 2013
• NEW - Natural and enhanced retardation of C-14 contamination in groundwater Ian Burke (School of Earth and Environment); Doug Stewart (Civil Engineering) and James Graham (National Nuclear Laboratory) Application deadline 1 June 2013
• FILLED - Controls on point-bar architecture in fluvial and tidally-influenced successions Dr Nigel Mountney and Dr Dave Hodgson (pdf)
• FILLED - How do Arctic soils form? Linking bulk and molecular scale mineralogical and geochemical processes Prof Liane G Benning and Martyn Tranter (University of Bristol)
• NEW - Physical modelling of submarine channel-levee development Prof. Bill McCaffrey, Dr Rob Dorrell Application deadline 30 May 2013
• FILLED - Flow heterogeneity in the Sherwood Sandstone; resolving the roles of faults versus sedimentary structure Dr. Jared West, Dr Noelle Odling and Dr Nigel Mountney Application deadline 6 April 2013

Projects in competition for the School's NERC Doctoral Training Awards 

The deadline for applications is 5pm on Friday 15 February 2013, and interviews have been scheduled for the following 3 days: Monday 11 March 2013, Thursday 14 March 2013, and Friday 15 March 2013.

Our NERC Doctoral Training Awards are generally awarded to the best candidates following interviews. If you would like to be considered for one of these awards, you should select and rank up to 3 projects from the list below, submit a formal application, and supply all supporting documents before the closing date listed above. You may wish to check whether you are eligible for one of these quota awards.

Alternatively, funding for any of these projects may be sought in the University's scholarship competitions.

• Glacial snow Biomes and their role in C cycling Prof. Liane G. Benning (Leeds) Andrew Steele (UCL) and Alex Anesio (Bristol)
• Unusual patterns of diagenesis in offshore sediments of the Yellow River Delta, China (Possible CASE award) Professor Simon Bottrell, Professor Robert Mortimer and Dr Yanqing Sheng (Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research (YIC), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)).
• FILLED Biogeochemistry of contaminants in hyperalkaline environments (Possible CASE award) Dr Ian Burke, Prof Rob Mortimer, Doug Stewart (Civil Engineering) and Will Mayes (University of Hull)
• FILLED CASE AWARD: Towards a generic model for localized, highly-enriched orogenic gold deposits Dr Rob Chapman, Dr Graham McLeod
• FILLED CASE AWARD: Did extreme seasonality in Cenozoic and Cretaceous climates influence evolution of marine and terrestrial biotas in Antarctica? Prof Jane Francis, Prof Alan Haywood, Dr Stephen Hunter (University of Leeds), Alistair Crame (British Antarctic Survey).
• Coupling of CO2, climate and ice sheets during the Miocene Dr Daniel Hill (SEE), Prof Alan Haywood (SEE), Dr Sev Kender (British Geological Survey), Dr Julia Tindall (SEE) and Dr Bridget Wade (SEE)
• Straight from the hose's mouth: processes and products at the terminus of submarine channels Dr D Hodgson and Prof J Peakall
• Modelling past hot polar-climates: Resolving climate modelling deficiencies Dr. Stephen Hunter (S.Hunter@leeds.ac.uk), Aisling Dolan, Prof Alan Haywood (University of Leeds) and Dr. Daniel Lunt (University of Bristol)
• Quicksand mechanics: towards improved hazard mitigation Dr Gareth Keevil and Prof Jeff Peakall
• FILLED Nutrient and trace metal uptake and sequestration during Fe mineralization under anoxic conditions Prof Michael Krom, Prof Simon Poulton, Dr Romain Guilbaud and Dr Sean Crowe (University of Southern Denmark)
• The early Toarcian (Early Jurassic) mass extinction event in the eastern Tethys: integrating palaeontological and geochemical data from Bulgaria Dr Crispin Little, Dr Ivan Savov, Prof Paul Wignall, Dr Robert Newton, Dr Ljubomir Metodiev (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences)
• Energy balances and flow behaviour of volcanogenic floods Dr Vern Manville and Prof Jeff Peakall
• Nutrient cycling in the turbidity maximum zone of major estuaries Professor Robert Mortimer, Dr Robert Newton, Professor Michael Krom, and Professor Dan Parsons (University of Hull), Dr Yanqing Sheng (Yantai Institute of Coastal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
• Controls of the concentration of sulphate in complex natural carbonates Dr Rob Newton, Prof Liane Benning and Dr Bridget Wade
• Chemical Records of Early Earth Evolution: Trace-Element Scavenging by Iron Minerals in Banded Iron Formations Dr Caroline Peacock, Prof Simon Poulton and Prof Liane Benning
• Chemical evolution of the Neoproterozoic-Cambrian biosphere: Prof Simon Poulton and Dr Robert Newton
• Monitoring iron mineralogy and contaminant mobility using geoelectrical approaches Dr Jared West, Dr Caroline Peacock (University of Leeds) and Sam Shaw (University of Manchester)
• FILLED The First Mass Extinction: Interrogating the volcano-sedimentary record of the Kalkarindji Flood Basalts, Australia (Possible CASE award) Prof Paul Wignall and Dr Rob Newton (University of Leeds, UK), Dr Mike Widdowson (The Open University, UK), and Dr David Murphy (Queensland University of Technology, Australia)