School of Earth and Environment

Sustainability Research (SRI) PhD Projects

Spread of innovative water harvesting systems in Africa

Water harvesting technologies hold considerable potential to increase agricultural productivity and boost resilience of semi-arid agro-ecosystems in Africa. To date, many successes have been achieved locally in development, application and adoption of technologies. However, upscaling of such success stories has been limited. In order to understand what potential water harvesting technologies hold at a continental scale, we currently lack understanding about the reasons behind success at the local level. In this project, you will concentrate on a case study in an area with a recent history of adoption dynamics of water harvesting technologies. Questions to answer are: What has driven the local land users to adopt the technology? Who has embraced the technology and who has not (i.e. what are the determinants for adoption)? How has the technology spread, geographically as well as through social networks? How do recent adopters evaluate the technology and what external factors influence their evaluation? Do recent adopters maintain or adapt the technologies, and in what way? How do non-adopters perceive the technologies, and what reasons do they have for non-adoption? Are there perceived negative effects of technologies, and how do local communities cope with these? What lessons can be learned from the case study area for upscaling in other areas? This PhD study will benefit from and contribute to a large EU FP 7 research project (WAHARA) that will run from 2011-2016. The study sites in the project are located in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Tunisia and Zambia. The research can be conducted in either of these areas or in a third country (but see below under Entry Requirements).

Supporting documents:
If you would like to be considered for research in this area, you will need to provide a full research proposal. This should be no longer than 6 pages, plus referencing. You will need to present the proposal in sections to include an introduction, the aims of the project/research questions, full methodology, and referencing. Referencing should be done in the style of a journal related to this research area.

Funding:
There is no funding for this project as such. However, it links to the EU FP7 WAHARA project that may support some travel and fieldwork. Candidates can apply to University scholarships such as:

Home/EU: University Research Scholarship (URS) – full information at http://scholarships.leeds.ac.uk

International: Fully-funded International Research Scholarship (FIRS), and China Scholarship Council (CSC)-Leeds Partnership – full information at http://scholarships.leeds.ac.uk

Note to candidate: You will need to demonstrate that you have/are being consideredfor 3 years offunding to include tuition fees and living costs. Additionally, a bench fee may be charged, to cover exceptional consumables/fieldwork costs neededfor successful completion of the project. Please see the notes on ‘fees and scholarships’ in the main
menu.

Entry requirements/necessary background:
The minimum entry requirement is 2.1 UK BSc (Hons), preferably in a social science subject. For a candidate wanting to conduct a case study in a third country (not being Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Tunisia, or Zambia) a strong link with a local research institute is strongly desirable.
Experiences working in Africa and language skills are required.