School of Earth and Environment

Sustainability Research (SRI) PhD Projects

Ecosystem services and the role of the property rights in UK uplands?

The ecosystem service approach to understanding the human-environment interface is gaining ground. By identifying and measuring the goods and services that the landscape and its habitats provide, the expectation is that management can be improved to maximise these goods and services. However, production of food and rural livelihoods are often sidelined in the debates and little attention has been paid to the role and distribution of property rights in these multi-resource systems. Key questions include: How are property rights distributed in uplands? To what extent has the paradigm of ecosystem services led to a shift in property rights? Are these shifts contested and by whom? And what are the impacts on land management and upland livelihoods?

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:
No project funding attached. The University has some sources of funding for PhD studies. These are:

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 considered for 3 years of funding to include tuition fees and living costs. Additionally, a bench fee may be charged, to cover exceptional consumables/fieldwork costs needed for successful completion of the project. Please see the notes on ‘fees and scholarships’ in the main menu.

Entry requirements/necessary background: Masters degree preferred, applicants to the ESRC 1+3 scholarship also considered.