Sustainability Research (SRI) PhD Projects
Conservation status shifts and impacts on social-ecological resilience
and/or human well-being in Africa
Supervisors: Dr Susannah Sallu
Much has been written about the relationships between people and conservation areas in Africa, particularly the ways in which conservation and development goals can be both complimentary and contradictory. However, relatively little research has investigated the impacts of shifts in conservation status and associated management on the resilience of coupled social-ecological systems and/or human well-being. With renewed concern over biodiversity declines and increasing popularity in the use of market/financial incentives for conservation, shifts in conservation status and management are inevitable. The ways in which these changes are impacting on resilience, sustainability and human well-being need urgent study. Key questions might be: to what extent are these shifts in conservation status impacting on people’s ability to deal with economic and environmental shocks? What kind of changes are these projects imposing on rural livelihoods?
Funding - Funding has not secured for this project. You will be expected to source funding, please refer to http://www.see.leeds.ac.uk/study/phd/funding.htm for further information.
Entry requirements/necessary background:
A minimum 2:1 at Undergraduate level and preferably an MSc in Environmental Conservation / Environmental Science / Sustainability / Environment & Development / Geography or related subject. Candidate will ideally have some field experience in Africa.
If you would like to be considered for research in this area, you will need to provide a short research proposal.
This should be no longer than 6 pages, plus referencing. You will need to present the proposal in sections including 1) an introduction, 2) short literature review and novelty of the proposed research 3) research problem and questions 4) study area / site, materials and methods, and 5) references. Referencing should be done in the style of a journal related to this research area.