Available PhD Topics

ES Funded projects open for applications

If you are interested in applying to do a specific PhD project in our Department(self-initiated, self-funded or through a non-DTP studentship), you should direct your initial enquiry to the named supervisor (or co-supervisor) who can guide you further. In cases of uncertainty, you may also direct your enquiry to the Graduate Tutor. Once a supervisor has agreed in principle to supervise your project, or if you are applying for a specific funded studentship, you must complete a formal UCL PhD application.

TOPIC	SUPERVISOR	CO-SUPERVISOR	FUNDING BODY
P-V-T equations of state of low-density geofluids and industrial materials using novel in situ techniques. Project details Application Deadline: until filled	David Dobson	Simon MacLeod (AWE)	STFC - Industrial Case
Volatiles, Geodynamics and Solid Earth Controls on the Habitable Planet. Project details Application Deadline: until filled	John Brodholt		NERC
Impact melting and vaporization of Earth. Project details (pdf) Application Deadline: until filled	Lars Stixrude	Carolina Lithgow-Bertelloni	STFC
THe Martian Core. Project Details. Deadline: until filled.	Lidunka Vocadlo	David Dobson	STFC

The London NERC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP).

The PhD topics shown here are representative examples of projects offered by our department that are eligible for funding through the London NERC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP). The London DTP offers between 30-40 studentships per year covering all aspects of earth and environmental science, hosted by one of nine different London-based academic institutions including UCL.

If you are interested in any topic below, please contact the named supervisor for more information in the first instance. To apply for a DTP studentship, please do not apply to UCL directly but instead follow the DTP instructions. Whilst the topics illustrate a cross-section of active research within the Department of Earth Sciences at UCL, the list is not exhaustive and we also welcome enquiries from students who wish to formulate their own topics.

***NEW***

APPLICATIONS ARE INVITED FOR THE LONDON NERC DTP PHD PROGRAMME TO START IN SEPTEMBER 2017.

FOR A REGULARLY UPDATED LIST OF POTENTIAL PHD TOPICS VISIT THE DTP WEBSITE

APPLICATION IS VIA AN ONLINE FORM FROM THE DTP WEBSITE DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 11AM, MONDAY 9TH JANUARY 2017.

SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES WILL BE INVITED TO INTERVIEW IN FEBRUARY 2017.

Biodiversity and Ecology

TOPIC (PDF DOCUMENTS)	SUPERVISOR	CO-SUPERVISOR
Topic: A multi-disciplinary approach to the analysis of crocodylian phylogeny, diversity and biogeographic history in ‘Deep Time’	Paul Upchurch	Julia Day

Earth, Atmosphere and Ocean Processes

TOPIC (PDF DOCUMENTS)	SUPERVISOR	CO-SUPERVISOR
Topic: Ice shelf dynamics.	Peter Sammonds
Topic: Towards improving thickness retrievals from CryoSat.	Julienne Stroeve	Michel Tsamados
Topic: Using comples networks to advance our understanding of the polar climate system.	Michel Tsamados	Peter Sollich, KCL
Topic: Flow of sea ice through Nares Strait: reconciling sateleitte observations, models and theory.	Michel Tsamados	Peter Sammonds

Environmental Pollution

TOPIC (PDF DOCUMENTS)	SUPERVISOR	CO-SUPERVISOR
Topic: Groundwater salinity and drinking water supply in coastal Bangladesh	Mohammad Shamsudduha, IRDR	William Burgess

Natural and Biological Hazards

TOPIC (PDF DOCUMENTS)	SUPERVISOR	CO-SUPERVISOR
Topic: Reassessing the volcanic hazard of unusual lavas in the East African rift.	Adrian Jones	Chris Kilburn
Topic: Temporal and spatial strain accumulation within the Italian Apennines from modelling and laboratory experiments.	Joanna Faure Walker, IRDR	Peter Sammonds
Topic: A long-term stress map of the Italian Apennines from long-term strain-rates and palaesiesmic records.	Joanna Faure Walker, IRDR	Gerald Roberts, Birkbeck
Topic: Ca isotopes as a potential tracer for CO2 in magmatic systems.	Christina Mannin, RHUL	Phillip Pogge Von Strandmann
Topic: Terrestrial water storage in the Bengal Basin - piezometric monitoring to validate and compliment GRACE observations.	William Burgess	Mohammad Shamsudduha, IRDR

Past Life and Environments

TOPIC (PDF DOCUMENTS)	SUPERVISOR	CO-SUPERVISOR
Topic: Plankton evolution and the Paleogene/Neogene transition.	Paul Bown
Topic: Architecture and stacking patterns of deep-marine lobe and related deposits, Eocene Hecho Group, Jaca basin, Spanish Pyrenees: Depositional processes, sandbody geometry and stacking patterns	Kevin Pickering	Paul Bown
Topic: The Neoproterozoic Luoquan/Fengtai glaciation on the North China craton.	Graham Shields	Daniel Le Heron, RHUL
Topic: The Neoproterozoic nitrogen cycle.	Graham Shields
Topic: The ecology of microbial communities through the oxygenation of the atemosphere.	Dominic Papineau

Solid Earth Dynamics

TOPIC	SUPERVISOR	CO-SUPERVISOR
Topic: Global seismic imaging of the Earth's mantle	Ana Ferreira
Topic: Evolution and significance of fault damage structures on plate boundary faults: the southern San Andreas fault system	Tom Mitchell
Topic: Nature of the link between tectonics and volcanism in the Central and Southern Andes.	Tom Mitchell	Andy Carter
Topic: Pre-melting in the Earth’s core.	Lidunka Vočadlo	Ian Wood
Topic: Physics of creeping crustal rocks.	Nicolas Brantut
Topic: The structure of the lithosphere and the state of stress of the Earth.	Caroline Lithgow-Bertelloni	Lars Stixrude
Topic: Mutliscale characterisation of seismic scattering, diffraction and anistropy in the lithosphere/asthenosphere system.	Teh-Ru Alex Song	Vincent Tong
Topic:Towards a comprehensive understanding of transition zone seismic discontinuities.	Teh-Ru Alex Song
Topic: Ground truthing thermochronology.	Pieter Vermeesch	Andy Carter
Topic: Permeability anisotropy in stressed rock.	Philip Meredith	Tom Mitchell

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