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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 |