Current research degree projects
Explore our current postgraduate research degree and PhD opportunities.
450 research degree projects
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Ocean and earth science | Geography and environmental science
Will Earth’s warming climate shift to a “permanent El-Niño” state?
Climate models predict a more El Niño-like climate under global warming, but observations during the past 60 years suggest changes of opposite sign. This project will combine knowledge of physical processes and state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence-based approaches to extend climate records back 200 years and reinvestigate this discrepancy. -
Ocean and earth science
Space Weather Priming: the missing link in prediction
This project will answer the question: do the impacts of solar storms depend on previous space weather activity? Decades of data from powerful, advanced radars will be used to study how our space environment responds at different temporal and spatial scales to space weather storms. -
Ocean and earth science
Environmental conditions sustaining reef coral communities in the Galápagos Archipelago
Coral communities in the Galápagos Archipelago survive under extreme conditions in the Eastern Pacific. Their persistence has been repeatedly threatened by a combination of climate-driven and anthropogenic disturbances. This project will take an integrative ecological and oceanographic modelling research approach to explore potential conservation opportunities for these unique ecosystems -
Ocean and earth science | Geography and environmental science | Biological sciences
The effects of pollution on coral reef fishes
There are over 350,000 synthetic chemicals in production many with no environmental risk assessment for tropical fish species. The project aims to address the paucity in information by identifying chemicals of concern, which coral reef fishes are most vulnerable and how chemicals impact on organism behaviour and physiology. -
Ocean and earth science | Chemistry
It’s getting hot in here – coral-based reconstructions of ocean warming
The upper ocean has warmed by ~1°C since pre-industrial times. However, sea surface temperature measurements before the 1980s carry considerable uncertainty. The aim of this project is to reduce that uncertainty by using the composition of coral skeletons to provide an independent ocean temperature record over the last 150 years. -
Ocean and earth science
SHELF-MIX: Mapping Ocean Mixing Beneath Antarctic Ice Shelves
Antarctic ice shelves, and the speed at which they are melted from below by ‘warm’ ocean waters, set Antarctica’s contribution to 21st century sea-level rise. In this project we will develop a pan-Antarctic map of sub-ice shelf ocean mixing and heat fluxes, and asses their implications for ice shelf melting. -
Ocean and earth science
Investigating the role of coral reefs in wave dissipation
The research will investigate the wave dissipation effects of coral reefs based on three-dimensional modelling of storm waves using a supercomputer. The final goal of this research is to propose an optimal design of an artificial reef with a high wave dissipation effect based on the modelling results. -
Ocean and earth science
Biogeography of the southern Indian Ocean higher predator community
Numerous seabird and marine mammal species occur in the subtropical and subantarctic zones of the southern Indian Ocean. This project aims to model and identify the species- and community-level distribution of these charismatic animals to reveal ecosystem processes and patterns in the region and support spatial conservation and management initiatives. -
Ocean and earth science
All eyes on plankton: Applying cross-instrument data fusion in marine imaging
You will address a critical problem for automated image classification - the integration of diverse data from different camera systems within the same computer vision model. The aim is to develop innovative cross-instrument, while enhancing ecological understanding of marine ecosystems through machine learning. -
Ocean and earth science
Adaptation to extreme environments: Evolution of unusual body plans in Southern Ocean Echinoids
The deep, cold waters of the Southern Ocean are home to enigmatic, morphologically unusual radiation of sea urchins belonging to the Holasteroida. This project aims to use a unique collection of these rare species to uncover the evolutionary history of body plans and adaptive radiations in the polar benthos.