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Ecology PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships
We have 90 Ecology PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships
An Ecology PhD would give you the chance to study the relationships between organisms and their environment, through a model species, field work, or mathematical modelling. Whatever you study, from population ecology to how plants are affected by the soil ecosystem, you’ll be aiming to develop methods of reducing or mitigating any negative impacts environmental changes may be having.
What’s it like to do a PhD in Ecology?
Studying a PhD in Ecology, you’ll gain a variety of skills since Ecology draws on techniques from many subjects including Geology, Microbiology and Bioinformatics.
Some typical research topics in Ecology include:
- Studying the effect of an environmental factor e.g. urbanisation is affecting a species
- Developing models to estimate the impact of environmental changes to organisms
- Investigating how the interaction between species has evolved
- Population ecology, studying the dynamics of a population including interactions with environment, birth, death, and immigration rates
- Developing methods of mitigating adverse effects of altering the environment on the species it contains
- Focused study on a particular ecosystem and its species (overlap with Biodiversity)
In a general workday, you’ll be conducting field work and analysing previous data or if you’re project involves Bioinformatics, you’ll be writing programmes and using methods from statistics and data science to analyse large datasets. Discussing your results, progress and problems with your supervisor and colleagues.
Your PhD will end with the submission of a thesis (approximately 60,000 words in length) that significantly contributes to the knowledge of your field, and a viva exam, in which you’ll defend your research.
Ecology PhD programmes are generally advertised projects with full funding attached, with the project proposal written by the supervisor. However, for some advertised projects you must find your own source of funding, which can be difficult due to additional bench fees, though these may not be as high as more laboratory-based subjects, it is still an extra cost to cover. This difficulty also makes proposing your own project in Ecology uncommon.
Entry requirements
The entry requirements for most Ecology PhD programmes involve a Masters in a subject directly related to Biology, with experience in Environmental Biology desirable, at Merit or Distinction level. If English isn’t your first language, you’ll also need to show that you have the right level of language proficiency.
PhD in Ecology funding options
The research council responsible for funding Ecology PhDs in the UK is the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). They provide fully-funded studentships including a stipend for living costs, a consumables budget for bench fees and a tuition fee waiver. Students don’t apply directly to the BBSRC, you apply for advertised projects with this funding attached.
It’s difficult for Ecology PhD students to be ‘self-funded’ due to the additional bench fees. However, if you were planning to fund yourself it might be achievable (depending on your project) through the UK government’s PhD loan and part-time work.
Removing rabbits to restore ecosystems
Outside the Fence. How strategic removal of rabbit warrens could achieve large-scale restoration and connect natural habitat for wildlife. Read more
PhD Opportunity - Evolution of ecological and species diversity in freshwater fishes
'TO APPLY, PLEASE CLICK INSTITUTION WEBSITE'. Project description. Ecological, morphological and evolutionary diversification among sympatric individuals often reflects divergent selective pressures along environmental gradients. Read more
PhD Opportunity - Urban biodiversity and human respiratory health
'TO APPLY, PLEASE CLICK INSTITUTION WEBSITE'. Summary. As much of the world continues to be urbanised rapidly, a very high proportion of the human population encounters natural environment and biodiversity more often in urban green areas and unbuilt patches than in rural habitats. Read more
PhD Opportunity - Novel approaches to understand the relationship between environmental change and biodiversity in space and time
'TO APPLY, PLEASE CLICK INSTITUTION WEBSITE'. Outline. Preventing the irreversible loss of biodiversity while supporting human livelihoods is one of the greatest contemporary challenges. Read more
PhD Opportunity - Investigating the cell biology of Neoparamoeba perurans, a causative agent of Amoebic Gill Disease, and its endosymbiont kinetoplastid, Perkinsela.
'TO APPLY, PLEASE CLICK INSTITUTION WEBSITE'. Summary. Read more
The role of invasive bumble bees in pollinator communities in Tasmania
We are seeking applicants for a PhD project investigating the impacts of introduced bumble bees (Bombus terrestris) on pollinators and plants in Tasmania, Australia. Read more
PhD Opportunity - Comparative functional genomics for insect control
'TO APPLY, PLEASE CLICK INSTITUTION WEBSITE'. Outline & aim. Insects are the most successful class of life on earth, with more species than all other organisms combined. Read more
PhD Opportunity - Understanding how phototropin blue light receptor kinase signal from the plant plasma membrane
'TO APPLY, PLEASE CLICK INSTITUTION WEBSITE'. Project description. The ability to enhance photosynthetic capacity remains a recognised bottleneck to improving plant productivity. Read more
Determining the impact of grazing and cropping on tropical wildlife
This PhD is a field-intensive project involving various automated and hands-on methods to quantify wildlife use of impacted landscapes (grazing, clearing, and cropping). You will be using acoustic survey methods combined with camera trapping, and traditional trapping and searching, to detect vertebrates and invertebrates in very HOT and REMOTE locations in tropical Queensland Australia. Read more
PhD Opportunity - Mechanics of multifactorial stress responses in plants – How do abiotic stress signals integrate with pathogen immunity?
'TO APPLY, PLEASE CLICK INSTITUTION WEBSITE'. Outline. Plants have the innate ability to respond to pathogens together with multiple abiotic stress challenges, but such responses often come at a cost to plant productivity and water use. Read more
PhD Opportunity - Examining novel CO2-sensing mechanisms in plants to improve water use efficiency
'TO APPLY, PLEASE CLICK INSTITUTION WEBSITE'. Outline. Elevated carbon dioxide concentration in air is a major consequence of global climate change. Read more
PhD Opportunity - Enhancing Plants’ Responses to Environmental Stress
'TO APPLY, PLEASE CLICK INSTITUTION WEBSITE'. Outline & aim. This project will discover how plants integrate light and temperature signals to respond to challenges induced by climate change. Read more
PhD Opportunity - Engineering stomatal patterning in plants for enhanced water use efficiency
'TO APPLY, PLEASE CLICK INSTITUTION WEBSITE'. Outline. Globally, agricultural fresh-water usage has increased 6-fold in the past 100 years, twice as fast as the human population, and is expected to double again before 2030, driven mainly by agriculture. Read more
PhD Opportunity - Understanding how phototropin blue light receptor kinase signal from the plant plasma membrane
'TO APPLY, PLEASE CLICK INSTITUTION WEBSITE'. Project description. The ability to enhance photosynthetic capacity remains a recognised bottleneck to improving plant productivity. Read more
PhD Opportunity - Synthetic biology for enhancing crop water use efficiency
'TO APPLY, PLEASE CLICK INSTITUTION WEBSITE'. Outline & aim. Stomata are pores that provide for gaseous exchange across the impermeable cuticle of leaves. Read more