Intelligent Oceans – Leverhulme Trust Doctoral Scholarships

The Leverhulme Trust has awarded the Southampton Marine & Maritime Institute 15 doctoral scholarships under the theme of “Intelligent Oceans”. This will support 5 fully funded PhD scholarships starting in October 2021, with 5 more each year until 2023.

Intelligent Oceans Leverhulme Trust Doctoral Scholars (LTDS) will address how we could and should engage with the world’s oceans and seas. In 2016 the first UN World Ocean Assessment concluded that we are running out of time to generate sufficient knowledge and understanding to manage our oceans sustainably. The underlying principle of Intelligent Oceans is that generating knowledge and understanding to effect change, demands more than increased activity alone. It requires a concerted effort to transcend disciplinary boundaries – to redefine what relevant knowledge is, expanding our conceptions of what could be done, what should be done, and why? Intelligent Oceans targets critical issues facing society; from the cross-cutting impacts of coastal change, through the implications of increasing exploitation of the deep ocean, to the emergent complexities in managing and governing ocean space in the 21st Century. In so doing it challenges our points of engagement with these issues, placing methods and knowledge originating in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences on an equal footing to STEM subjects.

Intelligent Oceans adopts a ‘hub and spoke’ approach to PhD research and support. Six core themes (hubs) provide the basis for a series of connected projects (spokes). Each hub has a team of coordinating academics drawn from the Intelligent Oceans’ Board. All the hubs will share points of commonality through their collective focus on the ocean – relationships which will be strengthened through regular programme wide events. We will work with candidates to build a PhD that reflects their interests within a hub theme, drawing on supervisors from across a range of disciplines to accelerate progress.

Eligibility, Duration & Funding level

Preference will be given to ‘home fee-rated’ applicants, but EU and International students may also apply. Funding is available for up to 4 years, with a stipend offered to match current UKRI levels (~£15,285 per year for Oct 2021), access will be given to a generous research support fund and bespoke development opportunities.

Deadlines

The deadline for expressions of interests is 10^th February 2023. However, you may get in touch at anytime to discuss a possible project.

Selection Process

More information on the application and selection process is available here.

Contact

If you have any questions about the scheme, please feel free to email (F.Sturt@soton.ac.uk) or contact one of the board members.