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This fully funded PhD project is part of the QUARTILES Doctoral Landscape Award, a BBSRC and NERC-funded research and training programme designed to equip PhD students with the skills, expertise, outlook, and real-world experience needed to become the next generation of scientific leaders capable of addressing pressing environmental grand challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and sustainability.
Blanket bogs are a priority habitat for restoration and conservation management in Northern Ireland due to their distinct biodiversity and the range of ecosystem services they provide, not least water and carbon storage. Their present extent has largely been determined with the aid of aerial imagery, but the depths of the deposits and their differentiation from shallower heath has not yet been determined. Evaluation of their health and suitability for restoration is largely based on their present vegetation, but very little is known about the history of their inception, age, long-term development, pre-industrial characteristics, or response to past climate changes. Such data are critical for effective management and modelling of water capture and carbon storage.
Palaeoenvironmental analyses offer a means to establish baseline data for restoration and to determine what factors promoted blanket peat initiation and development in the past. Dating and characterisation of the peat can shed light on when and why peat began to form, what plant communities were supported historically, and the role of disturbances, including drainage, peat-cutting, land-use and fire, in contributing to the current condition of the bogs. Knowledge about the impacts of historical usage of blanket bogs can also inform public attitudes to peatland management.
This project will investigate blanket bogs in four regions of Northern Ireland (Antrim Plateau, Sperrin Mountains, Cuilcagh Mountain and the Mourne Mountains) with the aim of quantifying blanket peatland extent and its potential contribution to ecosystem services. Using current mapping, discrete zones will be selected in each region for field investigation, and remote sensing will be used to map the depth of peat and its relationship to underlying topography. A number of peat cores will be collected down to the soil/peat interface, and will be subject to dating, primarily using well-established tephra layers coupled, if necessary, with 14C dating. Loss-on-ignition analysis will allow the point of blanket peat initiation and bulk carbon content of the peat profile to be determined. The vegetation history of the peatlands will be constructed using plant macrofossil and palynology on selected cores from each region, including recording of micro- and macro-charcoal as a fire proxy and coprophilous fungal spores as a livestock grazing indicator. Raman spectroscopy of macro-charcoal fragments will be applied to determine changes in burning intensity through time. Testate amoebae analysis will be conducted to obtain a palaeohydroclimate record. With specific knowledge of peat extent, depth and composition, hydrological modelling will be performed to test the water storage capacity of the peat. Key research questions are:
1) Did a warmer and wetter Early to Mid-Holocene climate promote the initiation of peatland and what are the implications for future peatland recovery?
2) How have past climate changes influenced blanket bog vegetation, peat accumulation and carbon accumulation?
3) To what extent have historic and modern disturbances influenced the current status of the bogs?
4) What variables (e.g., peat depth, peat character, vegetation) promote greater water storage in blanket bogs?
The supervisory team will ensure that the student is trained in all necessary laboratory, analytical and modelling methods. Members of the supervisory team will accompany the student on initial fieldwork to train the student in field investigations, including coring and Ground Penetrating Radar, and will guide the student’s understanding of blanket peats from their respective fields of expertise in the study of past and present systems.
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ELIGIBILITY:
Students should have a background in Late Quaternary palaeoecology, physical geography, or a related field, with knowledge of at least some of the methodologies to be employed in this project. Candidates should have experience of working in a laboratory setting, including the use of microscopes. Experience of fieldwork, particularly relating to peatlands, is also desirable.
Promoting equality, diversity and inclusion is core to the QUARTILES Doctoral Landscape Award. We actively encourage applications from diverse career paths and backgrounds and across all sections of the community, regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation and transgender status, amongst other protected characteristics.
We also invite applications from those returning from a career break, industry or other roles. We typically require a minimum 2:1 in your first degree (or equivalent), but exceptions can be made where applicants can demonstrate excellence in alternative ways, including, but not limited to, performance in masters courses, professional placements, internships or employment – this will be considered on a case-by-case basis, and is dependent upon approval from the relevant host institution. We offer flexible study arrangements such as part-time study (minimum 50%), however this does depend on the nature of the project/research so will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
If you have any questions about your eligibility, please email us at quartiles-admissions@abdn.ac.uk
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APPLICATION PROCEDURE:
This 45 Month opportunity is open to UK and International students (The proportion of international students appointed to the QUARTILES DLA is capped at 30% by UKRI).
QUARTILES studentships include a tax-free UKRI doctoral stipend (estimated at £19,795 for the 2025/2026 academic year), plus a training grant of £9,000 to support data collection activities throughout the PhD.
QUARTILES does not provide funding to cover visa and associated healthcare surcharges for international students.
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