E5 Global monitoring models for marine mammal strandings: Creating surveillance intelligence systems for marine mammal strandings management

Start date: October 2025

Duration: 3.5 YEARS

Stipend: UKRI stipend levels (£19,237 in 2024/25)

Supervisors: Dr Jude Eze (SRUC), Dr Annette Boerlage (SRUC), Dr Sarah Marley (SRUC), Dr Giles Innocent (Biomathematics & Statistics Scotland)

Location: Edinburgh

Closing date for applications: 6 January 2025

Description: The project will develop and apply novel statistical approaches to address cetacean movement based on global marine mammal stranding data, satellite information, and anthropomorphic activity data, such as shipping or fishing activities. It will not only take advantage of these large datasets but also provide novel techniques in handling, analysing and presenting such information that could be more broadly applied to disease outbreaks through to distribution and conservation of endangered species, facilitate surveillance and provide early warning systems. 

The global industrialisation of the oceans through fishing, shipping of goods and the development of offshore renewable energy production has undoubtedly had impact on marine ecosystems. This project would not only enable the identification of the correlation of such activities with marine mammal strandings but also provide an opportunity to develop a risk assessment approach that could be used to inform conservation efforts and policies surrounding the utility of certain locations with high population densities of marine mammals. Several local communities in Scotland and internationally depend on ecotourism based on marine life as a crucial part of their economy. 

Finally, the project fits within the Centre for Global Climate Emergency as the project allows us to directly assess the correlation between marine mammal strandings and those coastal areas which are directly affected by climate change. Some data available will allow for time series analyses to be undertaken to assess the impact of global sea temperatures changing and its impact on coastal populations of marine mammals.

The project will focus on achieving the following objectives:

1. Collate strandings data from existing databases in multiple countries, undertake quality review.
2. Assess methodologies and identify most appropriate modelling approach for development of spatiotemporal models to predict and map the distribution of strandings.
3. Assess the ecological, environmental and anthropogenic drivers of regional and global strandings
4. Working with stakeholders, focus groups and marine mammal researchers, to evaluate and validate model parameters, predictions and maps.
5. Co-develop with mammal researchers and other stakeholders, data pipelines and automated dashboards.

Eligibility:

For entry to PhD study, applicants are expected to have at least one of the following:

• an undergraduate degree, usually with first or upper second (2:1) class honours or equivalent in a relevant subject, or

• a relevant master’s qualification or equivalent evidence of prior professional practice.

International applicants and candidates from non-English speaking countries will need to meet the minimum language requirements for admission onto the programme of study. These can be found in the Entry Requirements section of the PhD in Agriculture, Rural and Environmental Studies webpage

Application Process:

To apply for an SRUC PhD studentship, please follow the guidance below. The SRUC Doctoral College can provide you with support for your application.

Informal enquiries about the project and your application should be addressed to the project supervisor, Dr Jude Eze – [Email Address Removed]  

Applications are to be submitted via the University of Edinburgh application portal: https://e4-dtp.ed.ac.uk/e5-dtp/supervisor-led-projects/project?item=1737. Applicants are asked to read the full project description before applying.

If you require any additional assistance in submitting your application or have any queries about the application process, please don't hesitate to contact us at [Email Address Removed]