Postgraduate Research Opportunities
Join a community of more than 300 PhD and 300 Masters students studying across our three departments – stirring up academic debate, publishing important new findings, and working with industry on projects, placements and as part of large-scale collaborative research partnerships.
The latest Research Excellence Framework (2014) places us 1st in the UK for the quantity of world-leading research. We offer a wide range of environmental research themes providing you with an ideal platform for multidisciplinary research.
As you might expect with our reputation as a world-class University, students from all over the UK and across the globe choose to study with us. We look forward to welcoming you to our culturally diverse and friendly community.
School of Earth and Environment
Earth Surface Science Institute
• Environmental geochemistry
• Reconstructions of past environments
• Biological evolution and extinction through Earth history
• Palaeoclimate and biochemical modelling
• Experimental, isotope and organic chemistry
• Water and land quality
Institute of Applied Geoscience
• Applied Geophysics
• Basin Structure Group
• Geomechanics, Engineering and Petrophysics
• Minerals and Ore Geology
• Sedimentology
Institute of Geophysics and Tectonics
• Geodynamics
• Structural Geology
• Geomagnetism
• Geodesy
• Seismology
• Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology
• Isotope Geochemistry
• Hydrothermal Processes
• Volcanology
Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science
• Physical climate change
• Climate impacts
• Biosphere processes
• Polar Earth Observation
• Palaeoclimate
• Thunderstorms and precipitation
• Weather systems
• Mountain weather and climate
• Dust storms
• Air-sea interaction
• Atmospheric chemistry
• Aerosols and climate
• Aerosols and clouds
• Ice nucleation
Sustainability Research Institute
• Economics and Policy for Sustainability
• Environment and Development
• Social and Political Dimensions of Sustainability
• Business and Organisations for Sustainable Societies Group
• Energy and Climate Change Mitigation
School of Geography
Centre for Spatial Analysis and Policy
• Implications of population ageing
• Future cities in a post-carbon energy era
• Future health services in a world where more people will suffer from poor morbidity in old age and as illnesses such as obesity, diabetes and cancers make their mark
• Reducing income inequalities, differences in educational attainment and crime
• Protecting future supplies of basic services such as water, energy, health etc.
• How retailers can plan effectively given future multi-channel distribution systems
• The impacts of a 'big data' age on how we organise cities
Cities and Social Justice
• Understanding and challenging the neoliberal city
• Everyday practices, public space and consumption in the city
• Cities, climate change and sustainable urban futures
• Activism and social movements in the city
• Scholar-activism and participatory action research
Citizenship and Belonging
• Social identities and difference
• Transnational society, diaspora and citizenship
• Citizenship, multiculturalism, and cosmopolitanism
• Human rights, equalities, and legal geographies
• Innovative methodologies for understanding citizenship and belonging
Ecology and Global Change
• Ecosystems and evolution
• Palaeoecology, palaeoclimate and chronostratigraphy
• Biogeochemical cycles
• Global environmental science
River Basin Processes and Management
• Hydrology and hydraulics
• Geomorphology
• Biogeochemistry
• Aquatic ecosystems
• Glaciology
The Institute for Transport Studies
Economics and Discrete Choice
• Transport demand modelling, covering both passenger and freight
• Non-market valuation of qualitative aspects of transport systems and services
• Economic appraisal of transport investments and policy interventions
• Econometric modelling of transport costs and efficiency
• Regulation, pricing and incentives
Sustainable Transport Policy
• Active travel
• Climate change, transition to decarbonisation and low carbon futures
• Economic appraisal and evaluation
• Energy and energy security
• Health, travel and population change
• Resilience in transport and mobility
• Social media, social innovation and mobilities
• Travel behaviour and social inequalities
Spatial Modelling and Dynamics
• Modelling and valuing reliability and punctuality
• Traffic flow theory and real-time traffic management
• Dynamic modelling: micro-simulation to system dynamics
• Visioning transport futures
• Optimal design and pricing
Safety and Technology
• Human factors and highly automated driving
• Impairment and driving performance
• Transport and environment