Walsh PhD Fellowship: Investigating the impact of social and cultural factors, as well as political and economic, on the adoption of land use/management conducive to ecosystem service provision in a post-Brexit era.

Number of awards:
1

Start date and duration:
September 2017 for a full-time 4 year PhD.

Overview:
This PhD fellowship focuses specifically on changes to agricultural land use and ecosystem service provision as a result of potential changes in policy and market conditions transpiring from the UK’s Brexit decision. The project will investigate the impact of social and cultural factors, as well as political and economic, on the adoption of land use/management conducive to ecosystem service provision in a post-Brexit era.

The PhD fellowship will involve periods of fieldwork conducted out of Newcastle, AFBI (Belfast) and Teagasc (Athenry), and participation in seminars across all three institutions.

For full details please see the project synopsis. http://www.ncl.ac.uk/gps/about/funding/schoolfunding/#phdscholarships

Sponsor:
Walsh PhD Fellowship funded by Teagasc, with Newcastle University and AFBI (Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute)

Name of supervisor(s):
Dr Ruth McAreavey, Newcastle University (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/)
Dr Erin Sherry, Agri Food and Biosciences Institute https://www.afbini.gov.uk/
Trevor Donellan, Teagasc (https://www.teagasc.ie/)

Eligibility Criteria

Postgraduates applying for a PhD Fellowship must have a first or upper second-class honours primary degree or equivalent, in a social science (e.g. sociology, economics or geography). The postgraduate degree should include a significant research component, or the applicant should have some research experience. A Masters degree may be considered to take precedence over the results of the primary degree. This award is available to UK/EU and international candidates. If your first language is not English you need an overall IELTS score of 7.0 (with at least 6.5 in all sub-skills).

How to apply:
You must apply through the University’s online postgraduate application system. To do this please ‘Create a new account’ (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate/apply/) and follow instructions carefully. You will need to:

insert programme code 8200F in the ‘programme of study’ section
select ‘PhD School of Geography, Politics and Sociology (full time) and the ‘Research Area’ Sociology and Social Policy
insert the PhD fellowship reference code GTEA1 in the studentship/partnership reference field.

Your application must include the following attachments:

Current CV
A cover letter (max 2 pages A4), detailing the title of the PhD fellowship, the studentship reference code GTEA01, your reasons for applying for a PhD and how your interests and experience relate to the project
Two references, where possible not from your prospective supervisor(s)
Transcripts and certificates of your previous qualifications obtained to date
If English is not your first language, a copy of your English language qualification
Statement of intended research direction (max 2 pages A4).