Dr T Baisden
Applications accepted all year round
About the Project
The development of human civilisation over the past 10,000 has benefited from the most stable climate observable in the geological record. Growing evidence suggests that climate change impacts are already observable and will accelerate in the future, potentially combining with other global change factors to push ecosystems and agriculture toward “tipping points”.
This PhD project will develop and assess data science techniques to detect tipping points and regime shifts using algorithms, such as Fisher information, applied to diverse time-series and spatial data. Emphasis will be placed on identifying overlapping cascades of tipping points that should be considered for dynamic policy and management scenarios.
The project will be part of Te Pūnaha Matatini (TPM), which is the New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence for Complex Systems, Data and Networks and will be co-supervised by TPM investigators with environmental, economic and mathematics backgrounds. Student background and interest could determine some directions for the project, which will be located at either the University of Auckland or the University of Waikato.
Eligibility
Applicants should have a first-class or high second-class Honours or Masters level qualification in a relevant scientific and quantitative discipline, and ideally some experience with ecological, agricultural, or economic datasets. Interest and exposure to policy, management or operations research is also desirable.
Total value
The three-year scholarship covers PhD tuition fees (for a domestic or international student) and a stipend of NZ$27,300 per annum.
How to apply
For more information contact and to apply, please contact:
Dr Troy Baisden
Professor and BOPRC Chair in Lake and Freshwater Science
University of Waikato
[Email Address Removed]