University funded PhD Studentship in Mathematics: Bioenergy crops, climate and ecosystems in the UK

Location: Streatham Campus, University of Exeter, EX4 4QJ

Project Description:

Motivation

If human emissions of carbon dioxide continue unabated, climate change will have many detrimental effects on society. One method to remove CO2 from the atmosphere is bioenergy crops with carbon capture and storage, where carbon is removed from the power station emissions. This is an assumed method in most climate change scenarios that limit global warming to below 2C above preindustrial levels, but there is very little research on the earth system implications of such large-scale commitment to bioenergy crops.
We are developing a model to investigate impacts of large-scale bioenergy crops on food, water, energy, and climate. This project will take a UK focus: What are impacts of planting bioenergy crops in the UK on ecosystem services and the climate?

Project Strategy

There are two aims of the project: to determine impacts of climate on bioenergy crop production, and to determine the impacts of bioenergy crops on climate and ecosystems. The student will first assess the potential for production of biomass for energy generation under several scenarios of climate and land cover change in the UK. The student will also assess the impacts on ecosystem services (e.g. the provision of food and water, and storage of carbon on land) of the bioenergy crops in these simulations. Next the student will determine the impacts of land cover change to bioenergy crops on local climate, since changes in vegetation type can influence the overlying atmosphere.
The work will be done using the JULES land surface model, a process-based model being updated to include bioenergy crops and their harvest potential. Land-atmosphere interactions will be investigated using the UK Earth System Model (which includes JULES), the model used by the UK Met Office for future climate predictions. Prior experience with programming is not required but an aptitude to learn is.

Opportunities and Expectations

The student will be expected to present their findings at scientific conferences in the UK and abroad, and will have the opportunity to work with world-leading researchers around the UK. The student will be encouraged to think about the findings in a broad context and develop communication skills with those outside academia (e.g. UK farmers and policy makers). Funding will cover all University fees and travel for an appropriate number of conferences and workshops for career development. The student will be supervised by Dr Harper, who has a related EPSRC-funded fellowship “Negative emissions technologies and the food-energy-water nexus,” so the student will benefit from these networks.