PhD in River Basin Processes and Management - Aquatic Ecosystems

University of Leeds

To complete a postgraduate research programme, you’ll need to be dedicated and passionate about your area of study. But it’ll be well worth it. Being a doctoral student is challenging, but incredibly rewarding. To do a PhD, you’ll usually need to dedicate 3 years full-time or 5 years part-time, during which you’ll be generating new knowledge and considering that new information in relation to existing information. You’ll carry out a programme of research under the supervision of a primary supervisor and one or more co-supervisors, have the chance to strengthen your research skills and knowledge and develop a really wide range of qualities. Whether you want to develop your career in industry or in academia, a PhD programme can help you to get where you want to be.Our group studies the response of ecological systems at the level of individual genes, individual organisms, populations, and communities, up to whole food webs and functional processes such as decomposition and whole-ecosystem metabolism. We have particular strengths in the ecology of freshwater invertebrates but also have expertise with algal communities, microbes (fungi, bacteria) and fish. Freshwaters are particularly diverse systems, containing a disproportionately high level of biodiversity compared with the area of Earth's surface covered by rivers, lakes and ponds. We study these groups because they are also disproportionately at risk of damage through land use change (such as agriculture, forestry or urbanisation) as well as extreme events (floods, droughts, wildfire) and ongoing climate change. Conversely, they can be used as indicators of the effects of stressors such as pollution, or to track recovery of ecosystems following interventions such as ecosystem restoration.