Ecology and environmental management PhD

As a PhD student in Ecology and environmental management at the University of Brighton, you will join a team of experts whose research informs real world change locally, nationally and globally.

Our interests feed the university's research Centre for Aquatic Environments, one of the university’s Centres of Research and Enterprise Excellence (COREs), and the Environment and Public Health Research Excellence Group (REG), offering opportunities for supervision across a wide range of interdisciplinary approaches to ecology, environment, sustainability and environmental pollution.

From investigating interactions between large mammals and human populations, to developing new remote sensing approaches to assess global forest biomass, our ecology and environmental management staff and PhD students are at the forefront of global research challenges. We are also working to identify the impacts of climate change and invasive species on global wetlands, and assessing the factors that influence the spread of zoonotic disease.

The majority of our work has real-world application. Data generated by researchers in our Centre for Aquatic Environments is being used, for example, to assess the impact of run-of-river hydroelectric schemes on freshwater ecosystems, and to develop suitable conservation strategies for the protection and reintroduction of water voles across the UK.

Our Ecology and environmental management PhD students have gone on to a variety of different roles following the successful completion of their research. These include academic posts as lecturers and postdoctoral research assistants at Brighton and elsewhere, plus research roles in, for example, the conservation and water industries. Many have gone on to management positions in related areas such as environmental consultancy.

Apply to 'environment' in the applicant portal

Key information

As an Ecology and environmental management PhD student at Brighton, you will

benefit from a supervisory team comprising two or three members of academic staff. Depending on your research specialism you may also have an additional supervisor from another school, another research institution, or an external partner from government or industry.
be provided with desk space and access to a desktop PC, either in one of the postgraduate offices on the 6^th floor of the award-winning Cockcroft Building, or within the adjacent Huxley Building.
benefit from access to a range of electronic resources via the University’s Online Library, as well as to the physical book and journal collections housed within the Aldrich Library and other campus libraries.
be able to use various state-of-the-art research facilities on the Moulsecoomb site, including specialist microbial and water quality laboratories, hydraulic flumes, an experimental river basin, a water efficiency laboratory, geochemical and geotechnical laboratories, microscopy laboratories (optical and scanning electron microscopes), molecular ecology laboratories, ecology laboratory and greenhouses, as well as a large array of field equipment, including state-of-the art drones. All of these facilities are supported by a team of dedicated laboratory and workshop technicians.

Academic environment

Research in ecology and environment draws in particular on the close collaborative relationship between staff across the School of Applied Sciences, relationships that bolster collaborative practice and revelatory interdisciplinarity. PhDs with a focus on aquatic ecologies will join our centre for research excellence, the Centre for Earth Observation Science, which provides an active network of research expertise with connections across the globe.

Based on the university’s Moulsecoomb Campus the School of Applied Sciences addresses key environmental and resource issues, and delivers translational research with local, regional and international benefits. Staff expertise relevant to ecology and environmental management spans a range of disciplines, including archaeology, biology, ecology, environmental genetics, environmental science, human and physical geography, and geology.

PhD students take an active role in a range of intellectual and social activities within the school. All postgraduate students working on ecology and environmental management topics are integrated into one or more of our Centres for Research and Enterprise Excellence or our Research and Enterprise Groups, which provide you with opportunities to present ‘work in progress’ and network with other researchers.

We provide PhD students with opportunities to work across the spectrum of ecology and environmental management, including research which straddles traditional disciplinary boundaries into, for example, remote sensing and geographical information systems (GIS). We believe that this interdisciplinary focus provides our students with an appreciation of real-world problems, and ensures that they are highly employable.

The Brighton Doctoral College offer a training programme for postgraduate researchers, covering research methods and transferable (including employability) skills. Attendance at appropriate modules within this programme is encouraged, as is contribution to the Schools’ various seminar series. Academic and technical staff also provide more subject-specific training.

Researchers within the School of Applied Sciences are engaged in work across a wide range of topic areas, and thus your PhD research could pursue interests in almost any area of ecology and environmental management. Areas in which we are particularly interested in supervising include:

Human impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity, including climate change and invasive species
Management of freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems
Marine, freshwater and wetland ecosystems
Microbiology and zoonotic disease
Molecular ecology and conservation biology
Species ecology, interactions and behaviour
Applications of remote sensing and GIS for disease movement, landscape/environmental management and modelling
Air quality management
Community engagement and training
Waste management
Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)

Some of our supervisors

Dr Matthew Adams

Matt supervises PhD students addressing a range of topics including human-animal relations, more-than-human and multispecies methods, Anthropocene studies, the posthumanities, psychology and the climate crisis, climate activism, mental health and distress, social and cultural identity.

He is especially interested in supervising students adopting qualitative and creative methods. Interdisciplinary projects are especially welcome.

Dr Maureen Berg

I am keen to supervise projects that examine the effects of management and changing abiotic and biotic conditions on plant community, functional traits, physiology and multitrophic diversity. I am keen to use a range of novel approaches such as genomics, remote sensing, drones and red edge sensor camera. Projects that I have supervised include

Extreme climate events and floodplain grassland plant communities: linking resilience to functional diversity (PhD)
Understanding the demographics and genetic patterns of water voles in human modified landscapes (PhD)
Influence of the distribution of green urban spaces on the cooling effect (MRes)

Dr Heidi Burgess

For both MRes and PhD, I am particularly interested in supervising projects in the area of intertidal, estuarine and riverine water / sediment interaction and climate. Examples of applications could include:

Quantifying the impact that different types of Nature Based Solutions have on Riverine Flood Management.
The impact that drainage systems have on the development of Managed Realignment sites and the colonisation by intertidal flora.
How mycelium develops in newly inundated intertidal wetlands.
Furthering the understanding into the processes of how terrestrial soil transforms into intertidal sediment when inundated by saline water.
The impact of Coastal Managed and Managed Realignment design has on fish habitats and how engineering could be used to increase habitat suitability, impacting positively on fish stocks. (see: - MR Fish Geomorphology (ICECM 2019) (brighton.ac.uk))
The impact of changing weather patterns on intertidal environments.
Projects related to the CHASM project , particularly the sediment and hydro elements.

Along with any project which brings together the following elements: Natural Flood Management, habitat creation, eco-system services, impact of sea-level rise and impact on health and wellbeing.

Dr Neil Crooks

I am keen to supervise projects that examine any aspect of anthropogenic impact on the physiology, morphology and behaviour of aquatic organisms. Be that chemical or physical pollutants or barriers to migration. I am especially interested in the fisheries management aspects of this and how best to consider mitigation. Projects I have supervised are varied and range from behavioural observations of captive fish species, to microplastic ingestion of the mussel (Mytilus edulis) and the velvet swimming crab (Necora puber). In addition I am interested in aspects of aquaculture and how best to improve the sustainability of feeds. I also have an interest in the welfare of cultured individuals and how to improve habitats whilst being reared.

Example projects that I supervise include the following:

Microplastic pollution within Chichester Harbour (MRes)

Selective breeding of marine copepods (MRes)

Trophic transfer of microplastics in marine invertebrates (MRes).

Does watercress farming impact fish communities (PhD)

The impacts of sewage treatment effluents on the river shrimp Gammarus pulex (PhD).

The effects of simvastatin on the development and behaviour of early life stages of Danio rerio (Undergraduate)

Microplastic ingestion of marine copepods (Undergraduate)

The presence of microplastic fibres in the stomach of the Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus) (Undergraduate)

The effects of titanium dioxide and zinc oxide on fish development and behaviour (Undergraduate).

The influence of aquarium visitors on captive elasmobranchs (Undergraduate).

Sexual dimorphism of the integument of sharks (Undergraduate).

Prof James Ebdon

To date I have overseen the supervision, career development and successful completion of 12 doctoral students from the UK, Italy, Portugal, Cameroon, Nigeria, Brazil and India. These PhD's have covered a range of topics such as 'Bacteriophages as Surrogates of Viral Pathogens in Wastewater Treatment Systems (Dias 2016)', Ecological Characteristics of the Enterococcal Surface Protein (esp) gene with reference to microbial source tracking (Yaliwal 2014); Low-cost physico-chemical disinfection of human excreta in emergency settings (Sozzi 2015); Bacteriophages as Indicators of Human Enteric Viruses in Mussels (Da Silva 2013); and UV Radiation Response of Bacteriophages of Human-specific Bacteroides (Diston, 2010) .

I am currently supervising a water industry-funded PhD student who is using cutting-edge source apportionment approaches to investigate drivers of pollution in Chichester, Langstone and Pagham harbours (S. England) and have just finished supervising a PhD on Pollution, plastics and plumes; understanding the behaviour of microplastics in aquatic sediments of the R. Thames catchment.

I'm keen to supervise postgraduate research (MRes/MPhil/PhDs) in the following areas: development and application of low-cost and/or rapid water quality monitoring tools; behaviour of micro-contaminants (particularly viruses) within the environment and impacts on human health; understanding environmental interactions of emerging contaminants; water and sanitation within low-income and/or emergency settings.

According to French Physiologist Claude Bernard - "The science of life is a superb and dazzlingly lighted hall which may be reached only by passing through a long and ghastly kitchen." Anyone who has undertaken a doctoral degree is likely to agree with this analogy (at least at some point during their journey). As a PhD supervisor, I see my role as someone who can potentially make the kitchen a little less ghastly, or the journey slightly less arduous. I strive to provide a highly connected, supportive, nurturing international research environment with the Environment and Public Health Research and Enterprise Group.

I am currently supervising a further 3 PhD candidates. My PhD students have originated from an equally diverse range of disciplines including Fisheries Engineering, Environmental Science, Biology, Biomolecular Science, Microbiology, Ecology, Environmental Management, Mathematics and have worked for NGO’s in Haiti (MSF), on Gates Foundation-funded research in India, on US AID-funded research into safe excreta disposal in emergencies (Cholera and Ebola treatment centres), led MRC-funded projects in Kenya, founded research groups in Brazil, and managed prestigious research laboratories in the US.

All have gone on to forge careers within the burgeoning field of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and or microbiology, either via academia, or industry. The sustained success of our thriving research group stems from a blend of enthusiasm for the wider subject area and from a long-held desire to break down barriers, to ensure that epidemiologists mix with engineers, and microbiologists work with modellers. This has been achieved by exchanging PhD students (and Early Career Researchers) with trusted and established international project collaborators within the public, private and voluntary sectors.

I also maintain a rolling programme of group activities, training initiatives and social events for new arrivals into the group, which is increasingly populated by previous PhD students who are even better placed to support the career aspirations of our current and future Doctoral students. With unsafe water supply and sanitation responsible for an estimated 842,000 deaths per year, the WASH sector continues to face significant challenges, which are only likely to be met through interdisciplinary, cross-border collaboration by a new generation of WASH-focussed researchers, capable of confidently sharing ideas across a range scientific domains and via an increasingly complex network of stakeholders and end-users. I hope that as my students continue to emerge into the ‘dazzlingly lighted hall’ they are as well-rounded and well-placed as possible to meet this challenge.

Prof Rebecca Elmhirst

I am currently supervising four PhD students, two of whom are part of a H2020 Marie Curie Sklodowska Innovative Training Network. I am interested in supervising MRes and doctoral projects relating to (feminist) political ecology, and in particular, projects that relate to social and environmental justice, climate and agrarian resource extractivism, decolonial thinking and critical approaches to sustainable development.

Dr Sarah Purnell

I am interested in supervising postgraduate research students (MRes and PhD) in the field of water quality assessment and management, with a focus on catchment management, risk assessment, microbial source tracking and apportionment, pathogen transport and survival, pathogen removal efficiency in water and wastewater treatment, water quality mapping and modelling and regulation. Examples of projects i am currently supervising include;

Bioaccumulation and synergistic effects of chronic pesticide pollution on aquatic organisms – impact on the community structure

Development and optimisation of a pollutant source apportionment approach, utilising cutting-edge source tracking tools

Investigating the causes of environmental degradation in coastal ecosystems and evaluating restoration potential

Containing, characterising, catchment contaminants – Reducing risk at drinking water reservoirs

Developing a rapid assessment tool for salt marsh restoration based upon the integration of in-situ and remote sensing data using machine learning algorithms

Evaluation of Sussex kelps potential for carbon sequestration

Dr Rachel White

Happy to supervise field, questionnaire, and desk-based projects. Passionate about avian ecology and conservation science, human-nature interactions, urban ecology, and patterns and drivers of extinction risk.

Dr Inga Zeisset

I am happy to supervise projects in the area of molecular ecology as well as amphibian ecology and conservation. I am particularly interested in phylogeography and species distribution, invasive species and the application of eDNA methods to conservation.

For further supervisory staff including cross-disciplinary options, please visit research staff on our research website.

Making an application

Once you have prepared a first-rate application you can apply to the University of Brighton through our online application portal. When you do, you will require a research proposal, references, a personal statement and a record of your education.

You will be asked whether you have discussed your research proposal and your suitability for doctoral study with a member of the University of Brighton staff. We strongly recommend that all applications are made with the collaboration of at least one potential supervisor. Approaches to potential supervisors can be made directly through the details available online. If you are unsure, please do contact the Doctoral College for advice.

Please visit our How to apply for a PhD page for detailed information.

Fees and funding

Funding

Undertaking research study will require university fees as well as support for your research activities and plans for subsistence during full or part-time study.

Funding sources include self-funding, funding by an employer or industrial partners; there are competitive funding opportunities available in most disciplines through, for example, our own university studentships or national (UK) research councils. International students may have options from either their home-based research funding organisations or may be eligible for some UK funds.

Learn more about the funding opportunities available to you.

Tuition fees academic year 2024–25

Standard fees are listed below, but may vary depending on subject area. Some subject areas may charge bench fees/consumables; this will be decided as part of any offer made. Fees for UK and international/EU students on full-time and part-time courses are likely to incur a small inflation rise each year of a research programme.

MPhil/PhD
	Full-time	Part-time
UK	£4,786	£2,393
International (including EU)	£15,900	N/A
International students registered in the School of Humanities and Social Science or in the School of Business and Law	£14,500	N/A

PhD by Publication
Full-time	Part-time
N/A	£2,393

Contact Brighton Doctoral College

To contact the Doctoral College at the University of Brighton we request an email in the first instance. Please visit our contact the Brighton Doctoral College page.

For supervisory contact, please see individual profile pages.