Institution: University of Bristol
Supervisor(s):
Lead Supervisor: Davide Pisani, University of Bristol, Biological Sciences and Earth Sciences
Co-Supervisor: Phil Donoghue, University of Bristol, School of Earth Sciences
Co-Supervisor: Xiaoya Ma, University of Exeter, Biosciences
Funding Status: Funding is in competition with other projects and students
Description: Sponges (Phylum Porifera) emerged close to the root of the animal tree and most early animal fossils is represented by sponges. However, these fossils are often poorly preserved and fragmentary, and most of them have only been tentatively classified (see Botting and Muir 2018 for a comprehensive review). However, the recent study of Wang et al. (2024), showed that early sponge fossils can be included in comprehensive phylogenetic datasets. This project proposes to reassess the sponge fossil record and use modern approaches based on the combination of molecular (Rossi et al. More information...
Expiry Date: Monday, January 13, 2025
Institution: Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London
Supervisor(s): Dr Clare Duncan (Institute of Zoology), Prof. Sam Turvey (Institute of Zoology), Prof. Philip Mannion (University College London)
Funding Status: Funding is in competition with other projects and students
Description: Islands have undergone extensive Holocene biodiversity loss associated with human migrations, with extinction dynamics shaped by interactions between species traits and the form and intensity of regional anthropogenic pressures. The Caribbean, Philippines and Madagascar tropical biodiversity hotspots have experienced particularly complex patterns of loss, retaining high endemism and specialism but dramatically altered ecosystem composition. More information...
Expiry Date: Friday, January 31, 2025
Institution: University College London
Supervisor(s): Prof. Philip Mannion, Prof. Paul Upchurch (University College London [UCL])
Funding Status: Funding is in competition with other projects and students
Description: Alligators and caimans are remnants of a diverse crocodylian radiation known as alligatoroids. These first appeared in the Late Cretaceous of North America, expanding into Asia, Europe, and South America. Our understanding of their biogeographic history is obscured by uncertainty in reconstructions of their evolutionary relationships. It is difficult to reconcile their distribution without allowing for transoceanic dispersal, yet living species are salt intolerant. More information...
Expiry Date: Friday, January 31, 2025
Institution: University College London
Supervisor(s): Prof. Paul Bown, Prof. Philip Mannion, Dr Stephen Pates, Prof. Paul Upchurch, Prof. Bridget Wade, Department of Earth Sciences, UCL
Funding Status: Funding is in competition with other projects and students
Description: This is a fully funded 4 year PhD scholarship open to ethnic groups underrepresented in Earth Sciences that have UK/home fees status. The topic can be anything that falls under the remit of Earth Sciences and that fits with the research of academic staff in the department. Palaeontology in the department is wide-ranging, spanning vertebrate palaeontology, invertebrate palaeontology, and micropalaeontology, with five members of academic staff eligible as primary supervisors. More information...
Expiry Date: Saturday, February 1, 2025
Institution: Durham University
Supervisor(s): Andrew Millard (Durham University)
Dr Laura Burrel Garcia (British Geological Survey)
Dr Martin Smith (Durham University)
Dr Kilian Eichenseer (Durham University)
Funding Status: Funding is in competition with other projects and students
Description: Understanding subsurface geology underpins the UK’s green energy transition by enabling technologies such as geothermal energy, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen containment, and the safe storage of nuclear waste. Our understanding of subterranean geological structure draws on geophysical, chemical and sedimentological data obtained from individual boreholes. Correlating geological formations between these boreholes traditionally uses visual methods. This subjective approach can struggle to integrate diverse datasets, and to quantify uncertainties. More information...
Expiry Date: Thursday, February 20, 2025
Institution: Durham University
Supervisor(s): Dr Martin R. Smith (Durham University), Dr Catherine Rose (University of St Andrews), Dr Andrew Millard (Durham University), Dr Kilian Eichenseer (Durham University)
Funding Status: Funding is in competition with other projects and students
Description: The Ediacaran–Cambrian transition saw the evolutionary appearance of complex macroscopic life and animal-dominated ecosystems. Yet, basic questions on the timing and sequence of evolutionary events during that period remain unresolved, due to the challenge of correlating a geological record that straddles multiple continents. Signatures of ocean chemistry, such as stable carbon isotopes (δ13C), in principle allow for the correlation of fossil-bearing sedimentary sections from different locations. More information...
Expiry Date: Thursday, February 20, 2025
Institution: University of Manitoba
Supervisor(s): Dr. Ricardo Silva, University of Manitoba
Dr. Joe Moysiuk, Manitoba Museum
Funding Status: Funding is in place for this project
Description: Small Carbonaceous Fossils (SCFs) have proven to be a key source of information about the early evolution of soft-bodied animals, complementing the macroscopic fossil record, and have yielded unique insights about groups otherwise absent from the fossil record. This project will contribute important new information about SCF diversity during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification, which has been the focus of relatively few prior studies. More information...
Expiry Date: Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Institution: University of Leeds
Supervisor(s): Prof Natasha Barlow (University of Leeds) and Prof Clare Woulds (University of Leeds)
Funding Status: Funding is in competition with other projects and students
Description: Shallow marine sediments play a vital role in regulating climate change by accumulating and burying carbon for up to millions of years – if left undisturbed. However, fundamental uncertainties remain as too the amount of carbon buried deeper (>10 cm) below the seabed and what happens if it is disturbed. The seabed is being developed for renewable energy and communication at an exponential rate, which may threaten these previously unaccounted for deeper marine carbon stores, risking carbon loss and transformation into greenhouse gases. More information...
Expiry Date: Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Institution: University of Leeds
Supervisor(s): Prof Simon Poulton (University of Leeds) and Prof Benjamin Mills (University of Leeds)
Funding Status: Funding is in competition with other projects and students
Description: The rise of oxygen on the early Earth has been recognised as one of the most significant episodes in the history of our planet, and this initial rise set in motion a prolonged chain of events that ultimately resulted in the habitable conditions we now enjoy. In recent years, the topic of early Earth oxygenation has received a huge amount of attention, and almost without exception, traditional views on the timing, causes and consequences of oxygenation have been shown to be incorrect (e.g., Krause et al., 2018; Alcott et al., 2019). More information...
Expiry Date: Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Institution: University of Leeds
Supervisor(s):
Prof Crispin Little (University of Leeds), Prof Fiona Gill (University of Leeds), Dr Steffen Kiel (Swedish Museum of Natural History), Dr Stephen Hunter (University of Leeds)
Funding Status: Funding is in competition with other projects and students
Description: Methane seeps are discrete sites where fluids rich in methane flow onto the seafloor. Only discovered in 1984, they are now known in all the World’s oceans. Methane seeps support extraordinary biological communities (Figure 1), the workings of which have radically altered our view of the life in the deep sea. This is because the primary energy source for these ecosystems comes not directly from the sun, but instead from sub-surface chemical compounds, particularly methane and hydrogen sulphide. More information...
Expiry Date: Wednesday, April 30, 2025
