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Current PhD Positions:
High-resolution signatures of vegetational collapse and resilience in the Mesozoic – Apply here
Institution: The Natural History Museum, London, UK
Supervisor(s): Stephen Stukins; Richard Twitchett; Anthony Butcher
Description: The effect on and response of terrestrial flora during and after severe climatic events is still to be fully understood. Using palynological techniques, the project will investigate floral extinction and diversity patterns through key periods of climatic change during the Mesozoic. More information…
Deadline: January 20, 2025
Changing life and changing ocean in the Oligocene icehouse – Apply here
Institution: University College London, UK
Supervisor(s): Prof. Bridget Wade and Dr Susan Little
Description: The Paleogene was a time of dramatic change from the greenhouse climate of the Eocene to the icehouse of the Oligocene with turnover and extinction in marine plankton. Many previous studies have focused on Eocene, but the Oligocene (34 to 23 million years ago) has received relatively little attention. During the Oligocene the Antarctic ice sheet expanded and contracted considerably between times of very expansive ice sheets to intervals of relatively little ice. This project focuses on quantifying Oligocene marine changes in the context of temperature, diversity and the carbon cycle through the analysis of excellently preserved foraminifera from multiple sites. The project will build an accurate picture of how the Oligocene diversity and climate responded to the waxing and waning of the Antarctic ice sheet and provide the data to reconstruct thermal gradients between high and low latitudes. Analyses will be conducted in the refurbished Foram and Micropalaeontology laboratories at UCL. More information…
Deadline: January 20, 2025
UCL Earth Sciences Ph.D. scholarship – Apply here
Institution: University College London, UK
Supervisor(s): Prof. Paul Bown, Prof. Philip Mannion, Dr Stephen Pates, Prof. Paul Upchurch, Prof. Bridget Wade (contact: Dr. Maxim Ballmer)
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. Prospective students should contact one or more members of staff listed above before applying to discuss possible projects, with information on broad research areas here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/earth-sciences/research/research-groups/palaeontology More information…
Deadline: January 23, 2025
Trace fossils in Holocene marine sediments around Greenland – Apply here
Institution: Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University, Denmark
Supervisor(s): Associate Professor Christof Pearce, Assistant Professor Henrieka Detlef, Professor Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz
Description: The focus of the GreenTrace research project is on trace fossils in marine sediments around Greenland and their use as quantitative proxies in palaeoceanography. Trace fossils, or “footprints” that are left behind by benthic organisms such as bivalves or bristle worms moving along and digging below the ocean floor are imaged by computed tomography (CT) scanning of sediment cores. The GreenTrace project has access to more than 100 sediment core sections, from over 30 locations around Greenland. More information…
Deadline: February 1, 2025
Plio-Pleistocene paleoceanography of West Greenland using benthic foraminifera – Apply here
Institution: Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University, Denmark
Supervisor(s): Associate Professor Christof Pearce, Assistant Professor Henrieka Detlef, Professor Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz
Description: The Ph.D. project will focus on climate and ocean circulation in the Baffin Bay and Northwest Greenland region during the Pliocene and the subsequent Early Pleistocene cooling. The Pliocene (5.3-2.6 million years ago, Ma) represents a warm climate similar to that, which we may experience as early as the end of the century. The project aims to improve our understanding of the dynamics of Arctic climate change and effect on ecosystems, using the Pliocene and the subsequent Early Pleistocene glacial onset as analogues. More information…
Deadline: February 1, 2025