NERC Doctoral Training Partnerships
Discover more about PhD opportunities with British Antarctic Survey.
Student Training and PhD Opportunities
There are currently over 100 PhD students associated with our organisation and nearly half of these students work full time at our offices and labs in Cambridge. Students have full access to our state of the art research facilities and some have the opportunity to carry out research in the polar regions. We strongly encourage the pursuit of interdisciplinary projects, and there is the opportunity to work with teams at the forefront of global change and exploration science in both polar regions.
Here are the BAS projects within our Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTP) and Centres for Doctoral Training (CDT) partners for 2021. Each DTP and CDT has a separate application process, and this is usually through the university at which the project is linked. Please read and follow the instructions carefully before applying to ensure your application can be fully considered.
Our projects are in partnership with NERC Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs) and UKRI Centres for Doctoral Training (CDT)s. More information can be found on their websites – C-CLEAR, ARIES, INSPIRE, IAPETUS, GW4+, AI4ER, SENSE
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion – We are fully committed to the UKRI EDI principles and policies. We strive to recruit and support a diverse and inclusive cohort of students.
Eligibility: UK students will be eligible for a full NERC studentship. More information is available in the UKRI Training Grant Guide. A full studentship will include the cost of fees, stipend, and research funding allowance.
UKRI have confirmed that international students (EU and non-EU) were eligible for all Research Council-funded postgraduate studentships from the start of 2021/2022 academic year. There will be a limited number of international studentships available. Further information for international studentships is available on each DTP and CDT website.
C-CLEAR
How to apply: Applicants should follow the process on the C-CLEAR website
Application Deadline: 5th January 2023 at 12pm (Applications Closed)
CE402: Unlocking the fingerprint of air-snow-ice exchange of reactive bromine and nitrogen at the poles
Supervisors:
Xin Yang (Lead supervisor) (BAS), Rachael Rhodes (Earth Sciences)
CE415: The impact of polar stratospheric clouds when modelling the future recovery of the polar ozone layer
Supervisors:
Andrew Orr (Lead supervisor) (BAS), Rachael Rhodes (Earth Sciences)
CE421: Ice nucleating particles from blizzards above sea ice – magnitude and climate impacts of a potential particle source in a warming world
Supervisors:
Markus Frey (Lead supervisor) (BAS), Rachael Rhodes (Department of Earth Sciences)
CE413: Reconstructing Arctic Ocean and Nordic Sea Circulation During Ice Sheet Melting Events
Supervisors:
Alexander Piotrowski (Lead supervisor) (Earth Sciences), Kate Hendry (BAS)
CE427: Water flow and bed evolution beneath ice sheets during deglaciation
Supervisors:
Neil Arnold, (Lead supervisor) (Scott Polar Research Institute), Kelly Hogan (BAS)
CE403: What are the atmospheric drivers of melt on George VI Ice Shelf, Antarctica?
Supervisors:
Ian Willis (Lead supervisor) (Scott Polar Research Institute), Amelie Kirchgaessner (BAS)
CE408: Ocean frontal dynamics
Supervisors:
John Taylor (Lead supervisor) (DAMTP), Dave Munday (BAS)
CE420: Lifting the veil on past changes in the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere
Supervisors:
Chiara Giorio (Lead supervisor) (Department of Chemistry), Liz Thomas (BAS)
CE410: A marine radiocarbon inventory for the last 40ka to constrain the drivers of carbon cycle change
Supervisors:
Luke Skinner (Lead supervisor) (Earth Sciences), Thomas Bauska (BAS)
BC411: Baleen whale monitoring with massive new seafloor datasets and AI
Supervisors:
Sergei Lebedev (Lead supervisor) (Earth Sciences), Jen Jackson (BAS)
IAPETUS
How to apply: Applicants should follow the process on the IAPETUS2 website
Application Deadline: 6th January 2023 at 12pm (Applications Closed)
IAP2-22-340: The Shackleton Range of East Antarctica: unravelling a complex geological history via an integrated geochronological, geochemical and geophysical approach
Supervisors:
Teal Riley (Lead supervisor) (BAS), Nick Gardiner (University of St Andrews)
IAP2-22-211: Drivers of extreme high temperature events over Antarctica
Supervisors:
Hua Lu (Lead supervisor) (BAS), Michael Byrne (University of St Andrews)
IAP2-22-339: Southern Ocean Microplastic Flux: Ecosystem and Carbon Impacts
Supervisors:
Clara Manno (Lead supervisor) (BAS), Dr Craig Smeaton (University of St Andrews)
IAP2-22-332: The effects of climate warming and heatwaves on in situ benthic marine community development
Supervisors:
Heather Sugden (Lead supervisor) (Newcastle University), Lloyd Peck (BAS)
IAP2-22-318: Landscape scale effects on biodiversity in temperate and polar seas
Supervisors:
David Bailey (Lead supervisor) (University of Glasgow), Lloyd Peck (BAS)
IAP2-22-320: Investigating the impact of glacial meltwater plumes in Greenland’s fjords
Supervisors:
Tom Cowton (Lead supervisor) (University of St Andrews), Alex Bradley (BAS)
GW4+
How to apply: Applicants should follow the process on the Gw4+ website
Application Deadline: 9th January 2023 at 11:59pm (Applications Closed)
4596: Understanding the effects of rapid environmental change on the ecology of a key southern ocean predator, the Antarctic Fur Seal
Supervisors:
Luis Huckstadt (Lead supervisor) (University of Exeter), Jaume Forcada (BAS)
4607: Arctic 2050: better forecasts of near-future Arctic climate change
Supervisors:
Mark England (Lead supervisor) (University of Exeter), Tom Bracegirdle (BAS)
ARIES
How to apply: Applicants should follow the process on the ARIES website
Application Deadline: 11th January 2023 at 11:59pm (Applications Closed)
KAISER_UENV23ARIES: What causes ozone depletion events and bromine explosions in the polar atmosphere?
Supervisors:
Jan Kaiser (Lead supervisor) (University of East Anglia), Markus Frey (BAS)
STEVENS_UMTH23ARIES: The Antarctic Circumpolar Current and the role of bathymetry, eddies and sea ice
Supervisors:
David Stevens (Lead supervisor) (University of East Anglia), Emma Young (BAS)
INSPIRE
How to apply: Applicants should follow the process on the INSPIRE website
Application Deadline: 3rd January 2023 (Applications Closed)
Resolving Antarctic meltwater events in Southern Ocean marine sediments and exploring their significance using climate models
Supervisors:
Claire Allen (Lead supervisor) (BAS), Alessandro Silvano (University of Southampton)
Time variability on turbulent mixing of heat around melting ice in the West Antarctic
Supervisors:
Alex Brearley (Lead supervisor) (BAS), Alberto Naveira-Garabato (University of Southampton)
Southern Ocean Iron Supply: Does Size Fractionation Matter?
Supervisors:
Amber Annett (Lead supervisor) (University of Southampton), Kate Hendry (BAS)
SENSE
How to apply: Applicants should follow the process on the SENSE website
Application Deadline: Midnight 15 January 2023 (Applications Closed)
Mapping Antarctica’s geology from space
Supervisors:
Tom Jordan (Lead supervisor) (BAS), Chris Green (University of Leeds)
Using Earth-Observation data to classify Atmospheric Rivers and investigate their impacts on the stability of West Antarctic ice shelves
Supervisors:
Hua Lu (Lead supervisor) (BAS), Amanda Maycock (University of Leeds)
NERC BAS Advanced Training Short Course
Find out more about our 8-day training course focussing on working safely and effectively in the polar regions. Deadline 13th March 2020.
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