Postgraduate research opportunities

Self-funded or Sponsored PhD Opportunities

Funded PhD Opportunities

Understanding genomic structural variation for cattle complex phenotypes

Start date: October 2025 

Duration: 3.5 YEARS 

Stipend: UKRI stipend levels (£19,237 in 2024/25) 

Supervisors: Dr Bingjie Li, Prof Mike Coffey, Prof Eileen Wall 

Location: Edinburgh 

Closing date for applications:  Friday 31 January 2025 

 

Description:  

Understanding the genetic basis of complex traits has been one of the essential topics in cattle production. This PhD project aims to train a PhD researcher to learn the methods of deciphering genetic background of complex phenotypes using cattle data and explore the importance of genomic structure variation underlying cattle complex phenotypes.   

This PhD study builds on SRUC’s large cattle data accumulated over the past 50 years. The student will work in a research team and supervisors with rich experience in cattle genetics, genomics, and breeding for complex traits. In the project the student will work on genomic structure variants using DNA sequence data and assess the impact of structure variants on cattle complex phenotypes (with focus on production, feed efficiency, and molecular phenotypes) using large-scale cattle data.   

The student will obtain research training on quantitative genetics and genomics, statistical modelling, and bioinformatics. The student will also obtain valuable training in scientific writing, project management skills, and career development skills. In addition, the student will be offered with valuable opportunities to collaborate with researchers and industry in the UK, EU and US.   

The students are expected to submit a PhD thesis in 3.5 years. Candidates are preferred to have some previous experience or education in genetics, genomics, animal breeding, computational biology, or bioinformatics. Advanced scientific training for the PhD project will be offered to the successful candidate.  

 

Eligibility: 

For entry to PhD study, applicants are expected to have at least one of the following: 

• an undergraduate degree, usually with first or upper second (2:1) class honours or equivalent in a relevant subject, or
• a relevant master’s qualification or equivalent evidence of prior professional practice.

International applicants and candidates from non-English speaking countries will need to meet the minimum language requirements for admission onto the programme of study. These can be found in the Entry Requirements section of the PhD in Agriculture, Rural and Environmental Studies webpage 

 

Application Process: 

To apply for an SRUC PhD studentship, please follow the guidance below or on the SRUC Postgraduate Research Opportunities webpage. The SRUC Doctoral College can provide you with support for your application. 

Informal enquiries about the project and your application should be addressed to the project supervisor, Dr Bingjie Li - Bingjie.Li@sruc.ac.uk 

After you have approached the project supervisor and discussed your application with them, you should: 

1. Complete the online SRUC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion survey; the survey will automatically generate a completion receipt number that you should copy and paste on the relevant section of your SRUC Application Form. 
2. Download and fill in the SRUC Application Form. 
3. Download and send the Academic Reference Form to your two academic/professional referees, and ask them to submit the references directly to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk  by 31 January 2025 
4. Submit your complete application, along with academic transcripts and certificates to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk by 31 January 2025.

If you require any additional assistance in submitting your application or have any queries about the application process, please don't hesitate to contact us at Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk.

 

Funding Notes:

This PhD project is fully funded for 3.5 years. It is part of a competition funded by SRUC and is open to students worldwide. Funding will cover tuition fees at the UK rate, plus a stipend to support living costs and an annual research grant of £3,000 for the first three years of the PhD research (this is reduced to £500 in the writing-up year of the PhD). 

De-risking agri-food business through enhanced water scarcity awareness 

Start date: October 2025 Duration: 3.5 YEARS 

Stipend: UKRI stipend levels (£19,237 in 2024/25) 

Supervisors: Dr Carly Maynard, Dr Jane Atterton, Prof Alistair Hamilton 

Location:  Edinburgh 

Closing date for applications: 31 January 2025 

 

Description:   

It is expected that Scotland will see changing precipitation patterns under climate change projections (e.g. increased average temperatures, drier summers, milder, wetter, winters and more extreme weather events; Adaptation Scotland, 2021).  While flooding has long been a challenge for the historically water-rich country, it is now also recognised that water scarcity and the frequency, severity and duration of drought events is likely to increase in coming decades (Kirkpatrick-Baird et al., 2023). 

Despite this, there is a lack of recognition of the risks among many groups, including Scottish food and drinks producers such as distilleries, and agricultural producers of potatoes and soft fruits (Glendell et al., 2024). With an absence of recognition of these risks comes an inability to de-risk one’s business once the impacts are realised.  This causes us to ask how we can engage businesses and producers to respond with anticipatory action to this challenge. Crucial to addressing this is approaching the issue from the informed perspective of the businesses and producers that need to be engaged.   

The aim of this project is to establish non-monetary valuation of water resources and develop a tool for engaging agri-food businesses in the communication of water scarcity risk, with the intention of facilitating Scotland’s rural businesses (e.g. food and drinks production) to de-risk from the impacts of water scarcity. 

This project will aim to achieve this through the following approaches, within the context of water use and management: 

• developing an understanding of the political, economic, environmental and personal contexts in which these businesses operate 
• understanding how water is managed & valued, and its contribution to business functionality 
• considering what needs exist in terms of receiving new information and developing long-term plans on the basis of such information 
• co-designing tools for communicating specific projected outcomes of water resource changes with relevant food producers and other businesses.  

Data collection will follow a mixed methods approach which allows development of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis.  The project will allow the candidate to develop skills in interdisciplinary and participatory research, while contributing to the knowledge fields in natural capital management, water resource management and food security.  The work will liaise with SRUC’s RPC and consultants on policy issues and client advisory services. It will offer the opportunity to engage and build relationships with some of the most important agri-food businesses and sectors in Scotland’s rural economy, as well as develop academic study that is economically and politically relevant. 

 

Eligibility: 

For entry to PhD study, applicants are expected to have at least one of the following: 

• an undergraduate degree, usually with first or upper second (2:1) class honours or equivalent in a relevant subject, or
• a relevant master’s qualification or equivalent evidence of prior professional practice.

International applicants and candidates from non-English speaking countries will need to meet the minimum language requirements for admission onto the programme of study. These can be found in the Entry Requirements section of the PhD in Agriculture, Rural and Environmental Studies webpage 

 

Application Process: 

To apply for an SRUC PhD studentship, please follow the guidance below or on the SRUC Postgraduate Research Opportunities webpage. The SRUC Doctoral College can provide you with support for your application. 

Informal enquiries about the project and your application should be addressed to the project supervisor, Dr Carly Maynard - Carly.Maynard@sruc.ac.uk  

After you have approached the project supervisor and discussed your application with them, you should: 

1. Complete the online SRUC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion survey; the survey will automatically generate a completion receipt number that you should copy and paste on the relevant section of your SRUC Application Form. 
2. Download and fill in the SRUC Application Form. 
3. Download and send the Academic Reference Form to your two academic/professional referees, and ask them to submit the references directly to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk  by 31 January 2025 
4. Submit your complete application, along with academic transcripts and certificates to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk by 31 January 2025.

If you require any additional assistance in submitting your application or have any queries about the application process, please don't hesitate to contact us at Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk. 

 

Funding Notes:

This PhD project is fully funded for 3.5 years. It is part of a competition funded by SRUC and is open to students worldwide. Funding will cover tuition fees at the UK rate, plus a stipend to support living costs and an annual research grant of £3,000 for the first three years of the PhD research (this is reduced to £500 in the writing-up year of the PhD). 

Preferences for environmental tax and its welfare effects in East Africa: the role of behavioural factors.

Start date: October 2025 

Duration: 3.5 YEARS 

Stipend: UKRI stipend levels (£19,237 in 2024/25) 

Supervisors: Dr Fissha Asmare, Prof. Klaus Glenk   

Location: Edinburgh 

Closing date for applications:  31 January 2025

 

Description:   

East Africa is the continent’s fastest-growing region, where the combined challenges of climate change impacts, alarming population growth, massive urbanization, poverty alleviation, and a growing manufacturing sector are prevalent.  

Environmental taxation has been widely suggested as an effective policy instrument to reconcile economic development objectives with climate change mitigation targets (Timilsina, 2022). Green growth strategies backed by an effective redistribution system would enhance revenue mobilization to fund the fiscal budget and assist in the transition toward sustainable economic growth and affordable clean energy. Based on these premises, since the late 2010s, there have been increasing calls for environmental  taxation such as carbon taxes to be widely applied in the region from institutions like the UN, the OECD, the IMF, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and Brookings (Advani et al., 2021; Maino & Emrullahu, 2022; OECD, 2021; UNEP, 2014a).  

However, two key challenges remain for introducing environmental tax as a climate policy tool in the Eastern African context. One, there is no clear evidence of individuals' preference towards such a policy and the public acceptability of environmental tax is unknown. Since environmental protection is generally considered the sole responsibility of the government in the least developed countries, how individuals will respond to different features of environmental tax as a policy tool is a question to be answered before its implementation.  

Two, there is a strong concern that environmental tax will distort the welfare of low-income individuals. How to best introduce an environmental tax to society so that climate change can be tackled without compromising economic development objectives is unclear. Policymakers lack ex-ante evidence about the regressivity or progressivity of policy options and how to abate any negative consequences.   

The primary objectives of this PhD project are to measure preferences for environmental tax, asses the public acceptability and welfare implications of environmental tax and evaluate the role of behavioural factors in undertaking climate change mitigation activities in Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia. 

This project will combine randomized survey experiments and micro-simulation methods, incorporating primary data which will be obtained from field surveys and interviews (to produce papers 1 and 2) and a synthesis of the existing literature with secondary data (to produce paper 3). The secondary data that will be used in this project is from the Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) survey conducted by the World Bank, which is freely available for research purposes. 

 

Eligibility: 

For entry to PhD study, applicants are expected to have at least one of the following: 

• an undergraduate degree, usually with first or upper second (2:1) class honours or equivalent in a relevant subject, or
• a relevant master’s qualification or equivalent evidence of prior professional practice.

International applicants and candidates from non-English speaking countries will need to meet the minimum language requirements for admission onto the programme of study. These can be found in the Entry Requirements section of the PhD in Agriculture, Rural and Environmental Studies webpage 

 

Application Process: 

To apply for an SRUC PhD studentship, please follow the guidance below or on the SRUC Postgraduate Research Opportunities webpage. The SRUC Doctoral College can provide you with support for your application. 

Informal enquiries about the project and your application should be addressed to the project supervisor, Dr Fissha Asmare – Fissha.Asmare@sruc.ac.uk  

After you have approached the project supervisor and discussed your application with them, you should: 

1) Complete the online SRUC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion survey; the survey will automatically generate a completion receipt number that you should copy and paste on the relevant section of your SRUC Application Form. 

2) Download and fill in the SRUC Application Form. 

3) Download and send the Academic Reference Form to your two academic/professional referees, and ask them to submit the references directly to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk  by 31 January 2025 

4) Submit your complete application, along with academic transcripts and certificates to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk by 31 January 2025 

If you require any additional assistance in submitting your application or have any queries about the application process, please don't hesitate to contact us at Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk. 

 

Funding Notes:

This PhD project is fully funded for 3.5 years. It is part of a competition funded by SRUC and is open to students worldwide. Funding will cover tuition fees at the UK rate, plus a stipend to support living costs and an annual research grant of £3,000 for the first three years of the PhD research (this is reduced to £500 in the writing-up year of the PhD). 

Raspberry Ripples - quantifying the environmental footprint of soft fruit production

Start date: October 2025    

Duration: 3.5 YEARS 

Stipend: UKRI stipend levels (£19,237 in 2024/25) 

Supervisors: Dr Fiona Fraser, Dr Christine Watson, Dr Kairsty Topp 

Location: Aberdeen 

Closing date for applications:  31 January 2025

 

Description:

Soft fruit production has long been an important part of UK agriculture, in Scotland the area used for soft fruit production now stands at approximately 2200 hectares. Much of this is high quality agricultural land under polytunnels, where crops are frequently grown in pots or bags rather than in the native soil. This system works to produce a high value, high quality, nutritious crop which is commonly sold through UK supermarkets. Soils contain large amounts of carbon but the impact on soil carbon dynamics of covering large areas of land with polytunnels is as yet unquantified. During this project the student will interact directly with growers to collect samples from polytunnels and collect representative information on polytunnel age and management practices. The impact of the tunnels and their associated agronomic management on total carbon stocks and their dynamics will be explored. This will allow the student to develop directly applicable advice for growers on how to influence their soil carbon stocks. The student will also use the information gathered in conjunction with parameters gleaned from existing literature to quantify the environmental footprint (e.g. carbon, water and nutrient usage) of soft fruit production under different current and future scenarios. This will allow the student to address direct policy relevant questions around land use choices - could fruit production be moved to lower quality land or un-used urban spaces thereby freeing up high quality agricultural land for further food production? As well as other aspects of the ability of this sector to contribute positively to net zero targets in Scotland.   

The knowledge created during this PhD will help develop practical guidelines to support policy development on the ability of the soft fruit sector to contribute positively to net zero targets in Scotland The student will receive training in soil science, experimental design, mixed methods approaches, modelling, data management and statistics and will be part of a larger team working nationally and internationally on carbon and nitrogen cycling in agroecosystems. The studentship contributes to SDGs 2, 4, 12, 13 and 15. 

 

Eligibility: 

For entry to PhD study, applicants are expected to have at least one of the following: 

• an undergraduate degree, usually with first or upper second (2:1) class honours or equivalent in a relevant subject, or
• a relevant master’s qualification or equivalent evidence of prior professional practice.

International applicants and candidates from non-English speaking countries will need to meet the minimum language requirements for admission onto the programme of study. These can be found in the Entry Requirements section of the PhD in Agriculture, Rural and Environmental Studies webpage. 

 

Application Process: 

To apply for an SRUC PhD studentship, please follow the guidance below or on the SRUC Postgraduate Research Opportunities webpage. The SRUC Doctoral College can provide you with support for your application. 

Informal enquiries about the project and your application should be addressed to the project supervisor, Dr Fiona Fraser – Fiona.Fraser@sruc.ac.uk  

After you have approached the project supervisor and discussed your application with them, you should: 

1. Complete the online SRUC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion survey; the survey will automatically generate a completion receipt number that you should copy and paste on the relevant section of your SRUC Application Form. 
2. Download and fill in the SRUC Application Form. 
3. Download and send the Academic Reference Form to your two academic/professional referees, and ask them to submit the references directly to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk  by 31 January 2025 
4. Submit your complete application, along with academic transcripts and certificates to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk by 31 January 2025.

If you require any additional assistance in submitting your application or have any queries about the application process, please don't hesitate to contact us at Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk. 

 

Funding Notes: 

This PhD project is fully funded for 3.5 years. It is part of a competition funded by SRUC and is open to students worldwide. Funding will cover tuition fees at the UK rate, plus a stipend to support living costs and an annual research grant of £3,000 for the first three years of the PhD research (this is reduced to £500 in the writing-up year of the PhD). 

Addressing workforce shortages in the care economy in rural and island areas of Scotland

Start date: October 2025    

Duration: 3.5 YEARS 

Stipend: UKRI stipend levels (£19,237 in 2024/25) 

Supervisors: Dr Francis Naab, Dr Jane Atterton, Prof Andrew Barnes

Location: Edinburgh 

Closing date for applications: 31 January 2025 

 

Description:   

This research will explore the crucial role of immigrant/migrant workers in Scotland’s rural and island social care sectors, where workforce shortages have consequences for the care economy—early and long-term care for older adults. As Scotland's ageing population grows, the demand for care services is increasing, yet rural and island areas struggle to recruit and retain sufficient care workers, particularly migrant and/or immigrant workers. In a similar vein, the demand for early childcare and the lack of early childcare facilities has consequences for rural and island labour force. This proposed study aims to uncover the motivations, challenges, and experiences of migrant and/or immigrant workers in these communities. It will also identify barriers to recruitment and retention, providing evidence-based recommendations for policymakers to enhance workforce sustainability in the rural care economy, and rural resilience development at large. Ultimately, this research aims to inform policies that improve care delivery in Scotland's rural and island areas, ensuring that care at both ends of the lifecourse – early childcare and long term care for older adults – is given prominence in the rural economy.  

The project's mixed-methods approach demonstrates interdisciplinarity by integrating concepts, methods, and frameworks from various fields, including social work, economics, demography, rural and island sociology, healthcare, early childcare and long-term care for older adults. It also builds on the RPC’s core research undertaken through the Scottish Government Strategic Research programme focused on rural and island economies.  

This PhD would sit within the discourse of ‘care economies’ (Ito Peng, 2019) ‘community economies’ (Gibson-Graham, 2006) or ‘community-based economies’ (Simms et al, 2014) whereby communities take ownership of their local economies, services and infrastructures. The research will involve in-depth qualitative enquiry with a range of community-owned/based care infrastructures, providers, workforce, and utilise case study approaches, and interviews. It shall then, based on the in-depth qualitative enquiry, conduct a survey among the care workforce and providers on determinants of workforce sustainability and/or retention, and differences due to geography or socio-economic conditions, lived experiences (modelled) among others.  

This project is located at SRUC Edinburgh. 

  

Eligibility:

For entry to PhD study, applicants are expected to have at least one of the following: 

• an undergraduate degree, usually with first or upper second (2:1) class honours or equivalent in a relevant subject, or

• a relevant master’s qualification or equivalent evidence of prior professional practice.

International applicants and candidates from non-English speaking countries will need to meet the minimum language requirements for admission onto the programme of study. These can be found in the Entry Requirements section of the PhD in Agriculture, Rural and Environmental Studies webpage 

  

Application Process: 

To apply for an SRUC PhD studentship, please follow the guidance below or on the SRUC Postgraduate Research Opportunities webpage. The SRUC Doctoral College can provide you with support for your application. 

Informal enquiries about the project and your application should be addressed to the project supervisor, Dr Francis Naab – Francis.Naab@sruc.ac.uk  

After you have approached the project supervisor and discussed your application with them, you should: 

1. Complete the online SRUC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion survey; the survey will automatically generate a completion receipt number that you should copy and paste on the relevant section of your SRUC Application Form. 
2. Download and fill in the SRUC Application Form. 
3. Download and send the Academic Reference Form to your two academic/professional referees, and ask them to submit the references directly to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk  by 31 January 2025 
4. Submit your complete application, along with academic transcripts and certificates to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk by 31 January 2025.

If you require any additional assistance in submitting your application or have any queries about the application process, please don't hesitate to contact us at Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk. 

 

Funding Notes: 

This PhD project is fully funded for 3.5 years. It is part of a competition funded by SRUC and is open to students worldwide. Funding will cover tuition fees at the UK rate, plus a stipend to support living costs and an annual research grant of £3,000 for the first three years of the PhD research (this is reduced to £500 in the writing-up year of the PhD). 

The Evolution of Pathogen-Host Interactions in Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Blackisle and the Harbour Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena)

Start date: October 2025

Duration: 3.5 YEARS 

Stipend: UKRI stipend levels (£19,237 in 2024/25) 

Supervisors: Dr Geoff Foster, Dr Janet Nale, Dr Neil McEwan, Dr Scott Lawton  

Dr Derek Brown (Scottish Microbiology Reference Laboratories) 

Location:  Inverness

Closing date for applications: 31 January 2025 

 

Description:   

Studying emerging diseases in marine mammals is crucial for understanding the health of marine ecosystems and mitigating risks to biodiversity and human health. Marine mammals, such as harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena), serve as sentinel species, reflecting environmental changes and disease dynamics in their habitats. Emerging pathogens can disrupt marine food webs, threaten vulnerable species, and pose zoonotic risks to humans. Climate change, pollution, and human activities exacerbate disease emergence by altering pathogen transmission and host susceptibility. Investigating these diseases provides insights into pathogen evolution, informs conservation strategies, and supports the sustainable management of marine resources under the broader framework of the blue economy.  

Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Blackisle is an emerging pathogen detected in harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena), sentinel species that reflect the health of marine ecosystems. Understanding pathogen-host interactions is critical to assessing its potential impact on marine wildlife, its evolutionary trajectory, and its zoonotic risk.  

While S. enterica has been extensively studied in terrestrial systems, little is known about the genetic basis of its adaptation to marine hosts. Furthermore, S. Blackisle exhibits traits such as antigenic variation, virulence factor diversification, and possible drug resistance, which may facilitate host specificity and immune evasion. Research into these genetic mechanisms could provide insights into pathogen evolution, transmission dynamics, and host-pathogen co-evolution in marine environments.  

This project will integrate genomic sequencing, in silico analyses, and experimental validation to investigate inter-host variation, virulence, antigenic diversity, drug resistance, and prophage content in S. Blackisle. Infection models will be used to assess virulence phenotypes across genotypes, providing a unique experimental perspective on host-pathogen interactions. In order to address these fundamental issues, the project has the following objectives:

1. To characterise the genomes of S. Blackisle from multiple harbour porpoises to assess genomic variation.  
2. Using in silico methods to measure inter-host antigenic variation and diverse virulence factors of S. Blackisle.  
3. Identification of drug resistance and prophage content within marine mammal isolates of S. Blackisle as a measure of genome adaptation and plasticity   
4. Using insect experimental models to determine the virulence phenotype of S. Blackisle genotypes and validate genomic predictions.  

The student will be trained in bacteriology, genomics, bioinformatics and microbiology laboratory techniques.   

This project is located at SRUC Inverness. 

  

Eligibility: 

For entry to PhD study, applicants are expected to have at least one of the following: 

• an undergraduate degree, usually with first or upper second (2:1) class honours or equivalent in a relevant subject, or

• a relevant master’s qualification or equivalent evidence of prior professional practice.

International applicants and candidates from non-English speaking countries will need to meet the minimum language requirements for admission onto the programme of study. These can be found in the Entry Requirements section of the PhD in Agriculture, Rural and Environmental Studies webpage 

  

Application Process: 

To apply for an SRUC PhD studentship, please follow the guidance below or on the SRUC Postgraduate Research Opportunities webpage. The SRUC Doctoral College can provide you with support for your application. 

Informal enquiries about the project and your application should be addressed to the project supervisor, Dr Geoff Foster - Geoff.Foster@sruc.ac.uk 

After you have approached the project supervisor and discussed your application with them, you should: 

1. Complete the online SRUC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion survey; the survey will automatically generate a completion receipt number that you should copy and paste on the relevant section of your SRUC Application Form. 
2. Download and fill in the SRUC Application Form. 
3. Download and send the Academic Reference Form to your two academic/professional referees, and ask them to submit the references directly to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk  by 31 January 2025 
4. Submit your complete application, along with academic transcripts and certificates to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk by 31 January 2025. 

If you require any additional assistance in submitting your application or have any queries about the application process, please don't hesitate to contact us at Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk. 

 

Funding Notes:

This PhD project is fully funded for 3.5 years. It is part of a competition funded by SRUC and is open to students worldwide. Funding will cover tuition fees at the UK rate, plus a stipend to support living costs and an annual research grant of £3,000 for the first three years of the PhD research (this is reduced to £500 in the writing-up year of the PhD). 

Discovering the Ghost Ponds of Scotland for Improving the Conservation of Freshwater Amphibians 

Start date: October 2025 

Duration: 3.5 YEARS 

Stipend: UKRI stipend levels (£19,237 in 2024/25) 

Supervisors: Dr Helen Anderson, Dr Richard Armitage 

Location:  Aberdeen 

Closing date for applications: 31 January 2025 

 

Description:  

Ponds are a natural part of our landscape, providing an essential habitat for many amphibians.  However, land-use change has led to the loss of a substantial number of ponds across the UK, e.g., the number of ponds in England and Wales fell from an estimated 800,000 to about 340,000 in the 40 years between 1880 and 1920 (Rackham 1986).  The disappearance of these aquatic areas and their surrounding habitat has removed access to essential foraging areas and hibernation sites for amphibians (Griffiths 1997).  This loss of landscape-scale connectivity for freshwater amphibians has effectively left them marooned in a sea of land. 

This project aims to discover and digitally record the lost ponds (otherwise known as ghost ponds) of Scotland.  By locating the ‘ghost ponds’ of Scotland and combining this data with maps of extant ponds, the first steps towards restoring the lost biodiversity of freshwater species in Scotland can be achieved.  Targeted restoration of ghost ponds across the agricultural landscape could significantly combat the current biodiversity crisis and aligns with Scotland’s Biodiversity Strategy, which aims to restore and regenerate biodiversity across land, freshwater and sea by 2045 (NatureScot).  

Historic maps will be used to identify ghost ponds and produce the first comprehensive dataset of their locations with those of currently existing ponds.  This historic database of Scottish ponds will then be explored to highlight landscape change and its impact on landscape-scale freshwater environments.  In doing so the potential for landscape-scale connectivity of these aquatic environments can be explored and the conservation of amphibians improved.   

Prospective students can come from an ecological/conservation or computing/GIS background.  They should have strong GIS, computing and data management skills, good experience of data analysis and be eager to apply practical freshwater restoration skills for conservation purposes.

This project is located at SRUC Aberdeen.

 

References 

Griffiths R A 1997 Temporary ponds as amphibian habitats Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 7 119–26 

NatureScot, n.d. Scotland’s Biodiversity Strategy https://www.nature.scot/scotlands-biodiversity/scottish-biodiversity-strategy/scotlands-biodiversity-strategy-2022-2045 [accessed 10 October 2024] 

Rackham O 1986 The history of the countryside: the classic history of Britain's landscape, flora and fauna Dent, London 

 

  

Eligibility: 

For entry to PhD study, applicants are expected to have at least one of the following: 

• an undergraduate degree, usually with first or upper second (2:1) class honours or equivalent in a relevant subject, or

• a relevant master’s qualification or equivalent evidence of prior professional practice.

International applicants and candidates from non-English speaking countries will need to meet the minimum language requirements for admission onto the programme of study. These can be found in the Entry Requirements section of the PhD in Agriculture, Rural and Environmental Studies webpage 

  

Application Process: 

To apply for an SRUC PhD studentship, please follow the guidance below or on the SRUC Postgraduate Research Opportunities webpage. The SRUC Doctoral College can provide you with support for your application. 

Informal enquiries about the project and your application should be addressed to the project supervisor, Dr Helen Anderson – Helen.Anderson@sruc.ac.uk  

After you have approached the project supervisor and discussed your application with them, you should: 

1. Complete the online SRUC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion survey; the survey will automatically generate a completion receipt number that you should copy and paste on the relevant section of your SRUC Application Form. 
2. Download and fill in the SRUC Application Form. 
3. Download and send the Academic Reference Form to your two academic/professional referees, and ask them to submit the references directly to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk  by 31 January 2025 
4. Submit your complete application, along with academic transcripts and certificates to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk by 31 January 2025.

If you require any additional assistance in submitting your application or have any queries about the application process, please don't hesitate to contact us at Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk.

 

Funding Notes:

This PhD project is fully funded for 3.5 years. It is part of a competition funded by SRUC and is open to students worldwide. Funding will cover tuition fees at the UK rate, plus a stipend to support living costs and an annual research grant of £3,000 for the first three years of the PhD research (this is reduced to £500 in the writing-up year of the PhD). 

Improving Equine Welfare through Human Behaviour Change Science

Start date: October 2025 

Duration: 3.5 YEARS 

Stipend: UKRI stipend levels (£19,237 in 2024/25) 

Supervisors: Dr Lesley Jessiman, Dr Ruth Morgan 

Location: Edinburgh 

Closing date for applications: 31 January 2025 

 

Description:

Obesity is an increasing welfare concern in the leisure horses with 31.2% of horses identified as obese in one owner reported survey (Robin et al., 2015). Concerning though this is, the scale of the problem may be even greater as Morrison et al. (2017) found that only 11% of horse owners and managers could correctly identify all overweight horses. Equine obesity is associated with significant health concerns, including equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) and laminitis (Morgan et al., 2016) both of which impact quality of life and longevity.   

Despite continued research into the reasons horse owners overfeed and under exercise their horses very little work has been carried out into how we use the findings to elicit positive behaviour change in the real world. To date, efforts to reduce obesity in horses has centred around educating horse owners (Owers & Chubbock, 2013). Despite this, obesity as a welfare concern prevails. One of the problems with the current body of research is the theories adopted to explain horse owner behaviour are too individualist and fall short of accounting for the complex interplay between the individual, social, economic, historical, and cultural factors involved. One theoretical model that considers the complex and synergistic nature of human behaviour is the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW: Michie et al., 2011, 2014). The BCW recognises that behaviours are a function of an interacting system that involves a constellation of factors (Michie et al., 2014). Changing a behaviour will therefore involve changing one or more of the influences of that behaviour, placing the behavioural system into a new configuration (Michie et al., 2014). Although some equine welfare research has adopted the BCW (Furtardo, et al., 2021, 2022), what is still missing is fully developed and tested behaviour change interventions that draw directly from implementation science.   

Working with a psychologist and comparative endocrinologist who specialises in equine obesity, the candidate will work towards identifying the key drivers and barriers to best equine husbandry practice. The candidate will be trained in social science research methods, human behaviour change science and its applicability to animal welfare. This project will provide the candidate with the opportunity to learn an important set of skills, which will allow them to bridge the gap between human behaviour and equine welfare.  This PhD will provide the candidate with the opportunity to make real changes in the real world. 

This project is located at SRUC Edinburgh. 

  

Eligibility: 

For entry to PhD study, applicants are expected to have at least one of the following: 

• an undergraduate degree, usually with first or upper second (2:1) class honours or equivalent in a relevant subject, or

• a relevant master’s qualification or equivalent evidence of prior professional practice.

International applicants and candidates from non-English speaking countries will need to meet the minimum language requirements for admission onto the programme of study. These can be found in the Entry Requirements section of the PhD in Agriculture, Rural and Environmental Studies webpage 

  

Application Process: 

To apply for an SRUC PhD studentship, please follow the guidance below or on the SRUC Postgraduate Research Opportunities webpage. The SRUC Doctoral College can provide you with support for your application. 

Informal enquiries about the project and your application should be addressed to the project supervisor, Dr Lesley Jessiman – Lesley.Jessiman@sruc.ac.uk  

After you have approached the project supervisor and discussed your application with them, you should: 

1. Complete the online SRUC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion survey; the survey will automatically generate a completion receipt number that you should copy and paste on the relevant section of your SRUC Application Form. 
2. Download and fill in the SRUC Application Form. 
3. Download and send the Academic Reference Form to your two academic/professional referees, and ask them to submit the references directly to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk  by 31 January 2025 
4. Submit your complete application, along with academic transcripts and certificates to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk by 31 January 2025.

If you require any additional assistance in submitting your application or have any queries about the application process, please don't hesitate to contact us at Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk.  

  

Funding Notes: 

This PhD project is fully funded for 3.5 years. It is part of a competition funded by SRUC and is open to students worldwide. Funding will cover tuition fees at the UK rate, plus a stipend to support living costs and an annual research grant of £3,000 for the first three years of the PhD research (this is reduced to £500 in the writing-up year of the PhD). 

Towards Reducing Food Insecurity: Understanding the Adoption and Utilization of Orphan Crops in West Africa

Start date: October 2025 

Duration: 3.5 YEARS 

Stipend: UKRI stipend levels (£19,237 in 2024/25) 

Supervisors: Dr Montse Costa Font, Dr Toritseju Begho   

Location: Edinburgh 

Closing date for applications: 31 January 2025 

 

Description:

Orphan crops, also known as neglected, underutilized, or ancient crops, have been traditionally cultivated in West Africa. These crops offer significant benefits to local food systems, enhancing nutritional diversity and contributing to greater food security. However, they remain underutilized in many regions of the area.  

This research aims to understand the factors that influence farmers’ and consumers’ decisions to adopt and embrace specific orphan crops. It will investigate how various factors intersect to either support or hinder this adoption. Mixed methods analysis will be employed using both primary and secondary data. 

Structural equation modelling will be employed to validate behavioural models, helping to understand, predict, and create a structured framework for identifying intervention strategies that facilitate sustainable adoption decisions and enhance consumer acceptance. Additionally, a policy outcome mapping of agricultural policies in West African countries will be conducted to assess and evaluate how these existing policies facilitate or hinder the adoption of orphan crops. Data will be collected through random sampling from 2,250 stakeholders, with participants each from Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal, representing various regions (urban, peri-urban, and rural areas).  

Additionally, Mintel’s Global New Products Database (GNPD) will be utilized to identify market products that feature orphan crops in Africa. This approach will help in understanding the options available to consumers. Moreover, data from the Integrated Household Surveys on Agriculture will be used to analyse the actual supply and demand for orphan crops in each country. 

This project is located in SRUC Edinburgh. 

 

Eligibility:  

For entry to PhD study, applicants are expected to have at least one of the following:  

• an undergraduate degree, usually with first or upper second (2:1) class honours or equivalent in a relevant subject, or 

• a relevant master’s qualification or equivalent evidence of prior professional practice. 

International applicants and candidates from non-English speaking countries will need to meet the minimum language requirements for admission onto the programme of study. These can be found in the Entry Requirements section of the PhD in Agriculture, Rural and Environmental Studies webpage  

   

Application Process:  

To apply for an SRUC PhD studentship, please follow the guidance below or on the SRUC Postgraduate Research Opportunities webpage. The SRUC Doctoral College can provide you with support for your application.  

Informal enquiries about the project and your application should be addressed to the project supervisor, Dr Montse Costa Font – Montse.CostaFont@sruc.ac.uk    

After you have approached the project supervisor and discussed your application with them, you should:  

1. Complete the online SRUC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion survey; the survey will automatically generate a completion receipt number that you should copy and paste on the relevant section of your SRUC Application Form.  
2. Download and fill in the SRUC Application Form.  
3. Download and send the Academic Reference Form to your two academic/professional referees, and ask them to submit the references directly to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk  by 31 January 2025  
4. Submit your complete application, along with academic transcripts and certificates to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk by 31 January 2025.  

If you require any additional assistance in submitting your application or have any queries about the application process, please don't hesitate to contact us at Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk.

 

Funding Notes: 

This PhD project is fully funded for 3.5 years. It is part of a competition funded by SRUC and is open to students worldwide. Funding will cover tuition fees at the UK rate, plus a stipend to support living costs and an annual research grant of £3,000 for the first three years of the PhD research (this is reduced to £500 in the writing-up year of the PhD). 

What are the consequences of sexual dimorphism for habitat choice? Lessons from an actinorhizal dioecious plant (Hippophae rhamnoides L.)   

Start date: October 2025    

Duration: 3.5 YEARS 

Stipend: UKRI stipend levels (£19,237 in 2024/25) 

Supervisors: Dr Roberta Bergero, Dr Luis Novo 

Location: Edinburgh 

Closing date for applications: 31 January 2025 

 

Description:

The sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) is dioecious, i.e. produces male and female flowers in separate plants. It is considered a multipurpose plant species: female plants produce bright orange berries that are high in vitamins, flavonoids and carotenoids. It also forms symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria (Frankia spp.), thus improving the soil nutritional profile; it is able to counteract soil erosion and stabilize sand dunes in coastal habitats and is known for its ability to sequester and bioaccumulate heavy metals from soils (1). Studies on the ecological distribution of this species show sexual dimorphisms across altitude (2) and distance from the shores. Such sexual dimorphism could translate on other aspects of the plant biology, including metal uptake physiology, plant nutrition and differential recruitment of nitrogen-fixing bacteria. You will generate sex-linked markers from pools of male and female DNAs from native and introduced Scottish populations. You will carry out greenhouse growth assays in metal-contaminated and non-contaminated soils on juveniles sexed with molecular markers to test for sexual differences in above-ground and below-ground bioaccumulation of heavy metals, plant physiology and recruitment of nitrogen-fixing bacterial communities. The knowledge generated in this project will inform programs of land reclamation, sea buckthorn fruit industry and research in plant domestication. 

This project is located at SRUC Edinburgh. 

References 

1. Z. Ciesarová, et al., Why is sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) so exceptional? A review. Food Research International 133, 109170 (2020).
2. C. Li, G. Xu, R. Zang, H. Korpelainen, F. Berninger, Sex-related differences in leaf morphological and physiological responses in Hippophae rhamnoides along an altitudinal gradient. Tree Physiology 27, 399–406 (2007). 

 

Eligibility: 

For entry to PhD study, applicants are expected to have at least one of the following: 

• an undergraduate degree, usually with first or upper second (2:1) class honours or equivalent in a relevant subject, or
• a relevant master’s qualification or equivalent evidence of prior professional practice.

International applicants and candidates from non-English speaking countries will need to meet the minimum language requirements for admission onto the programme of study. These can be found in the Entry Requirements section of the PhD in Agriculture, Rural and Environmental Studies webpage 

 

Application Process:  

To apply for an SRUC PhD studentship, please follow the guidance below or on the SRUC Postgraduate Research Opportunities webpage. The SRUC Doctoral College can provide you with support for your application.  

Informal enquiries about the project and your application should be addressed to the project supervisor, Dr Roberta Bergero – Roberta.Bergero@sruc.ac.uk    

After you have approached the project supervisor and discussed your application with them, you should:  

1. Complete the online SRUC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion survey; the survey will automatically generate a completion receipt number that you should copy and paste on the relevant section of your SRUC Application Form.  
2. Download and fill in the SRUC Application Form.  
3. Download and send the Academic Reference Form to your two academic/professional referees, and ask them to submit the references directly to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk  by 31 January 2025  
4. Submit your complete application, along with academic transcripts and certificates to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk by 31 January 2025.

If you require any additional assistance in submitting your application or have any queries about the application process, please don't hesitate to contact us at Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk. 

   

Funding Notes:  

This PhD project is fully funded for 3.5 years. It is part of a competition funded by SRUC and is open to students worldwide. Funding will cover tuition fees at the UK rate, plus a stipend to support living costs and an annual research grant of £3,000 for the first three years of the PhD research (this is reduced to £500 in the writing-up year of the PhD). 

Exploring the potential and limitations of cover cropping in spring barley rotations in Northern Scotland, with a focus on establishment reliability 

Start date: October 2025 

Duration: 3.5 YEARS 

Stipend: UKRI stipend levels (£19,237 in 2024/25) 

Supervisors: Dr Robin Walker, Dr Henry Criessen, Dr Alex Hilton   

Location: Aberdeen 

Closing date for applications: 31 January 2025 

 

Description:

Growing barley for several years in succession on the same field is not uncommon in Northern Scotland. This does, however, increase the risk of soil and crop health related problems becoming an issue. Growing cover crops during the otherwise unproductive winter fallow period between successive spring barley crops has potential to offer multiple benefits based on this regenerative agricultural approach. These benefits include keeping soil covered, maintaining living roots year-round i.e. remediating or preventing erosion, compaction and nutrient leaching as well as helping break the ‘green bridge’ effect linked to weeds, pests and diseases of barley crops. This project aims to assess a range of potentially viable cover crop species and mixtures as well as evaluate prospective methods that might be used more reliably to establish them in the challenging environment of Northern Scotland. The project will also investigate the impact that these regenerative approaches can have on the production of successive spring barley crops based on their ability to improve soil health and reduce the need for synthetic fertiliser inputs. Field trials will be used to establish cover crops either ‘pre-harvest’ or immediately ‘post-harvest’ of a spring barley crop in Aberdeen and Orkney in order to help understand the impact that diversified cropping can have on soil health and its associated influence on the productivity and quality of the following spring barley crop. The small plot field trials at SRUC Craibstone and UHI Orkney will be supplemented by on-farm trials (e.g. split field) co-designed by willing farmers in order to better understand the impacts of different establishment approaches and the use of appropriate cover crop species at the field scale and across a range of soil types and climatic conditions. On Orkney the student will also work with bere barley systems, which is a landrace that matures early (providing greater opportunity to successfully establish overwintering cover crops) and is adapted to thrive in low nutrient soils offering the opportunity to produce a high quality, locally sustainable product with reduced inputs. 

This project is located at SRUC Aberdeen. 

 

Eligibility: 

For entry to PhD study, applicants are expected to have at least one of the following: 

• an undergraduate degree, usually with first or upper second (2:1) class honours or equivalent in a relevant subject, or
• a relevant master’s qualification or equivalent evidence of prior professional practice.

International applicants and candidates from non-English speaking countries will need to meet the minimum language requirements for admission onto the programme of study. These can be found in the Entry Requirements section of the PhD in Agriculture, Rural and Environmental Studies webpage 

 

Eligibility:  

For entry to PhD study, applicants are expected to have at least one of the following:  

• an undergraduate degree, usually with first or upper second (2:1) class honours or equivalent in a relevant subject, or 

• a relevant master’s qualification or equivalent evidence of prior professional practice. 

International applicants and candidates from non-English speaking countries will need to meet the minimum language requirements for admission onto the programme of study. These can be found in the Entry Requirements section of the PhD in Agriculture, Rural and Environmental Studies webpage  

   

Application Process:  

To apply for an SRUC PhD studentship, please follow the guidance below or on the SRUC Postgraduate Research Opportunities webpage. The SRUC Doctoral College can provide you with support for your application.  

Informal enquiries about the project and your application should be addressed to the project supervisor, Dr Robin Walker – Robin.Walker@sruc.ac.uk  

After you have approached the project supervisor and discussed your application with them, you should:  

1. Complete the online SRUC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion survey; the survey will automatically generate a completion receipt number that you should copy and paste on the relevant section of your SRUC Application Form.  
2. Download and fill in the SRUC Application Form.  
3. Download and send the Academic Reference Form to your two academic/professional referees, and ask them to submit the references directly to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk  by 31 January 2025  
4. Submit your complete application, along with academic transcripts and certificates to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk by 31 January 2025.

If you require any additional assistance in submitting your application or have any queries about the application process, please don't hesitate to contact us at Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk. 

   

Funding Notes:  

This PhD project is fully funded for 3.5 years. It is part of a competition funded by SRUC and is open to students worldwide. Funding will cover tuition fees at the UK rate, plus a stipend to support living costs and an annual research grant of £3,000 for the first three years of the PhD research (this is reduced to £500 in the writing-up year of the PhD). 

Are environmental E. coli a suitable hygiene indicator for the fresh produce industry? 

Start date: October 2025    

Duration: 3.5 YEARS 

Stipend: UKRI stipend levels (£19,237 in 2024/25) 

Supervisors: Dr Salvatore Galgano, Prof Nicola Holden 

Location: Edinburgh 

Closing date for applications: 31 January 2025 

 

Description:   

Contamination of food products, especially fresh produce such as leafy greens is caused mostly by a number of foodborne pathogens, including Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC). The main route of transmission is through livestock animals such as cattle or pigs, whose faeces enter the system via irrigation water. 

Although foodborne pathogens pose a serious risk to human health, current detection and surveillance methods are vastly based on generic E. coli markers, and do not take into account of the broad strain diversity within this bacterial species and of the fact that the plant microbiota can be populated by species conventionally classed as foodborne isolates. 

Hence the need for an in-depth study to unravel the functional bacterial biomarkers indicative of contamination, by also discriminating the contamination type, and therefore the level of risk. 

This output of this PhD project will be a novel dataset of contamination biomarkers, which has the potential of revolutionising the feed industry by providing the main stakeholders with a validated diagnostic tool with the prospects of decreasing the risk of zoonotic diseases and have a positive impact on morbidity and mortality. 

The project is entirely aligned with the One Health approach, and it will be based on both classic microbiological (e.g., CFU enumeration) and cutting edge molecular techniques (i.e., short- and long-read metagenomics), combined with bioinformatics. Moreover, the selected candidate will have access to state of the art facilities such as the SRUC vertical farm, a fully controllable facility for researching crop growth, and both the Allermuir Avian and Innovation Skills Centre and the Easter Howgate farm, where cutting edge avian, pig and ruminant research is currently undertaken. 

Moreover, the two industry partners, the Chilled Food Association (CFA) and the Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC) will greatly assist by providing criteria and data on E. coli incidence. 

The three objectives for this project are: 

Objective 1: 

Assessment of existing and potential hygiene indicators. 

Objective 2: 

Use of the cutting edge SRUC facilities to set up and carry out the experimental work, ultimately leading to the assessment of environmental and faecal E. coli, and endemic plant microbiota on leafy vegetables crops during the growing and post-harvest phases. 

Objective 3. 

Define key growth metrics relevant to hygiene indicators for the fresh produce sector. 

 

Eligibility: 

For entry to PhD study, applicants are expected to have at least one of the following: 

• an undergraduate degree, usually with first or upper second (2:1) class honours or equivalent in a relevant subject, or
• a relevant master’s qualification or equivalent evidence of prior professional practice.

International applicants and candidates from non-English speaking countries will need to meet the minimum language requirements for admission onto the programme of study. These can be found in the Entry Requirements section of the PhD in Agriculture, Rural and Environmental Studies webpage 

 

Application Process:  

To apply for an SRUC PhD studentship, please follow the guidance below or on the SRUC Postgraduate Research Opportunities webpage. The SRUC Doctoral College can provide you with support for your application.  

Informal enquiries about the project and your application should be addressed to the project supervisor, Dr Salvatore Galgano – Salvatore.Galgano@sruc.ac.uk   

After you have approached the project supervisor and discussed your application with them, you should:  

1. Complete the online SRUC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion survey; the survey will automatically generate a completion receipt number that you should copy and paste on the relevant section of your SRUC Application Form.  
2. Download and fill in the SRUC Application Form.  
3. Download and send the Academic Reference Form to your two academic/professional referees, and ask them to submit the references directly to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk  by 31 January 2025  
4. Submit your complete application, along with academic transcripts and certificates to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk by 31 January 2025.

If you require any additional assistance in submitting your application or have any queries about the application process, please don't hesitate to contact us at Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk. 

  

Funding Notes:   

This PhD project is fully funded for 3.5 years. It is part of a competition funded by SRUC and is open to students worldwide. Funding will cover tuition fees at the UK rate, plus a stipend to support living costs and an annual research grant of £3,000 for the first three years of the PhD research (this is reduced to £500 in the writing-up year of the PhD). 

Detection of speciation, adaptation and connectivity in Porbeagle Shark (Lamna nasus) populations: A role for mitogenomics in conservation of large marine predators

Start date: October 2025    

Duration: 3.5 YEARS 

Stipend: UKRI stipend levels (£19,237 in 2024/25) 

Supervisors: Dr Scott Lawton, Dr Toby Landeryou, Dr Catherine Jones (University of Aberdeen), Prof Leslie Noble (Nord University, Norway) 

Location: Inverness 

Closing date for applications: 31 January 2025 

 

Description:

The porbeagle shark (Lamna nasus) a keystone species in marine ecosystems, is an apex predator. However, its populations have been severely depleted by overfishing, bycatch, and other anthropogenic pressures, compounded by the species’ slow growth, late maturity, and low reproductive rates. Currently classified as critically endangered in the North Atlantic and vulnerable globally significant knowledge gaps remain regarding its population structure, connectivity, and historical responses to environmental and anthropogenic pressures. Addressing these gaps is essential for development of effective conservation policies and sustainable fisheries management. Over the past decade mitogenomics has proved a powerful molecular approach to address issues surrounding population variability, connectivity and the potential for speciation events, and thus has become increasingly important in informing population management and conservation strategies. The mitochondrial genome’s rapid evolution, small size, and maternal inheritance make it a highly effective marker for studying genetic diversity, population structure, and evolutionary history. Mitogenomic approaches could uncover population connectivity and barriers to gene flow, revealing whether porbeagle sharks are part of a single global metapopulation or consist of distinct regional units. This knowledge is critical for identifying evolutionarily significant units (ESUs) that require targeted conservation measures. 

Using mitochondrial genomes this project aims to provide detailed insights into the evolutionary history and population biology of the porbeagle by testing the following hypotheses: I) Porbeagle populations in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere represent distinct evolutionary lineages with significant genetic differentiation, indicating that they are separate species and thus should be managed as distinct conservation units. II) Variants in mitochondrial protein coding genes are under selection in populations inhabiting different environmental conditions/locations, these adaptations could facilitate or inhibit population resilience to change. III) Maternal lineages of exhibit high connectivity across some regions but show limited between hemispheric exchange due to geographic or ecological barriers. Information on gene flow has direct implications for management of fishing pressure and conserving genetic diversity. IV) Porbeagle populations have undergone significant demographic declines in the post-industrial era, coinciding with intensification of global fisheries, context crucial for understanding stock resilience and recovery.   

Given the recent advances in sequencing technologies, mitogenomics offers a timely and effective tool to address the urgent conservation needs of the porbeagle, while establishing a framework for applying these methods to other vulnerable marine species. The student will be trained in molecular biology, evolution and ecology, population genetics and bioinformatics. 

This project is located at SRUC Inverness. 

 

Eligibility: 

For entry to PhD study, applicants are expected to have at least one of the following: 

• an undergraduate degree, usually with first or upper second (2:1) class honours or equivalent in a relevant subject, or
• a relevant master’s qualification or equivalent evidence of prior professional practice.

International applicants and candidates from non-English speaking countries will need to meet the minimum language requirements for admission onto the programme of study. These can be found in the Entry Requirements section of the PhD in Agriculture, Rural and Environmental Studies webpage 

 

Application Process:  

To apply for an SRUC PhD studentship, please follow the guidance below or on the SRUC Postgraduate Research Opportunities webpage. The SRUC Doctoral College can provide you with support for your application.  

Informal enquiries about the project and your application should be addressed to the project supervisor, Dr Scott Lawton – Scott.Lawton@sruc.ac.uk  

After you have approached the project supervisor and discussed your application with them, you should:  

1. Complete the online SRUC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion survey; the survey will automatically generate a completion receipt number that you should copy and paste on the relevant section of your SRUC Application Form.  
2. Download and fill in the SRUC Application Form.  
3. Download and send the Academic Reference Form to your two academic/professional referees, and ask them to submit the references directly to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk  by 31 January 2025  
4. Submit your complete application, along with academic transcripts and certificates to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk by 31 January 2025.

If you require any additional assistance in submitting your application or have any queries about the application process, please don't hesitate to contact us at Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk. 

  

Funding Notes:   

This PhD project is fully funded for 3.5 years. It is part of a competition funded by SRUC and is open to students worldwide. Funding will cover tuition fees at the UK rate, plus a stipend to support living costs and an annual research grant of £3,000 for the first three years of the PhD research (this is reduced to £500 in the writing-up year of the PhD). 

Overcoming human barriers to uptake of condition scoring in the beef industry   

Start date: October 2025  

Duration: 3.5 YEARS 

Stipend: UKRI stipend levels (£19,237 in 2024/25) 

Supervisors: Dr Simon Turner, Dr Lesley Jessiman, Dr Faical Aichaki, Dr Kenny Rutherford 

Location: Edinburgh 

Closing date for applications: 31 January 2025 

 

Description:

Keeping pregnant beef cows at the right level of body condition (neither fat nor thin) prevents negative welfare outcomes and improves the environmental and economic efficiency of beef production. This is important as beef production is economically crucial to rural communities but is a major contributor to the climate crisis. Condition scoring cows requires only a few seconds of effort and no additional equipment, but is performed by less than 5% of farmers. The very low uptake of this simple management practice negatively affects farm efficiency, animal welfare and environmental impact. In our previous work, around 20% of cows in the national herd were below the recommended body condition at calving. This PhD will study the psychological, social, motivational, and economic barriers that prevent adoption of condition scoring and test an intervention to improve uptake.   

The project has four objectives, each forming a thesis chapter (though the student will be encouraged to influence the research direction). Objective 1 will understand the perceptions of condition scoring among farmers and vets and identify the barriers to adoption. With farmers, this will focus primarily on extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is self-determined by the individual. Extrinsic motivation stems from external punishment or reward and avoidance of guilt or protection of self-esteem. Enhancing intrinsic motivation is more likely to benefit positive behaviour change. With vets we will explore the value they place on correct body condition and why they do not advise farmers about the condition of their animals, despite condition being inappropriate. Objective 2 will quantify the skill of farmers and vets in condition scoring cows and their perception of ‘acceptable’ thresholds for leanness and obesity to understand how far these differ from industry guidelines. Objective 3 will quantify farmer willingness-to-pay to prevent leanness (e.g. through additional supplementary feed). Objective 4 will develop an intervention and test its effectiveness in increasing awareness, knowledge, skill and intention to adopt condition scoring.     

This multidisciplinary project will be based at SRUC near Edinburgh in one of the world’s largest welfare research teams close to Europe’s largest animal science research campus. Supervisors have expertise in animal welfare, human psychology, behavioural change and agricultural economics. Consultancy and veterinary colleagues will also input. The student will gain first-hand experience of interacting with farmers and vets, and skills in human behaviour change theory and methodology, animal welfare science and economic analysis. This broad skill set will maximise future employability. 

This project is located at SRUC Edinburgh. 

 

Eligibility: 

For entry to PhD study, applicants are expected to have at least one of the following: 

• an undergraduate degree, usually with first or upper second (2:1) class honours or equivalent in a relevant subject, or
• a relevant master’s qualification or equivalent evidence of prior professional practice.

International applicants and candidates from non-English speaking countries will need to meet the minimum language requirements for admission onto the programme of study. These can be found in the Entry Requirements section of the PhD in Agriculture, Rural and Environmental Studies webpage 

 

Application Process:  

To apply for an SRUC PhD studentship, please follow the guidance below or on the SRUC Postgraduate Research Opportunities webpage. The SRUC Doctoral College can provide you with support for your application.  

Informal enquiries about the project and your application should be addressed to the project supervisor, Dr Simon Turner – Simon.Turner@sruc.ac.uk   

After you have approached the project supervisor and discussed your application with them, you should:  

1. Complete the online SRUC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion survey; the survey will automatically generate a completion receipt number that you should copy and paste on the relevant section of your SRUC Application Form.  
2. Download and fill in the SRUC Application Form.  
3. Download and send the Academic Reference Form to your two academic/professional referees, and ask them to submit the references directly to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk  by 31 January 2025  
4. Submit your complete application, along with academic transcripts and certificates to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk by 31 January 2025.

If you require any additional assistance in submitting your application or have any queries about the application process, please don't hesitate to contact us at Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk. 

  

Funding Notes:   

This PhD project is fully funded for 3.5 years. It is part of a competition funded by SRUC and is open to students worldwide. Funding will cover tuition fees at the UK rate, plus a stipend to support living costs and an annual research grant of £3,000 for the first three years of the PhD research (this is reduced to £500 in the writing-up year of the PhD). 

A mixed method study of farmers’ perceptions, knowledge and use of nitrogen and the implications for sustainable nitrogen management in South Asia 

Start date: October 2025 

Duration: 3.5 YEARS 

Stipend: UKRI stipend levels (£19,237 in 2024/25) 

Supervisors: Dr Toritseju Begho, Dr Vera Eory 

Location: Edinburgh 

Closing date for applications: 31 January 2025 

 

Description:   

Over recent decades, there has been a heavy reliance on synthetic fertilisers to meet the food demand of the world’s growing population. However, this shift towards intensive use of fertilisers has several ramifications. Thus, the impact of agriculture on the environment is a topic of growing focus and concern. This concern is higher in South Asia as it is a region with one of the fastest-growing populations in the world and is reported to be one of the global hotspots for reactive nitrogen [1,2]. The environmental impact of pollution from mismanaged nitrogen, among other concerns, underlines the urgency of re-evaluating farmers’ perceptions, knowledge and use and exploring sustainable alternatives. 

While studies globally have focused on the pressing need to address the environmental and agricultural sustainability associated with nitrogen use, unique challenges or contextual factors in South Asia warrant a region-specific study investigation. In addition, there is a gap in the literature exploring farmers' perceptions and knowledge of both synthetic and organic fertilisers and studies that uncover and address potential misconceptions, preferences, and practices among farmers in South Asia. There are also research gaps in the methodological approaches. In this PhD project, you will employ a mixed-method approach critical for developing well-informed, context-specific interventions and policies to promote sustainable use of synthetic and organic fertilisers. 

The main objective of this PhD project is to gain comprehensive understanding of farmers' perceptions, knowledge, and utilization of synthetic and organic fertilisers in South Asia, with a focus on promoting sustainable nitrogen use. The objectives will be achieved within three related papers. Paper 1 will focus on farmers' beliefs, knowledge and attitudes regarding synthetic and organic fertilisers. Paper 2 will examine geographical variations and correlations between farmers’ attitudes and knowledge towards nitrogen inputs and farm-level nitrogen use efficiency while paper 3 will explore farmers' sources and perceptions of advice on synthetic and organic fertilisers. The project will combine qualitative and quantitative research methods, incorporating the synthesis of the existing literature with secondary data collected from countries in South Asia (papers 1 and 2) and primary data which will be obtained from field survey and interviews from a selection of these countries (paper 3).  

The findings from your PhD will offer understanding into the beliefs, attitudes, and values that shape farmers’ fertiliser use decisions and provide empirical evidence for driving behavioural shifts towards sustainable nitrogen use in South Asia. 

This project is located at SRUC Edinburgh. 

 

Eligibility: 

For entry to PhD study, applicants are expected to have at least one of the following: 

• an undergraduate degree, usually with first or upper second (2:1) class honours or equivalent in a relevant subject, or
• a relevant master’s qualification or equivalent evidence of prior professional practice.

International applicants and candidates from non-English speaking countries will need to meet the minimum language requirements for admission onto the programme of study. These can be found in the Entry Requirements section of the PhD in Agriculture, Rural and Environmental Studies webpage 

 

Application Process:  

To apply for an SRUC PhD studentship, please follow the guidance below or on the SRUC Postgraduate Research Opportunities webpage. The SRUC Doctoral College can provide you with support for your application.  

Informal enquiries about the project and your application should be addressed to the project supervisor, Dr Toritseju Begho – Toritseju.Begho@sruc.ac.uk  

After you have approached the project supervisor and discussed your application with them, you should:  

1. Complete the online SRUC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion survey; the survey will automatically generate a completion receipt number that you should copy and paste on the relevant section of your SRUC Application Form.  
2. Download and fill in the SRUC Application Form.  
3. Download and send the Academic Reference Form to your two academic/professional referees, and ask them to submit the references directly to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk  by 31 January 2025  
4. Submit your complete application, along with academic transcripts and certificates to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk by 31 January 2025.

If you require any additional assistance in submitting your application or have any queries about the application process, please don't hesitate to contact us at Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk. 

  

Funding Notes:   

This PhD project is fully funded for 3.5 years. It is part of a competition funded by SRUC and is open to students worldwide. Funding will cover tuition fees at the UK rate, plus a stipend to support living costs and an annual research grant of £3,000 for the first three years of the PhD research (this is reduced to £500 in the writing-up year of the PhD). 

Elucidating interactions between rumen-derived fungi and bacteria via a biobank of simplified microbial communities

Start date: October 2025 

Duration: 3.5 YEARS 

Stipend: UKRI stipend levels (£19,237 in 2024/25) 

Supervisors: Dr Jolanda van Munster, Prof Nicola Holden, Prof Jamie Newbold

Location: Edinburgh 

Closing date for applications: 31 January 2025 

 

Description:

Feed digestion, enabled by the digestive tract microbiome, is critical to ruminant health and performance in farming, including GHG emissions. Manipulation of microbiome activity is thus a highly promising avenue to address challenges in ruminant farming. However, it presents a key challenge: it requires functional understanding of the microbiome.

The rumen microbiome consists of bacteria, archaea, protozoa and fungi, whereby fungi play a key role in digestion of plant cell walls in feed. The interactions of these fungi with other microbiome members underpin the rumen microbiome function but are very poorly understood.

This project aims to identify and characterise functional interactions between rumen-derived microbes, particularly fungi and bacteria, during plant cell wall digestion.

 

Key objectives are to:

• Create a biobank of simplified microbial communities derived from ruminant digestive tracts.

Culturable microbial communities that retain function but are simplified in terms of biodiversity, are developed by combining four different experimental approaches, then stored and characterised.

• Identify bacterial functionalities and bacterial-fungal partnerships via functional screening employing the biobank.

Interactions and roles of fungi and their partners in digestion will be uncovered, such as identifying carbohydrate-based or other cross-feeding, or keystone species for the production of fermentation products.

• Characterisation of the identified microbial interactions and functionalities. Communities will be deconstructed to identify community members responsible for key functions, and the associated interaction mechanism elucidated.

Together this will result in insight in cross-kingdom interactions between microbes that play a role in plant cell wall digestion in the rumen and has potential to uncover new interactions and roles of these microbes.

This project builds on experience with biobanking¹, in fungal biology², and rumen microbiology³ at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) and bioinformatics at University of Edinburgh. You will benefit from training across these disciplines, including in anaerobe mycology and bacteriology, enzymology of carbohydrate active enzymes, molecular biology and genetics approaches to working with microbial communities such as amplicon sequencing.

You will mainly be based at the King’s Building campus in Edinburgh and work closely with partners at the SRUC Aberdeen campus and the Roslin Institute. The supervisory team is committed, and expects your active contribution, to an inclusive work environment and professional development of all research team members.

 

Eligibility:

For entry to PhD study, applicants are expected to have at least one of the following:

• an undergraduate degree, usually with first or upper second (2:1) class honours or equivalent in a relevant subject, or
• a relevant master’s qualification or equivalent evidence of prior professional practice.

International applicants and candidates from non-English speaking countries will need to meet the minimum language requirements for admission onto the programme of study. These can be found in the Entry Requirements section of the PhD in Agriculture, Rural and Environmental Studies webpage

 

Application Process:

To apply for an SRUC PhD studentship, please follow the guidance below or on the SRUC Postgraduate Research Opportunities webpage. The SRUC Doctoral College can provide you with support for your application.

Informal enquiries about the project and your application should be addressed to the project supervisor, Dr Jolanda Van-Munster – Jolanda.van-munster@sruc.ac.uk

After you have approached the project supervisor and discussed your application with them, you should:

1. Complete the online SRUC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion survey; the survey will automatically generate a completion receipt number that you should copy and paste on the relevant section of your SRUC Application Form.
2. Download and fill in the SRUC Application Form.
3. Download and send the Academic Reference Form to your two academic/professional referees, and ask them to submit the references directly to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk  by 31 January 2025
4. Submit your complete application, along with academic transcripts and certificates to Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk by 31 January 2025.

If you require any additional assistance in submitting your application or have any queries about the application process, please don't hesitate to contact us at Doctoral.College@sruc.ac.uk.