Funded PhD opportunities

Working for social justice is an aspiration for many educationalists but is becoming increasingly challenging. This studentship aims to provide an opportunity for in depth investigation in one of the following areas:

• Barriers to social justice as a process and/or goal in a specific area
• Decolonising in a specific educational context

Initial Contact: Prof Sally Elton-Chalcraft

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In the UK, rates of WRMSD in the medical imaging workforce – and particularly in medical ultrasound – are understood to be higher than in many other AHPs. In this project, the successful applicant would be expected to (a) systematically consolidate existing knowledge around the pertinent issues specific to UK medical imaging staff, (b) undertake further primary qualitative or mixed-method research to fill-in gaps in the knowledge base, and (c) design an intervention programme - ideally including a Delphi Study component - to aid in the prevention of future cases.

Initial Contact: Dr Paul K. Miller

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Building on extant research, this project would explore the nuanced (and often latent) ways in which a long-term shortage of sonographers in the UK has impacted upon persons, relationships, workplace culture and professional practice within the medical imaging workforce. Taking a qualitative or mixed-method approach, the successful candidate would be encouraged to explore these impacts in both public and private sectors, given the high mobility of staff between the two.

Initial Contect: Dr Paul K. Miller

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Eating disorders, especially for patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) have the highest mortality rate of any mental health illness. When hospitalised, there are overarching principles regarding the prioritisation of the least restrictive treatment option, providing treatments that are in the patient’s best interest and those that maximise independence. Clinicians nonetheless may be required to facilitate involuntary Naso Gastric Tube (NGT) feeding that enables a patient to receive treatment and therapy.  While research on involuntary NGT feeding exists, there is little published research that focuses on the practice of feeding under restraint that include the experience of those involved or professional practices.

This research will explore the use of coercive practices in health care settings when caring for young people (16-25) with eating disorders, in order to co-design potential values driven pathways of care to minimise restrictive interventions associated with Eating Disorders in a range of healthcare settings. A staged and iterative process will be employed using the following methods: 1) a systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the current evidence base; 2) an exploration of lived experience of admission to healthcare for young people and their families using interviews and the development of trigger films (EBCD) (Phase 1); 3) the exploration and sharing of experiences and touchpoints using workshops (EBCD Phase 2); 4) the identification of varied co-designed pathways based upon identified case studies (EBCD Phase 3). The research findings will be used to engage with and inform a range of stakeholders including those with lived experience, a range of healthcare professionals, senior staff and commissioners and policy makers.

Initial Contact: Prof Joy Duxbury

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Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is characterized by the abnormal synthesis and/or function of collagen, fibrillin, and elastin in the body and affects the gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and musculoskeletal systems. It consists of 13 heritable connective tissue disorders. Hypermobility Ehlers Danlos Syndrome is the most common subtype and accounts for 90% of cases (https://www.ehlers-danlos.com/what-is-eds/). Exercise and rehabilitation for EDS and hypermobility disorders commonly focuses on improving physical function via development of muscular strength and proprioception and postural exercises, such as lumbar spinal stabilization and trunk muscle endurance exercises.  It is starting to be recognized that Ehlers Danlos Syndrome can be associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and autism. However, many staff working with these conditions have limited or no knowledge of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. Although a national network exists in the form of the Ehlers-Danlos Society at a regional level the condition is often not recognised and Cumbria in particular does not have a strategic plan in place with management and recognition often left to individual physiotherapists of GP’s.

The aim of this research is to develop physiotherapy intervention programmes at a regional and national level via the development of educational resources and support networks. Potential designs include: a) A systematic review and meta-analysis of the physiotherapy intervention programmes for Ehlers Danlos Syndrome; b) a survey of current Ehlers Danlos Syndrome services in the local area; c) development of an education programme regarding Ehlers Danlos Syndrome that could be implemented to support GP’s, organizations that have contact with Ehlers Danlos patients such as the Autism Society.

Initial Contact: Dr Ross Armstrong

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The core purpose of adult care and support is to help people achieve the outcomes that matter in their life. With an ageing population, the requirement for specialist rehabilitation via physiotherapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) in care homes is increasing. However, provision is variable with many care homes historically receiving no rehabilitation input. Evidence exists that care home staff would like to develop skills and knowledge both for personal development and to maintain resident independence. Digital technology is becoming more popular and an online resource with information about common medical conditions and information regarding how to help residents maintain and improve their independence could be useful.

This research addresses whether the implementation of an online learning resource would potentially address this gap for Residential Homes (RH) staff and their rehabilitation, and support the management of residents in RHs in Cumbria. This resource will develop the knowledge and skills of RHs staff, empowering them to maintain the health and well-being of residents in conjunction with remote support. The aim is to expand training and learning opportunities and experience of a collaborative approach by working within a multidisciplinary team. Potential areas for investigation include: a) surveys, and interviews to determine what the residential home staff would like to learn; b) discussion with staff, residents and their families on the impact of the online resource via survey and interviews and the resident’s ability to perform activities of daily living could be recorded using physiotherapy outcome measures.

Initial Contact: Dr Ross Armstrong

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Restoration of degraded upland landscapes is a key component of current strategy to help landowners address the global challenges facing biodiversity, climate and wider ecosystem services. This approach aims to reverse the environmental degradation largely driven by previous policies that encouraged agricultural intensification, but little is still known about how effectively landscape-scale restoration projects will deliver the expected benefits for nature, climate and society. The recent purchase by Cumbria Wildlife Trust of Skiddaw Forest (listed as a SSSI and SAC for its ecological and geological importance) in the Lake District is a unique and ambitious example of such a large-scale restoration project, aiming to restore 3,000 acres of severely nature depleted uplands to a rich ‘mosaic of habitats on a truly landscape scale’ (CWT, 2024).

This PhD project will apply a ‘natural experiment’ framework to assess the ecological restoration at Skiddaw, identifying the most effective strategies for securing net gains in biodiversity, carbon sequestration and storage, and water storage. The ecological history of Skiddaw Forest and the surrounding landscape will be used to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the key biotic and abiotic drivers for ecosystem recovery, including proximity to existing natural habitats, legacy land use and habitat type, and time since restoration. The project will investigate how site-level factors from the restored ‘mosaic of habitats’ influence ecological restoration, complexity and ecosystem functionality or services. By the development of practical approaches to accelerate ecosystem recovery at Skiddaw Forest, this project will also identify win-wins and trade-offs to inform future landscape restoration projects and policies in other upland, nature depleted sites.

Initial Contact: Dr. Joseph Hawes

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Black grouse Tetrao tetrix were once a widespread species across Britain. Habitat loss and overgrazing have resulted in a decline in numbers and range, making them a Red Listed Species of Conservation Concern. Whilst positive habitat management is helping them to increase in some areas, they are a dispersal limited species and translocations seem necessary to restore the population to its previous range in Britain. However, the most recent review of black grouse re-introductions in Europe was published 24 years ago, and concluded that none of the 14 Black Grouse projects had established a self-sustaining population. Yet such projects remain popular across Britain, often without sufficient guidance for practitioners.

Without evidence-led and peer-reviewed guidance, these projects seem doomed to fail, and risk putting existing native populations under threat by removing wild birds from vulnerable but established populations to unsuitable locations. Therefore, an updated assessment of metrics for success from previous attempts is urgently needed to help guide and maximise the success of future projects.

This project will aim to fill this knowledge gap with a mixed method approach. The PhD candidate will conduct reviews of previous projects to map out the current knowledge and create a database of previous re-introduction attempts, aiming to document the reasons for their failure. Furthermore, the candidate will collect new data on ongoing black grouse translocation projects including metrics of habitat, predation, food availability and the extent to which learned behaviour, necessary for survival, is shown by translocated/ reintroduced individuals.  These metrics will then be related to interim measures of success to determine the most effective strategy for improving the success of reintroduction attempts.

Initial Contact: Dr. Rich Francksen

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The role of genealogy and the social and physical environment in shaping behavioural repertoires can be difficult to disentangle in the wild, but studies on captive groups where environmental variables are controlled and genealogy and social history are known, can provide valuable insights. Because vocalisations can be easily recorded and quantitatively analysed using spectrograms, analyses of vocal behaviour are particularly useful for understanding the origins of behavioural variation.

Advances in machine learning have shown promising results detecting biologically meaningful categories in odontocete calls: Shamir et al. (2014) used automated categorisation of pulsed calls to successfully delineate species differences (killer whales, short-finned and long-finned pilot whales), but also discriminate between different killer whale populations. Deecke and Janik (2006) used the ARTwarp categorisation algorithm to identify signature whistle categories in a data set of bottlenose dolphin whistles. ARTwarp also categorised killer whale calls successfully and is currently being adapted by Tatiana Marchon (University of Iceland) to include the two-voiced feature of many killer whale calls (smARTwarp).

We propose to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the recordings of killer whales at Loro Parque. We will run large samples of high-quality calls through the smARTwarp categorisation algorithm to establish the repertoire of stereotyped call types produced by the group. Using the localisation algorithm and/or situations when one individual was recorded alone, we will then test for individual differences in call repertoires and also determine the relationship of usage of specific call types depending on behavioural context. Finally we will compare the call types in the Loro Parque repertoire with the population repertoires of the individual’s paternal and maternal ancestors.

Initial Contact: Professor Volker Deecke

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Cumbria Connect is a 33,000-hectare nature restoration partnership that started in 2023 and sits less than 10 miles to the northeast from our Ambleside Campus. This rural landscape provides a unique opportunity to monitor the restoration of grasslands, peatlands, woodlands and wetlands in response to new policies for agricultural transition. For example, the UK government has committed to restoring 35,000 hectares of peatlands by 2030 and increasing woodland cover by 3.5%. However, maximising the success rates of such restoration efforts is challenging, and we need to vastly improve both our understanding of how diversity and function are impacted by restoration at a landscape scale and how this evidence feeds into sustainable practice and management for landowners.

This project will combine remote sensing (using airborne and ground-based LiDAR) and high-resolution ground-truthing (using Differential GPS) of tree planting and natural regeneration to provide detailed information on tree growth and survival. This detailed information on the development of individual trees and the associated carbon budget will then be used to assess the efficiency of different restoration practices/policies in terms of biodiversity gain and carbon sequestration. In turn, this will inform when and how many carbon credits can be expected from the different restoration policies. The project will also analyse existing long-term biodiversity datasets on vegetation and bird communities from Wild Haweswater and extend ongoing surveys of plants, birds and moths from across the Cumbria Connect landscape, to guide national restoration strategies by tracking and modelling changes in beta-diversity as a degraded and fragmented system is transformed into a diverse and dynamic habitat mosaic.

Initial Contact: Dr Angus Carpenter

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Tropical forests play a pivotal role in global climate regulation, as well as supporting vital ecosystems and rich biodiversity. Despite the importance of the Amazon, as the largest and most species-rich forest on Earth, vast remote regions of this territory remain severely under surveyed. In addition to plugging knowledge gaps in species distribution patterns, we also urgently need more accurate and robust measures of carbon storage across different tree species and forest landscapes.

Terrestrial LiDAR data generates detailed 3D point-cloud images of forest structure, including fine details of branches in the canopy layer that are typically overlooked in carbon calculations. When linked with species ID and species-specific wood density measurements, this advanced technology has the potential to dramatically improve the resolution of above-ground woody biomass and carbon stock estimates, yet these methods remain poorly tested for Amazonian forests. In addition, by precisely describing the partitioning of carbon within the forest structure, we improve both our ecological understanding of how these ecosystems function as carbon reserves and our capacity to budget this carbon within global governance frameworks. It also allows for radiative transfer modelling of canopy processes to describe vertical profiles of carbon sequestration, complimenting measures of carbon storage and canopy traits. Improving our knowledge of carbon storage in remote undisturbed forests is particularly critical to better understand the impact of key disturbances, such as logging, hunting, fire and climate changes.

This PhD project will use a novel and extensive dataset including LiDAR data from 36 x 1-ha plots surveyed by the Amazon Biodiversity and Carbon (ABC) Expeditions to: 1) examine tree species composition, aboveground biomass and carbon stocks across all major Amazonian interfluvial regions, 2) assess the vertical profile of carbon sequestration and quantify the canopy contribution to carbon stocks, and 3) model the potential impact of anthropogenic disturbances on carbon stocks in structurally undisturbed Amazonian forests.

Initial Contact: Dr Joseph Hawes

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Saltmarsh and seagrass ecosystems provide several essential ecosystem services, including shoreline protection from coastal erosion, nursery areas for many species of fish and invertebrates, fishery production, and carbon sequestration. Despite their importance, the UK has lost 93% of its seagrass meadows and over 50% of its saltmarsh extent. Current restoration methods have failed to develop viable seagrass and saltmarsh ecosystems that provide equivalent ecosystem function and services. New methods are being developed but it is unclear what these methods will mean for restored seagrass and saltmarsh ecosystem services and valuation.  This knowledge ultimately will impact how land managers understand viability of new coastal sites, return on investment, and strategic use of available resources. Cumbria provides a window into national coastal land management, with exciting restoration programmes underway.

The University of Cumbria (UoC) has established a relationship with Cumbria Wildlife Trust (CWT) who have developed strong baseline data for seagrass restoration and are managing an ambitious landscape scale saltmarsh enhancement programme supported by DEFRA.

This project will combine quality field observations of fisheries, sediment carbon and vegetation alongside novel and high-resolution remote sensing of both saltmarsh and seagrass restoration programmes. These data will allow the team to provide impactful guidance upon the consequences of restation techniques towards upon emerging markets of carbon storage, biodiversity credits and fundamental ecosystems services and functions that are rarely studied and often communicated as a core value such as fisheries nursery and refuge with cited values in the thousands of £ per hectare per year. With the new saltmarsh carbon code coming online in relation to carbon markets this project will offer be at the forefront of evidence and markets.

Our aim is ensuring our findings shape the future of CWT, NW IFCA, MMO, IFM policy and decision making. The project will also afford the student chances to actively participate in WWT and RSPB events to disseminate our findings to foster further collaboration.

Initial Contact: Dr Mark Tupper

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