PhD Studentship Ecological foot-printing for the Greater Bristol city-region

June 28, 2008

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Funded by: Great Western Research, Forum for the Future and Hewlett-Packard

Supervised by: Professor Katie Williams, Centre for Environment and Planning (CEP), University of the West of England, Bristol and Professor Geoff Hammond, International Centre for the Environment (ICE), University of Bath

Determining the sustainability of a city or city-region is a complex task. For a start, there are many disagreements about what sustainability means. Then there are questions about what can be evaluated, and how it can be measured. Furthermore, pinning any assessments down to a specific spatial scale, in this case the city-region, raises even more conceptual and practical difficulties.

To date, a number of methods have been developed to establish different measures of sustainability. These have been designed to address, broadly, environmental, economic and social aspects (individually or in combination). A method that has gained prominence is ecological footprinting. This has been widely used as an indication of resource consumption and waste absorption transformed on the basis of biologically productive land area required per capita.

The PhD proposed here is concerned with establishing the sustainability impact of the Bristol city-region. It takes as its starting point a critique of various sustainability assessments appropriate at the city-region scale (including footprinting). The outcome of this critique will determine how the research proceeds. It may use footprinting techniques, other methods, or a combination of approaches, to develop a baseline analysis of the Bristol city-region. It will then develop some forwardcasting scenarios, based on different policy options.

The PhD will contribute to knowledge on the conceptualisation and evaluation of spatially-based sustainability. It will also establish a new and significant data set for the Greater Bristol city-region.

The PhD is a joint venture between two universities (The University of the West of England and the University of Bath) and two external partners (Forum for the Future and Hewlett-Packard). It is part-funded by Great Western Research. The candidate will be supervised jointly by the two universities, and gain input from the partners.

The successful applicant will have a broad interest in sustainability issues. S/he will have a good first degree or a Master’s degree in a relevant discipline such as geography, planning, social sciences (with a sustainability element), or environmental science. Ideally the candidate will have some experience of handling large data sets, and be willing to acquire any additional relevant skills (such as modelling for forwardcasting).

The PhD studentship covers fees and pays a stipend for three years. The stipend for home/EU students will be will be equivalent to the research council rate of £12,940 in the 2008/09 academic year with cost of living adjustments in years 2 and 3. International students will need to pay the difference between the two fee rates from the stipend (leaving a stipend of approximately £6,700 in each year).

For an application form, please download an application form and guidance notes. Please send these to: Ruth Farajian, School of the Built and Natural Environment, University of the West of England, Frenchay Campus, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol BS16 1QY. Tel: 0117 3283012; email: Ruth2.Farajian@uwe.ac.uk

Closing date for applications is: 17th July 2008. Please note interviews are likely to be held in the week beginning 28th July. Start date is in September 2008.

Scholarship Tags: Bristol, Ecological, foot-printing, Greater, PhD, Studentship