PhD Studentship: Turning Up the Heat on Soil Carbon: Quantifying Carbon Dynamics and Climate Resilience of Agave Production in Mexico

Location:  UK Different

Closing Date: Friday 31 Could 2024

Supervisor: Hannah Cooper

Topic Space: Sustainable Agriculture

Analysis Title: Turning up the warmth on soil carbon: Quantifying carbon dynamics and local weather resilience of agave manufacturing in Mexico

Analysis Description

“Local weather change is without doubt one of the most important challenges going through the world right this moment, and agriculture is each a contributor to and a casualty of local weather change. The influence of agriculture on the setting has been more and more scrutinised, as it’s accountable for 13% of world greenhouse fuel emissions. Nevertheless, regenerative farming provides a promising answer to scale back the influence of agriculture on local weather change and improve the resilience of farming programs to local weather change impacts. Our latest work has demonstrated substantial advantages for adopting regenerative practices when it comes to long-term local weather resilience. Nevertheless, the advantages and trade-offs from such transitions are poorly quantified, and there stays little understanding of how such adjustments can contribute to the decarbonisation and elevated sustainability of provide chains.

Agave is a crucial crop that underpins the tequila provide chain. Agricultural manufacturing can have substantial opposed environmental impacts, together with soil degradation, challenges with water availability and important greenhouse fuel emissions. Regenerative agriculture describes a spread of extra sustainable farming practices and is of rising curiosity throughout the agriculture sector as a result of its potential to deliver a number of advantages via carbon sequestration and storage in soils, advantages to biodiversity, and elevated local weather resilience. Regenerative practices have important potential in agave manufacturing, however advantages are poorly quantified, significantly when it comes to impacts on yield and carbon storage, and little is understood about how these will influence provide chains or smallholder farmer livelihoods. This venture addresses this problem.

The intention of the studentship is to generate new proof in regards to the potential carbon sequestration arising from adopting regenerative practices below present and future climates. This venture will subsequently in the end assist the transition to extra sustainable provide chains and assist the elevated local weather resilience of agave manufacturing. “

Award Begin Date: 01/10/2024

Length of Award: 48 months

Phrases and Situations

Funding consists of a stipend paid at UKRI charges (at the moment £18,622 pa), tuition charges, and as much as £4000 pa to cowl analysis prices (e.g., journey for fieldwork and tools). Owing to funding constraints for tuition charges, this chance is simply obtainable to UK college students.

Applicant Qualification Necessities

Candidates ought to have an curiosity in environmental or agricultural science, geography or an equal topic. They need to maintain, or be anticipated to acquire, a minimal of a UK Honours diploma at 2:1 or equal in a bodily or environmental science topic. Candidates with a further qualification (i.e. Masters) can be seemed on favourably. Expertise of fieldwork and/or modelling can be fascinating.

Tips on how to Apply

Cowl letter explaining why you’re feeling you’re a appropriate candidate (most 1 web page), alongside a curriculum vitae needs to be emailed to [email protected]