Biosciences (Restoration Ecology) : Fully Funded Phd Studentship in Harnessing ecosystem resilience to inform woodland restoration across Wales (RS849)

Funding provider: Swansea University and Welsh Government

Subject areas: Restoration Ecology, Biodiversity, Population and Community Ecology 

Project start dates:

• 1st October 2025 (preferred) 
• 1st January 2026 (as required) 

Supervisors:  

• Dr Miguel Lurgi Rivera 
• Prof Luca Börger 

Aligned programme of study: PhD in Biosciences 

Mode of study: Full time only (due to funding) 

Place of study: Faculty of Science & Engineering, Swansea University 

Project description:  
As part of the Restoration Ecology And Dynamics (READY) Doctoral Focal Award, we invite applications to the following PhD project: Harnessing ecosystem resilience to inform woodland restoration across Wales. 

Headline research question: How can the resilience and stability of woodland communities inform management strategies aimed at restoration? 

In this project we will adopt a multi-disciplinary approach including empirical data analysis, experiments, and theoretical modelling to develop science-based management strategies for the restoration of woodland ecosystems. We will collect, and collate from public sources, data on the current status of ecological communities in several woodland patches across Wales, encompassing all taxa. The data will comprise species presence and distributions as well as ecological interactions. These data will be analysed to understand similarities and differences between disturbed and undisturbed patches to assess resilience. If feasible, measures of resilience will be complemented with mesoscale experiments involving connected patches of woodland communities to assess their reaction to change. Data from both experiments and the field will be used to inform computational models considering networks of patches and their species and interactions composition to predict spatial and temporal community structure across restoration gradients, aimed at developing a predictive decision-making framework to facilitate the design of restoration strategies. 

In this project, the student will learn on their own time (i.e. self-learning) and under the guidance of the supervisors, classical ecological theories and methods to mathematically model species interactions networks and communities across spatial scales. As part of the project, the student will extend these methods and make use of classical ecological theories of meta-communities and ecological networks, to develop a decision-making framework to inform restoration efforts across Wales. The framework will bring together ecological theory and modelling with the analysis of publicly available data on degraded and restored ecosystems. Specifically, mathematical dynamical ecological frameworks informed from empirical data will be developed to produce a quantitative picture of ecosystems assembly across spatial scales under restoration. 

The specific objectives of the project are to: 

1. Identify relevant study sites in Wales to assess resilience and ecosystem recovery and collect biodiversity data (i.e. species compositions, interactions, geographical ranges) through time on all the identified sites.
2. Analyse the data collected in (1) to develop a comprehensive picture of assembly and resilience at those selected sites.
3. Construct a theoretical framework incorporating regional (e.g., temporal processes such as community recovery and spatial processes such as dispersal) and local (e.g., biotic interactions such as competition and food webs) processes to develop a multi-scale understanding of the effects of restoration on community persistence and stability.
4. Parameterise and validate the theoretical model using data from (1) and (2).
5. Design and run simulated scenarios of restoration to predict future outcomes of community assembly in proposed conservation sites.
6. Assess the feasibility of conducting experiments in empirical settings to validate the model and perform these experiments and associated data collection.

Funding duration – 4 years 

 PhD: Applicants for PhD must hold an undergraduate degree at 2.1 level in Biosciences or a related subject, or a master’s degree with a minimum overall grade at ‘Merit’ (or Non-UK equivalent as defined by Swansea University). See - Country Specific Entry Requirements page.  

English Language: IELTS 6.5 Overall (with no individual component below 6.0) or Swansea University recognised equivalent. Full details of our English Language policy, including certificate time validity, can be found here. 

If you have any questions regarding your academic or fee eligibility based on the above, please email pgrscholarships@swansea.ac.uk with the web-link to the scholarship(s) you are interested in. 

Please note that the programme requires some applicants to hold ATAS clearance, further details on ATAS scheme eligibility are available on the UK Government website.  

ATAS clearance IS NOT required to be held as part of the scholarship application process. Successful award winners (as appropriate) are provided with details as to how to apply for ATAS clearance in tandem with a scholarship course offer.  

This scholarship covers the full cost of tuition and annual stipend at standard UKRI rates (currently £20,780 for 2025/26). 

Additional research and training expenses will also be available. 

An additional, three-month, funded placement with Welsh Government is included.

International Students
Swansea University is pleased to offer the Swansea University International Postgraduate Research Excellence Scholarship (SUIPRES). This is a competitively awarded Scholarship open to overseas PhD and Professional Doctorate applicants eligible for the international rate of tuition fees who can demonstrate excellence in academic achievement.   

The SUIPRES Scholarship covers the difference between the International and the Home tuition fee for the duration of the PhD/Professional Doctorate programme. Successful candidates will be charged fees aligned to the UK rate per year. The scholarship will be offset against your tuition fee liability  

All International applications will be considered for a SUIPRES Scholarship. You will be informed whether a SUIPRES Scholarship will be offered within your offer letter. 

To apply, please complete the entire application form.

In order to be considered for this scholarship award the following steps are also required. 

1) In section ‘Programme Related Information’ please input the relevant RS Code for the scholarship award i.e. RS849 

2) In section ‘Research’ you will see ‘Proposed project title/studentship title’* (Mandatory) 

• In ‘Proposed project title/studentship title’ please input:  

• the RS Code, RS849 
• the scholarship title

• Please leave Proposed Supervisor field blank 
• Please leave Research Project (if applicable) blank 
• In ‘Do you have a proposal to upload?*’(Mandatory) Please select Yes 
• Then upload copy of advert (you can save the advert by clicking print, and then print to pdf) 

3) In section ‘Funding information’ please choose the option ‘Scholarship Funding’ only. Please ensure no other options are selected. 

 *It is the responsibility of the applicant to list the above information accurately when applying, please note that applications received without the above information listed will not be considered for the scholarship award. 

One application is required per individual Swansea University led research scholarship award; applications cannot be considered listing multiple Swansea University led research scholarship awards. 

NOTE: Applicants for PhD/EngD/ProfD/EdD - to support our commitment to providing an environment free of discrimination and celebrating diversity at Swansea University you are required to complete an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Monitoring Form in addition to your programme application form.    

Please note that completion of the EDI Monitoring Form is mandatory; your application may not progress if this information is not submitted. 

As part of your online application, you MUST upload the following documents (please do not send these via email): 

• CV 

• Degree certificates and transcripts (if you are currently studying for a degree, screenshots of your grades to date are sufficient) 

• A cover letter including a ‘Supplementary Personal Statement’ to explain why the position particularly matches your skills and experience and how you choose to develop the project. 

• One reference (academic or previous employer) on headed paper or using the Swansea University reference form. Please note that we are not able to accept references received citing private email accounts, e.g. Hotmail. Referees should cite their employment email address for verification of reference. 

• Evidence of meeting English Language requirement (if applicable). 

• Copy of UK resident visa (if applicable) 

• Confirmation of EDI form submission 

Informal enquiries are welcome; please contact Dr Miguel Lurgi Rivera miguel.lurgi@swansea.ac.uk 

*External Partner Application Data Sharing – Please note that as part of the scholarship application selection process, application data sharing may occur with external partners outside of the University, when joint/co- funding of a scholarship project is applicable.