[Aqualist] International PhD opportunity

[John Tibby]

Dear AQUA colleagues,

I am seeking you help in promoting a PhD opportunity that is unfortunately not available to Australians or New Zealanders.


We are seeking a high quality Quaternary/Earth Science/Geography student to undertake a joint University of Adelaide-University of Nottingham PhD project with a four year tax free scholarship.  The student will be awarded a joint University of Adelaide-University of Nottingham PhD.

The student will be studying the following topic:

The hydroclimatic history of the Australian subtropics inferred from Fraser Island lake sediments.

Understanding past hydroclimates are crucial in the Australian subtropics for (a) investigating the geographic expression of Pacific Ocean climate impacts; (b) constraining the full magnitude and causation of extreme droughts/floods, with relevance for future hydrological management; and (c) relating long term ecological change, including the appearance and loss of Australian animal species, to associated climate variability.

In this project, the student will infer past rainfall variation from lake water oxygen isotope proxies and/or the carbon isotope composition of Melaleuca quinquenervia leaves from key Fraser Island<http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/fraser-island> (Queensland) lakes.  The relationship between leaf carbon isotopes and rainfall is outlined in Tibby et al. (2016) and the project is discussed to some extent in this video<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXJXg8yhrYA>. Oxygen isotopes would be extracted from aquatic cellulose and/or diatom and phytolith silica. This project will likely incorporate diatom and/or macrofossil analysis from these lakes.  The precise nature of the project, including the timeframe of focus will be negotiated with the successful student.




The student will be based in Geography at The University of Adelaide and supervised by Dr John Tibby<https://researchers.adelaide.edu.au/profile/john.tibby> (Geography) and Dr Jonathan Tyler<https://researchers.adelaide.edu.au/profile/jonathan.tyler> (Department of Earth Sciences).  The student is expected to spend a minimum of 18 months at The University of Nottingham and it is envisaged that much of this time will be spent undertaking carbon and/or oxygen isotope analyses under the supervision of Professor Melanie Leng<http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/biosciences/people/melanie.leng>.

We are aiming to decide on a student by the end of September and thus seek expressions of interest (which in the first instance can be informal) by the 20th September to John Tibby.<mailto:john.tibby at adelaide.edu.au>

Note that this scholarship is not available to Australian and New Zealand citizens and residents.  Please note that international students should normally have minimum qualifications of a Masters thesis or a first-authored peer-reviewed publication in an international non predatory outlet.

References:
Tibby J, Barr C, McInerney FA, Henderson ACG, Leng MJ, Greenway M, Marshall JC, McGregor GB, Tyler JJ and McNeil V. 2016. Carbon isotope discrimination in leaves of the broad-leaved paperbark tree, Melaleuca quinquenervia, as a tool for quantifying past tropical and subtropical rainfall. Global Change Biology 22(10): 3474-3486.

Please pass on this message to anyone who might be interested,
John.


__________________________________________
Dr John Tibby
Senior Lecturer
Acting Head of Department (Semester 2, 2017)
Department of Geography, Environment and Population

Director, Sprigg Geobiology Centre<http://www.adelaide.edu.au/environment/sgc/about/>

School of Social Sciences
Faculty of Arts
University of Adelaide
Phone: +61 (0)8 8313-5146<tel:%2B61%20%280%298%208313-5146>
EMAIL: john.tibby at adelaide.edu.au<mailto:john.tibby at adelaide.edu.au>
SKYPE: johntibby

Office address (see below for sample address):
Room G39, Napier Building
North Terrace
Adelaide, South Australia, 5005

Web address:
http://researchers.adelaide.edu.au/profile/john.tibby
Google Scholar profile:
http://tinyurl.com/Google-Scholar-Tibby
Twitter: john_tibby
Field work photos (link)<https://www.flickr.com/photos/25765066@N06/>
Adelaide University Geography Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/AdelaideUniGeography (for past and present staff, students and associates)



Address for sending samples:
Send to:
John Tibby
c/o Nicole Jesenko
Room G19
Napier Building
University of Adelaide
North Terrace
Adelaide, South Australia, 5005


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