[Aqualist] PhD opportunities at the University of New South Wales

[Chris Turney]

Dear AQUA List colleagues,


See below for PhD posts at the University of New South Wales (Sydney),
Australia. Apologies for cross-posting and if you’ve already seen this(!).


PhD Opportunities - ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity
and Heritage, University of New South Wales (Sydney), Australia


The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian
Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH) is a major new research and education
initiative that brings together leading Australian universities with
strategically important Australian and international partners.


Our goal is to tell the epic story of Australia's rich and distinctive
natural and human history by revolutionising our knowledge of the events
and processes that have shaped this nation, and combining that knowledge
with cutting-edge modelling techniques to manage and protect our natural
and cultural resources into the future. You can learn more about how CABAH
is discovering Australia’s epic story at http://www.cabah.org. To achieve
this ambitious goal, we are seeking enthusiastic and talented PhD students
to join our team. Here at the University of New South Wales we have
identified two priority projects that have a palaeoclimate theme:



   1. Dendroclimatic reconstruction of northern Australia: Extending the
   Australian tropical climate record beyond CE 1800.

The aim of this project is to identify the extent and magnitude of drought
in north Australia prior to historical (observation) records. Under the
supervision of Dr Jonathan Palmer and Professor Chris Turney (
www.christurney.com), the candidate will collect and crossdate tree-ring
data using *Callitris intratropica *to develop the first Northern Territory
dendroclimate reconstruction that extends back more than 200 years. The
student will produce a new set of tree-ring records from northern Australia
that are optimized to recover low-frequency (decadal- to centennial-scale)
environmental signals. As part of this project, the student will estimate
the spatial structure of the reconstructed drought variability in the local
tree-ring records and outline the fingerprint of past major drought events.
Other major tasks include exploring wider palaeoclimate connections such as
from teak (*Tectona grandis*) chronologies in Indonesia and tree-ring
drought atlases (MADA – monsoon Asian drought atlas, ANZDA – eastern
Australian and New Zealand drought atlas).  From these comparisons, wider
regional climate modes of variability (such as the movement of the ITCZ –
inter-tropical convergence zone) will be explored. The final aspect of the
proposed program is the integration of the expected results with other
CABAH research investigations including sharing the results with local
communities.

   1. Reconstructing Australia’s Last Interglacial climate (130-115 ka BP):
   A window into the future

We are seeking a highly motivated student to undertake a PhD programme
looking at abrupt and extreme changes in sea level over the last
glacial-interglacial cycle and the associated climate and environmental
impacts around the Australasian coast. A major focus will be the Last
Interglacial (130-115 kyr) during which global average temperatures were
approximately 2°C above preindustrial levels, providing a potential
analogue for investigating the response of components of the Earth system
to future warming. Analyses will be undertaken on key time slices during
which sea level rose or fell rapidly, to document extreme and abrupt
changes in the climate, environment and human colonisation. The project
would utlilise archived deposits from the International Ocean Drilling
Programme, including cores with high accumulation rates and good
biostratigraphic and palaeomagnetic age constraints. The candidate would
develop TEX86 temperature reconstructions alongside pollen and charcoal to
investigate the various climatic and environmental signals of the Last
Interglacial period. There may be a possible opportunity for the candidate
to join a international ocean drilling programme expedition through UNSWs
membership of ANZIC (Australian and New Zealand International Ocean
Discovery Program Consortium).


Significant funding has been committed to these projects, which involve
cross-institutional supervision in a variety of exciting disciplines across
CABAH's nodes at the Australian National University (Canberra), James Cook
University (Cairns and Townsville), University of Adelaide and Flinders
University (Adelaide), Monash University (Melbourne), the University of
Tasmania (Hobart), and the University of Wollongong.


As a UNSW-based PhD student in CABAH you will be joining a larger
community. You will participate in regular Masterclasses, Short Courses and
Thematic Workshops, with a transdisciplinary emphasis, to improve your
technical, professional and communication skills. Cross-node researcher
exchange opportunities will also be integral to your CABAH research
training experience.

Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders will have access to
additional support through dedicated Indigenous Australian initiatives such
as mentoring, bursaries and top-up grants. Women will be supported through
a range of initiatives, including internships and travel grants.


Applicants must have suitable discipline-related educational qualifications
and should apply through the University of New South Wales (Sydney) online
application system:


https://research.unsw.edu.au/submit-application


Domestic students have all manner of funding schemes available through UNSW
including the Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) and the prestigious
Scientia studentship schemes. Full details can be found at
https://research.unsw.edu.au/graduate-research-scholarships.


There are also a variety of postgraduate funding schemes for international
applicants, including the University International Postgraduate Award
(UIPA), details of which can be found at
https://research.unsw.edu.au/international-research-scholarships.


Applications are due by the 11th October 2017.


All the very best,


Chris


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Chris Turney / Professor of Earth Science and Climate Change FRSA FRMetS
FGS FRGS FHEA
c.turney at unsw.edu.au

University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052
Climate leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity
and Heritage (CABAH)
Co-ordinator of the Earth’s Past Future Program at www.earthspastfuture.com
www.christurney.com

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