Study with CDT SuMMeR

PhD projects, studentships and application guidance
Getty. Brixham. Fishing community, maritime, marine, devon
The CDT SuMMeR is open for applications for one project.
The description for the project available for applications can be seen below.
The closing date for applications for this round is 29 November 2024.
 

Bangor University project

CDTS315: Pollution from source to cetaceans – antimicrobials as a case study for One Health wastewater pollution
Lead Supervisor: Eleanor Jameson (e.jameson@bangor.ac.uk)
2nd Supervisor: Mark Fitzsimons (m.fitzsimons@plymouth.ac.uk)
Associate Partner: Natural Resources Wales (https://cyfoethnaturiol.cymru/?lang=en)  

Project description

Marine ecosystems are of immense ecological and economic significance, under increasing threat from poorly understood pharmaceutical pollution. This project will addressing critical knowledge gaps in the persistence, accumulation, and impact of antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in marine food chains.
Using extensive datasets from wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), chemical data, and a marine mammal tissue bank the project will bridge gaps in understanding of antibiotic pollution in marine ecosystems. The student will use bioinformatics to analyse sequence data for antibiotic degradation pathways, and chemical data from wastewater, environmental and stranding samples. Integrating this data will guide targeted analysis of tissue bank samples, and new stranding, water and sediment samples. Fieldwork will focus on the well-studied Conwy outflow, in proximity to wastewater overflows. The student will use proven methods to assess antibiotics, degradation products and AMR.

Aims and objectives

Investigate the persistence, accumulation, and impact of antibiotics and AMR on the marine ecosystem in North Wales.
Characterise antibiotic and AMR pathways in WWTPs (WasteWater Treatment Plants). Analyse metagenomic data from WWTPs across Wales to identify the types and prevalence of antibiotic degradation pathways. Identify the bacteria carrying AMR genes and assess potential to persistence in marine ecosystems.
Compile and integrate of diverse datasets. Consolidate data on antibiotic and AMR pollution, including wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE), prescribing data, marine mammal strandings and passive sampling.
Field sampling to fill knowledge gaps. Identify key gaps in the existing data and sites for passive sampler deployment and sampling.
Identify persistent antibiotics. Quantify, and characterise persistent antibiotics in WWTP, marine environment and mammals, using existing data, fieldwork and laboratory experiments.
Investigate pollutant interactions. Assess interactions, antagonistic impacts and parallels between antibiotics and other pollutants in marine ecosystems.
Recommendations for mitigation and management. Generate evidence-based recommendations for antibiotic pollution in marine ecosystems, including strategies for reducing contamination at source and safeguarding ecosystem health. 

Training

Training will be provided on concepts and methodologies, of each relevant discipline, to ensure the student has a solid grounding in communication, microbiology, data analysis, bioinformatics, chemistry, marine ecology, behaviour, and policy. The training will be consist of formal courses and practical skills, benefitting from diverse expertise in the supervisor team. The student will undertake EDI training, to enable them to host an In2Science/Nuffield student to promote science careers to people form underprivileged backgrounds.

Project structure

Collaboration among BU (Bangor University), ZSL (Zoological Society of London), UoP (University of Plymouth), and NRW (Natural Resources Wales), is central to the project's success.
  • Literature review to understand the background.
  • Bioinformatics analysis of AMR in wastewater datasets, BU.
  • Gap analysis, BU. 
  • Placement at NRW – operations, policy, and environmental chemistry. 
  • AMR analysis of marine mammal tissue samples, ZSL. 
  • Analytical chemistry of field and tissue samples, UoP.

Supervisory team

Dr Ellie Jameson is a microbial ecologist at BU, Professor Mark Fitzsimons is an environmental chemist at UoP, Dr James Waggitt is a marine ecologist at BU, Dr Rosie Williams is an ecotoxicologist at ZSL and Thomaz Andrade is a water policy advisor at NRW. 
 
 
 
 

Information for applicants

Eligibility
Applicants should have a first or upper second-class honours degree in an appropriate subject and either a relevant masters qualification or a wider range of experience in a relevant career path (which is equally as important).
Each applicant may apply for a studentship on up to three projects. Where more than one project is applied for, the supervisors of all those projects will be made aware that other applications have been made.
CDT SuMMeR studentships are partially funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), which applies the eligibility criteria laid down by its parent body, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and co-funded by the respective Hosting Partner institutes. UKRI provides details on its training grants in its Terms and Conditions for Training Funding document, including its Training Grant Guide, which can be found on the UKRI website.
Since UKRI has set a limit on the proportion of international students appointed each year through individual doctoral training programmes to 30% of the intake per cohort, the re-advertised projects listed are only open to “Home Students” for this round.
The studentship is supported for 3 years and 8 months. All UKRI-funded PhD students will be eligible for the full award – both the stipend to support living costs (£19,237 per academic year at full time equivalent at the 2024/25 rate), and fees at the research organisation’s UK rate.
In case of uncertainty, the planned university of registration should be contacted for eligibility advice; or the CDT SuMMeR Programme Office cdt-summer-pgrs@plymouth.ac.uk
 
The CDT SuMMeR has re-opened applications for one of its projects offered for Cohort 3, with PhD Studentships commencing from 1 January 2025.
How to apply
Please find below the PhD projects which have been re-opened for application, the PhDs will start from January 2025. Please note that due to the cap on the number of international candidates funded by the UKRI, this round is only open for candidates that are “Home” candidates (and therefore do not require a Student Visa, to study in the UK). 
Please click on the reference code of the project available for application for more information and the contact details of the project’s supervisors. 
You are encouraged to contact the Lead Supervisor (stated in the description of the project) prior to the submission of your application to discuss any aspect of the project that you are interested in. This will be informal and will have no impact on any applications that follow, other than showing your interest and enthusiasm. 
To submit your application, please send to cdt-summer@plymouth.ac.uk:
  • a) A two-page curriculum vitae (CV) in pdf format – please do not include personal information, such as your portrait photograph, age, marital status or nationality on your CV. Let us know your education history from undergraduate, work experience, employment, research and publications and any other experience you consider relevant for the project. (Please do contact the team at CDT SuMMeR if you have any queries (CDT-SuMMeR-PGRS@plymouth.ac.uk);
  • b) A personal statement/covering letter in pdf format (no longer than 1000 words) which explains why you consider yourself to be a suitable candidate for the PhD Project advertised, what qualifications, experience and skills you have that support your application, and what your aspirations are following on completion of this PhD. Our team is strongly committed to upholding equity, diversity, and inclusion. We expect candidates to uphold these same values and contribute to a positive, safe and inclusive environment. We invite candidates to include a statement about their experience of working across disciplines, cultures, countries or groups in their cover letter. Please ensure you state the PhD Project Reference Code for which you are applying for, on your personal statement/covering letter; 
  • c) Complete the Diversity survey at the following link: CDT SuMMeR EDI Survey Please note this is for monitoring purposes only and is not linked to your application. The raw data is being collected independently of the CDT SuMMeR Programme Office by SERIO and is being collected because we want to check how well we are improving our recruitment processes year-on-year. We want to make sure we attract the best talent by recruiting candidates from many diverse backgrounds and experiences. Only the anonymised and aggregated data will be made available to the CDT SuMMeR programme office for monitoring purposes.
  • d) Optional: CDT SuMMeR appreciates and values differences and seeks to attract, develop and retain a diverse mix of talented people that will contribute to and benefit from the CDT. If you wish to do so, please provide any contextual information that is relevant to your prior attainment and/or your educational pathway to this point. For example, if you are returning to the education system after a period of prolonged absence, you may, if you wish, list any relevant professional experience/qualifications that you have gained. Or, if your prior attainment was affected by extenuating circumstances that you wish to share with us, please do so (up to 500 words).
The closing date application to this project is 12.00 hrs GMT on 29 November 2024.
Shortlisted candidates will be contacted by email and invited for interview, with interviews expected to take place from the week commencing the 9 of December 2024. We regret that we may not be able to respond to every applicant. Applicants who have not received a response by this date should consider their application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.
 

More information about SuMMeR