Find out more about self-funded PhD projects in areas where we already have supervisors active and engaged in the research topic in our School of Life Sciences.
Fixed term contract for 3 years, commencing January 2026.
Closing date: 9 November 2025
Interview date: TBC November/December 2025
About ARU:
Anglia Ruskin is a vibrant workplace and our University is recognised both nationally and internationally. We have ambitious plans for the future and we are determined that our students and staff will realise their full potential. Our campuses at Cambridge, Chelmsford, Writtle, London and Peterborough have been transformed with major capital investment. With an annual turnover of over £200m, we are a major force for higher education and one of the largest universities in the East of England.
Principal Supervisor: Helen Wheeler
About the position:
Climatic, environmental and social change are causing shifting species distributions across the Arctic and beyond. These shifts can be disruptive to socio-ecological systems. The northward expansion of beavers into arctic regions is an example of a species distribution change of concern for many northern communities. As ecosystem engineers, beavers fundamentally transform landscapes, impacting landforms, ecosystems and people. Accordingly, a research agenda is developing as a collaboration between Indigenous experts and academic researchers to document and understand the changes occurring across these complex and interlinked social and ecological systems with a view to adaptation and management.
The PhD will address core questions related to impacts of a rapidly changing arctic and how to work ethically in coproduced research with Indigenous communities. The following questions will for form a core part of the PhD with capacity for the candidate to develop additional questions during the project aligned to community needs. Q1: How does beaver habitat engineering in the Arctic impact the composition and diversity of vertebrate fauna? Q2: How do we align scientific research and study design with Indigenous knowledge and local meanings associated with places?
The project is part of a larger collaboration with Indigenous experts in Northern Canada, and supporting transitions to more just research environments is a key part of the project. In addition you will be part of a network of Canadian and UK researchers working on this project. Fieldwork will take place in the Inuvialuit region of Northwest Territories of Canada.
The PhD will use ecological and social science methods to bridge the boundaries between scientific and Indigenous knowledge and is suitable for someone interested in interdisciplinary research. Methods will include camera trapping and analysis of camera trapping data and social research methods such as interview research.
Candidates should be comfortable working in intercultural settings, and enthusiastic to work closely with Indigenous community members and with other members of the field team. They should be willing to work on rugged terrain with environmental challenges (e.g. mosquitoes, heat and cold) and in remote regions. A full driving license (such as a UK driving license) that would enable you to drive in Canada is a requirement of this position. The project is suitable for those with either a natural/environmental/ecological or social science background. The candidate should be keen to learn new techniques and have the capacity to develop skills to work with quantitative data or social research methods if they do not have prior experience. Experience with R would be an asset.
If you would like to discuss this research project please contact Helen Wheeler - [email protected].
About the Studentship:
A 3-year studentship is offered, intended to start in January 2026. The successful applicant for this project will receive a scholarship award which covers Home tuition fees and provides a UKRI equivalent minimum annual stipend for three years. The award is subject to the successful candidate meeting the studentship Terms and conditions.
Project location: Cambridge campus, Cambridge, UK.
Qualifications:
Applicants should have (or expect to achieve) a 2:1 Bachelor’s Degree in a cognate discipline. A Master’s degree in a relevant subject is desirable.
You’ll need to be prepared to study on a full-time basis, attending at our Cambridge campus, starting in January 2026. You would be expected to live a reasonable travel distance from the campus during the PhD.
How to apply:
To apply, please visit Biology PhD, click 'Apply online' and complete the application form for full-time study with a start date of January 2026. Please ensure the reference 'PhD Studentship: Understanding the impacts of beaver population change in the Arctic on vertebrate fauna through coproduced research' is clearly stated on the application form.
You will also need the following documents available electronically to upload them to the application portal (we can accept files in pdf, jpeg or Word format):
You do not need to upload a research proposal with your application, only a personal statement is needed.
We will review all applications after the submission deadline of 9th November 2025. Interviews are expected to take place in late November/early December.
If you have any queries relating to the application process or the terms and conditions of the studentship, please email [email protected]
Interviews are scheduled to take place in November/December 2025.
We value diversity at Anglia Ruskin University and welcome applications from all sections of the community.
Closing Date: 9 November 2025
Research Group
Applied Ecology Research Group (AERG)
Proposed supervisory team
Several other members of Biology staff with interest in this subject area could be part of the team e.g., Dr Tom Ings, Dr Peter Brown and Dr Sarah Hart.
Theme
Global Change Ecology
Summary of the research project
Needingworth is an active gravel and sand extraction quarry site near St. Ives, Cambridgeshire run by the Hanson/Heidelberg Cement Group. Following the mineral extraction process the land is being restored to form what will be one of the UK’s largest reedbed system. This is occurring sequentially in a series of blocks, which are then to be given over to management by the RSPB. The main focus of the site has been wetlands and the birds that they support. However, as my recent Quarry Life project has shown, additional biodiversity rich habitat, particularly grassland, have been created. While the restored site clearly has importance for biodiversity, it would be very informative for the organisations directly involved, as well as local and national conservation organisations, and the wider community, to be able to quantify the contribution of the site to local biodiversity. In other words, what is the biodiversity footprint of the site? How much is biodiversity enhanced and is there a positive spill-over effect to areas adjacent to the site? The project would aim to measure the invertebrate and other biodiversity of the site and that of equivalent habitats in the surrounding landscape. The information collected, together with data published elsewhere, would be used to parameterise a landscape model that could be used to help inform decisions about future restoration.
Where you'll study
Funding
This project is self-funded. Details of studentships for which funding is available are selected by a competitive process and are advertised on our jobs website as they become available.
Next steps
If you wish to be considered for this project, you will need to apply for our Biology PhD. In the section of the application form entitled 'Outline research proposal', please quote the above title and include a research proposal.
Research Group
Applied Ecology Research Group (AERG)
Proposed supervisory team
Theme
Smart Cities
Summary of the research project
Land management decisions made at the planning stage and in terms of on-going site management are likely to have major impacts on biodiversity. Each decision has consequences at the local site level for biodiversity, particularly for plants and invertebrates, but in turn this affects animals higher in the food chain such as birds. Although we have some understanding of this, we need to learn more about how the combined effects of local management influences biodiversity at a whole town or city scale. This project will quantify the effect of planning and management decisions on invertebrate and other biodiversity at an urban landscape scale. It will use small-scale experiments, fieldwork and published data to parameterise urban landscape models, designed to inform authorities about options for biodiversity enhancement. Ultimately the research will contribute to the development of future urban areas with improved benefits for wildlife and people.
Small-scale invertebrate sampling will be carried out, together with wider-scale habitat mapping. Sampling data will be brought together, with that from the literature, to parameterise landscape models that will enable alternative management practices to be simulated. It will help to ask questions as to what effects local management decisions will make to the biodiversity of whole urban areas. This will represent a more advanced approach to the growing field of urban biodiversity, much of which has been largely observational.
Where you'll study
Funding
This project is self-funded. Details of studentships for which funding is available are selected by a competitive process and are advertised on our jobs website as they become available.
Next steps
If you wish to be considered for this project, you will need to apply for our Biology PhD. In the section of the application form entitled 'Outline research proposal', please quote the above title and include a research proposal.
Research Group
Applied Ecology Research Group (AERG)
Proposed supervisory team
Dr Helen Wheeler (AERG, Anglia Ruskin University)
Dr Davide Natalini (Global Sustainability Institute)
Theme
Environmental decision-making, restoration, rewilding
Summary of the research project
Rewilding has gained significant attention internationally as an emerging and exciting approach for restoration for sustainable ecosystems but requires stakeholder support for its successful implementation. Rewilding aims to restore interactions between different ecosystem components to create more resilient ecosystems able to withstand the more extreme perturbations expected under changing climate.
To successfully address sustainability challenges, rewilding must both promote biodiversity and meet human needs. To receive support, the policies must support stakeholder goals and values and needs and expectations of stakeholders must inform how and in what contexts we attempt rewilding. In prominent UK examples, rewilding projects have failed due to a lack of local support. Conservation conflicts, whereby stakeholders have divergent conceptions of future landscapes may undermine conservation efforts and cause them to ultimately fail.
Farmers and landowners are affected by rewilding activities near their land and face decisions about whether to engage in rewilding activities on their land. These two decisions will determine the uptake of rewilding. Rewilding has three core ecological aims: increasing food web complexity (such as through reintroducing predators and herbivores), increasing connectivity of rewilded land (to aid species dispersal) and allowing natural disturbance regimes (such as allowing periodic flooding). Rewilding aims to move to low-intervention landscapes. By reducing human intervention, we increase uncertainty of ecosystem trajectories. Policies designed to further these objectives may be seen to negatively impact landowners and farming communities and may generate behaviours which are ultimately damaging unless they are well designed. The PhD will investigate the impact of policy decisions on uptake of rewilding activities through examining stakeholder responses to environmental policies using a range of methods such as Q-methodology and agent-based modelling.
Where you'll study
Funding
This project is self-funded. Details of studentships for which funding is available are selected by a competitive process and are advertised on our jobs website as they become available.
Next steps
If you wish to be considered for this project, you will need to apply for our Biology PhD. In the section of the application form entitled 'Outline research proposal', please quote the above title and include a research proposal.
Research Group
Behavioural Ecology Research Group (BEEC)
Proposed supervisory team
Theme
Cognitive abilities, Social relationships
Summary of the research project
The requirements of living in social groups, as well as forming and maintaining social relationships are hypothesized to be major drivers behind the evolution of cognitive abilities, such as attention, learning, and inhibitory control. Traditionally, the evolution of cognitive abilities in non-human animals is investigated via a comparative approach, testing cognitive performance in different species, varying in their ecology or social organisation. From these results, researchers can infer when in evolutionary history particular cognitive processes have evolved and under which ecological and social circumstances. In most cases, specific model organisms, e.g. primates, corvids, parrots, rats, pigeons are very much in focus, whereas other species are often ignored.
This project aims to investigate how social relationships shape cognitive abilities, e.g. delay of gratification, learning, in group living animals, with a specific focus on previously understudied species, e.g. birds of prey, chicken. Further, comparative studies regarding the evolution of socio-cognitive skills have also generated conflicting results. The proposed project aims at incorporating an intraspecific approach, investigating how individual variation in cognitive performance correlates with an individual’s ability to form and maintain social relationships.
The proposed project will use standardized cognitive tests, e.g. delay maintenance, reversal learning, to assess cognitive performance in different species and multiple individuals, with a special focus on repeatability in cognitive performance. The candidate will make significant advances in the field of comparative cognition.
Where you'll study
Funding
This project is self-funded. Details of studentships for which funding is available are selected by a competitive process and are advertised on our jobs website as they become available.
Next steps
If you wish to be considered for this project, you will need to apply for our Biology PhD. In the section of the application form entitled 'Outline research proposal', please quote the above title and include a research proposal.
Research Group
Behavioural Ecology Research Group (BEEC)
Proposed supervisory team
Theme
Evolution, Anatomy, Geometric Morphometrics, Communication, Language
Summary of the research project
Spoken language is one of the most distinctive characteristics of our species. Yet, our understanding of the evolution of this quintessentially human trait is far from complete. The dominant approach for the last few decades has been the search for fossil evidence of variation in vocal anatomy. However, most anatomical traits associated with speech are soft tissues, which do not fossilise, making it very difficult to establish when speech first evolved. This line of enquiry has diverted attention away from alternative questions that are equally interesting and more accessible empirically. In particular, it is probably more important to ask how and why specific anatomical changes for human speech took place. These questions can be addressed by applying the “comparative model” – using data from living species to shed light on the anatomy and behaviour of extinct species and reconstruct evolutionary scenarios.
Our research focuses on the comparative anatomy of the larynx and hyoid bone (the only bone in the larynx) in mammals. Evidence suggests that there were important shifts in the size and shape of the larynx and hyoid during hominin evolution and there appears to be a correlation between the morphology of the hyoid and the presence and size of air sacs in the larynx. Air sacs are air-filled cavities which are attached to the larynx in many primates, including all non-human apes, but, intriguingly, are absent in modern humans. They are thought to play a role in loud calls and are probably not necessary for the type of quiet vocal interaction that typifies human conversation. This suggests that the evolution of the modern human hyoid is associated with the loss of air sacs and, by extension, of loud calls. Hyoids are possible to find in museum collections, and their size and shape is easy to quantify using geometric morphometric methods. Larynges are much harder to source, as soft tissues are much rarer in collections. However, over the last three years we have worked closely with collaborators in Austria and Japan to build and scan a large collection of larynges. Thus, we are uniquely positioned to carry out research into this topic.
This project would analyse the size and shape of the larynx in one or more mammalian orders to model the evolutionary process. Laboratory and desk-based approaches would be necessary, potentially including CT scanning, geometric morphometrics, analysis of histological data and phylogenetic comparative methods. However, the exact nature of the project would be open for discussion and development with the candidate – in line with their skills and interests. Interested candidates should contact Dr Jacob Dunn to discuss project ideas. Please note that this is currently a self-funded project.
Where you'll study
Funding
This project is self-funded. Details of studentships for which funding is available are selected by a competitive process and are advertised on our jobs website as they become available.
Next steps
If you wish to be considered for this project, you will need to apply for our Biology PhD. In the section of the application form entitled 'Outline research proposal', please quote the above title and include a research proposal.
Research Group
Behavioural Ecology Research Group (BEEC)
Proposed supervisory team
Theme
Animal Communication
Summary of the research project
Vocal communication is fundamental to primate social behaviour. However, vocalisations vary extremely widely among primate taxa in terms of both acoustic parameters (e.g., call frequency) and the range of vocalisations different species produce (i.e., vocal repertoire). This project aims to develop a new framework to investigate the evolution of primate communication systems using interdisciplinary methods. Research will focus on two model taxa, howler monkeys (Alouatta) and colobine monkeys (Colobinae).
The project aims to: 1) describe the full variation in vocal anatomy among the study species; 2) describe the range of vocalisations produced by each species using bioacoustics methods; and 3) carry out playback experiments on selected species to understand the behavioural function of vocal signals.
The candidate will make significant advances in theoretical aspects of the evolution of animal signals, integrating statistical, field and laboratory analyses. This covers a range of expertise, including: spatial analyses, phylogenetic comparative methods, bioacoustics and anatomy/morphometrics.
Where you'll study
Funding
This project is self-funded. Details of studentships for which funding is available are selected by a competitive process and are advertised on our jobs website as they become available.
Next steps
If you wish to be considered for this project, you will need to apply for our Biology PhD. In the section of the application form entitled 'Outline research proposal', please quote the above title and include a research proposal.
Research Group
Applied Ecology Research Group (AERG)
Proposed supervisory team
Several other members of Biology staff with interest in this subject area could be part of the team e.g., Dr Peter Brown and Dr Sarah Hart.
Theme
Global Change Ecology
Summary of the research project
The National Pollinator Strategy was published by the UK Government in Nov 2014, in recognition of the important economic and biological role of pollinators (Defra, 2014). Broadly speaking, its aims are to increase public awareness and scientific knowledge of UK pollinators and to take action that will reverse recent declines in their populations. One particular focus of the strategy is to modify habitat management in both urban and rural areas, to provide better foraging and nesting resources for bees and other pollinators. However the insects that act as pollinators are only part of the wider invertebrate community. There are very many other species, with different ecological roles, including those that form the vitally important ecosystem services of decomposition and pest control. This project would set out to investigate the effects of implementing the National Pollinator Strategy on theses non-target invertebrates, and in particular focus on the ecosystem services they provide. It is likely that this national strategy is beneficial to wider groups but this ought to be measured, rather than assumed. Working with landowners and managers that are implementing pollinator friendly management, the biodiversity of other invertebrates will be measured. Experiments will be set out that test rates of decomposition and natural enemy (predation and parasitism) activity. The overall aim of the project would be to use the findings to provide feedback to the National Pollinator Strategy and if necessary to provide recommendations to modification of management practice to maintain support to for other invertebrates while maintaining its positive focus on pollinators.
Where you'll study
Funding
This project is self-funded. Details of studentships for which funding is available are selected by a competitive process and are advertised on our jobs website as they become available.
Next steps
If you wish to be considered for this project, you will need to apply for our Biology PhD. In the section of the application form entitled 'Outline research proposal', please quote the above title and include a research proposal.