Project 15 - Wildfires, Ecological Restoration and Chemical Risk

About the Project

Are you passionate about solving complex environmental challenges? Interested in creating non-toxic environments that benefit society and nature alike? This innovative and exciting PhD project, co-designed with non-academic partners, is part of the NERC-funded ECOSOLUTIONS Doctoral Focal Award, and offers the opportunity to address real world challenges with key opinion-formers to help support sustainable chemical development and create non-toxic urban & rural landscapes.

Project details:

Wildfires are increasing in frequency and severity, creating risks for biodiversity, ecosystem services, carbon storage, water quality and human wellbeing. This project will investigate how nature-based solutions can reduce wildfire risk and enhance ecosystem resilience, with a particular focus on peatland and wetland restoration. Peatlands are potent landscape sinks of natural and industrial toxic metals and metalloids, however, the long-term sequestration of pollutants and contaminants in peatlands is increasingly at risk as a result of climate change induced wildfires, and planned upland management fires. The complex history of land use in the UK and the increasing rural-urban interface poses some unique challenges to understanding the risks posed by wildfire-mobilisation of pollutants to human and biodiversity health. The research will combine Earth observation, LiDAR-derived terrain analysis, hydrological modelling and ecological assessment to identify areas at greatest risk from wildfire and evaluate how restoration interventions influence fire vulnerability. The project will examine whether restoring natural hydrology through rewetting can reduce wildfire severity, support post-fire recovery and limit the mobilisation of pollutants from soils during wildfire events.

Using a combination of spatial datasets, case studies and field evidence, the student will explore interactions between management, wildfire risk, ecosystem condition and chemical status. The project will develop approaches for prioritising locations where restoration is likely to deliver the greatest benefits for climate adaptation, nature recovery and pollutant release risk reduction.

By integrating ecological, hydrological and pollution perspectives, the project will generate evidence on the effectiveness of restoration as a practical wildfire adaptation measure. Outputs are expected to include spatial risk mapping, decision-support tools and guidance that can be used by conservation organisations, environmental agencies, land managers and emergency response partners to improve resilience to future wildfire pressures.

The ECOSOLUTIONS DFA

Led by the Universities of Sheffield and York and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, ECOSOLUTIONS is a cutting-edge, transdisciplinary initiative. This innovative programme combines science, policy, and societal engagement to transform chemicals policy and management, enabling a safe, sustainable chemicals sector and non-toxic environments. This project is one of 19 projects that are available for the third ECOSOLUTIONS and final cohort who will work together to begin to understand and solve the problems of sustainable chemical design and use, as well tackling the problems that pollution causes in urban environments, rural landscapes and food systems.

What You will Gain

As an ECOSOLUTIONS PhD student, you will work with world-leading experts across diverse fields such as ecology, data science, digital solutions, chemistry, geography, psychology, environmental engineering, policy, and law. You will learn to tackle the risks posed by chemicals while enabling their societal benefits, adopting a whole-systems and solutions-focused approach.

You will receive 3 years and 9 months of funding and take part in a dynamic training and development programme, including:

• Induction course: Connect with fellow students, supervisors, and the ECOSOLUTIONS team while exploring the programme’s mission.
• Primer course: Gain foundational knowledge on the environmental risks that chemicals pose, policy landscapes, and sustainable chemical innovation.
• Transferable skills workshops: Master data management, big data methods, research practices, communication, stakeholder engagement and more.
• Systems-solutions workshops: Collaborate across disciplines to explore sustainable chemical design and development, address pollution in urban & rural landscapes, and develop actionable solutions.
• Three-month secondment: Joint Nature Conservation Committee
• International conferences: Share your findings and network with global experts.

The skills you will need

To do this project you will need the following essential skills:

• Field experience
• Data analysis and/or modelling
• Ecological survey skills
• Ability to work with spatial data and GIS
• Desirable skills: earth observation, environmental chemistry and pollution pathways, statistics and coding, wildfire ecology and climate adaptation.

Eligibility

To be considered for the ECOSOLUTIONS DFA, you will need at least an upper 2nd class honours degree or equivalent in a relevant discipline.

As a collaboration of international research-led universities, we welcome students from all walks of life and from across the world. Within our programme, we are dedicated to diversifying our community.

As part of our ongoing work to improve Equality, Diversity and Inclusion we strongly encourage applications from UK/Home candidates from identified underrepresented groups: Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, those from a disadvantaged socio-economic background, and disabled people.

Start Your Research Career with ECOSOLUTIONS:

This PhD is part of the ECOSOLUTIONS Doctoral Focal Award (DFA), a prestigious NERC-funded program dedicated to training the next generation of environmental practitioners. For more details and a full list of other PhD projects under this programme, visit: https://ecosolutions.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/

Application Web Page:

For more information on how to apply, please visit the ECOSOLUTIONS website: https://ecosolutions.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/

Project specific enquiries: Professor Kathryn Arnold, kathryn.arnold@york.ac.uk

Funding Notes

This is a full scholarship which will cover tuition fees and provide an annual stipend in line with UKRI recommended levels (£21,805 for the 2026/2027 academic year, TBC in 2027/2028) for the 45 months duration.

Due to CDT funding rules and Institutional policies, there is a cap on the number of scholarships that can be awarded to DFA students. Once this limit has been reached, ECOSOLUTIONS DFA scholarships will only be awarded to students who are eligible for Home fee status. York and UKCEH led projects can only fund applications from UK/Home eligible applicants and Sheffield can accept applications from both with very limited places for international students.