Supervisors: Dr Ellie Harrison, Prof Jason Snape, Dr Amanda Porter, Prof Laura Carter, Dr Ed Haynes
Deadline: Monday, November 30, 2026
Funding: Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
Agricultural Sciences; Bacteriology; Ecology; Environmental Chemistry; Evolution; Microbiology; Soil Science
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:
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major one-health challenge. Agricultural land is a reservoir for AMR, contaminating food and waterways. The use of wastewater for irrigation contributes to this, as it typically contains both antibiotics and AMR bacteria. Despite this, its usage is set to become more common due to climate change-associated droughts. Regulation of antibiotic/AMR pollution typically focuses solely on the levels of contamination within inputs. However, recent work has shown that plant protection products such as pesticides can also select for AMR. This is problematic as selection in-field could amplify even low rates of contamination. Understanding the true risks of using antibiotic/AMR contaminated wastewater - and potential mitigations - requires a systems-level approach that includes the persistence and spread of AMR, and antimicrobial and co-selective contaminants in soils and beyond.
This interdisciplinary project will link microbiology, environmental chemistry, and policy to investigate how wastewater impacts AMR dynamics in soils and groundwater.
Specifically, we will:
- Compare chemical composition and AMR contamination levels of irrigation water from key sources (river/domestic (grey water)/sewage effluent), their persistance in soil, and potential to leach to groundwater
- Using tomato - a drought-sensitive crop - in soil mesocosms assess the impact of irrigation source on chemical composition, microbial community diversity, AMR levels in the fruit, soil, and groundwater
- Test the impacts of key pesticide treatment (e.g,. glyophosates, azole fungicides, etc). on AMR abundance and levels of resistance under different irrigation regimes.
- Evaluate the potential for mitigations - e.g., introduction of pesticide-degrading bacteria - to reduce cross-selection for AMR
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: Defra/Fera
- 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:
- Laboratory skills
- Data analysis and/or modelling
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: Dr Ellie Harrison, ellie.harrison@sheffield.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.