Current PhD Students
Mohammed Al-Sulaiti
PhD Project Title: Law and Policy for Environmental Resilience - The Case of Qatar
PhD Project Summary: Due to the rapid economic development, Qatar has faced various forms of environmental degradation including but not limited to: air pollution and marine environment degradation. The legislative system has a prominent role in regulating pressing issues. In a comparative analysis, this PhD looks at the principles of Environment Protection Law promulgated in 2002 and compares it to the Low-Carbon Green Growth Act 2010 of South Korea. It also seeks to examine and aggregate the extant literature in relation to environmental degradation, which could be strong pillars for a sound Environmental Law. The hypothesis of this research originated from the idea that Environmental Degradation can be reduced in relation to economic development with sound legislation and policy that implements low carbon, green growth and environmental resilience. In terms of the methodology, a qualitative and inductive approach is being applied. The environmental decision-making in Qatar is based on the role of three players including The Ministry of Municipality and Environment, Shura Council and Central Municipal Council, which shapes the identity of interviewees. This research is funded by Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF).
Supervisor: Karen Makuch
Co-Supervisor: Zen Makuch
Abdulla Al Ishaq
PhD Project Title: Environmental and Economic Assessment of Road Electrification in Qatar
PhD Project Summary: The aim of this research is to quantitively assess the environmental and economic impacts of the electrification of road transport in Qatar. It is intended that the research findings will contribute to the development of a framework or toolkit designed to inform policy / decision makers about the impacts of electrification. The research aims to show whether it will be beneficial to electrify the transport sector in-part, or as a whole, or not, given the country’s specific circumstances such as the high Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, cheap oil and gas prices. Inter alia, the research will look at calculating the Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT), CO2 emission factors, GHGs, air pollutants, Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). In order to explore the emissions associated with different pathways, the project will also utilize the European Calculator (Euro-Calc) approach along with the potential impact of various policy decisions to extrapolate future emissions and energy scenarios.
Supervisor: Jem Woods
Andrea Biancardi
PhD Project Title: The evolution of European electricity Transmission System Operators amid the energy transition
PhD Project Summary: This PhD looks at the innovation of European electricity Transmission System Operators (TSOs), which play a key role in meeting growing demand for greener and affordable power and for the development of a smarter and reliable electricity system. Due to the radical transformations occurring in the sector TSOs must increasingly invest in research and innovation and evolve by embracing new technologies, new activities and new business models.
Supervisor: Iain Staffell
Wan Izar Haizan binti Wan Rosely
PhD Project Title: Towards Sustainable Management of Urban Wastewater: Enhancing Stakeholder Participation Through Systems Thinking Perspective
PhD Project Summary: "Realising our visions and plans to build sustainable and resilient cities in the future requires an understanding of the interaction between water and urban systems. Systems thinking allows a better understanding on the response and trade-offs of proposed interventions to these human and the earth systems which can be effectively managed through participatory methods. The complexity derived from multiple influential factors on urban wastewater management can also be understood through systems thinking. Furthermore, an appropriate understanding on the interaction of the urban wastewater system and its natural environment will enable rethinking and redesigning of solutions to address its challenges.
Central to the application of systems thinking perspective is the involvement of stakeholders or actors inside and outside the traditional water sector. However, due to numerous challenges and approaches, collaborative stakeholders’ involvement in water management found to be varied in its success. Therefore, this PhD project will explore the application of systems thinking perspective and participatory approaches to address urban wastewater management challenges. Some of the policy- or decision-making tools such as the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response Framework, Stakeholder Analysis, Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis and several systems methodologies will be reviewed for adoption to design the stakeholder participation processes for this study."
Supervisor: Nick Voulvoulis
William Brandreth
PhD Project Title: Analysis of accounting frameworks for Net Zero: a UK Land sector case study
Supervisor: Nick Voulvoulis
Adam Brighty
PhD Project Synergies between climate mitigation and air quality strategies.
PhD Project Summary: The UK's plans for net zero carbon emissions by 2050 can be achieved through a combination of different societal and technological changes. Given that some net zero strategies may be more beneficial for UK air quality than others, it is important to select the correct policy direction that improves air quality whilst achieving our net zero goals. Adam's research attempts to predict how the UK's air quality will change up to 2050 as a result of potential net zero strategies.
Adam's research is funded by Defra under the Support for National Air Pollution Control Strategies (SNAPCS) contract and is aligned to the Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet DTP at the Grantham Institute.
Supervisor: Helen Apsimon
Ben Chapple
PhD Project Title: Nature-based tourism in a changing climate: costs and benefits for endangered species
PhD Project Summary: My project aims to assess the positive and negative impacts of nature-based tourism, using African wild dog as a study species. Wild dogs are endangered, wide-ranging carnivores, requiring large areas of habitat for their survival; many such areas are heavily reliant on tourism to fund their conservation. However, wild dogs also appear to be particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and tourism has been estimated to account for up to 8% of global carbon emissions. This species therefore provides an excellent model system for studying the contradictory impacts of nature-based tourism. Using this model system, my project aims to investigate the positive and negative impacts of nature-based tourism on African wild dogs and the social-ecological system in which they exist. This should help to guide policy on what role nature-based tourism should play in supporting conservation within shrinking carbon budgets.
Supervisor: Caroline Howe
Rebecca Clube
PhD Project Title: Strengthening the social impact of the Circular Economy through human needs perspectives
PhD Project Summary: "Rebecca is an interdisciplinary PhD researcher at the Centre for Environmental Policy where she focuses on the Circular Economy and sustainable development with perspectives from ecological economics.
Rebecca uses Chilean economist Max-Neef's Human-Scale Development proposal to explore how human needs approaches can be applied to strengthen the social impact of the Circular Economy. She has interests in industrial symbiosis and circular strategies in the textiles industry. More specifically, her current research seeks to maximise social and environmental synergies in textile manufacturing using a case study in South East Asia."
Supervisor: Mike Tennant
Abigail Croker
PhD Project Title: Institutions, Governance, and Policy for Addressing Wildfire Challenges in a Changing Global Environment
PhD Project Summary: East African savannas are complex socio-ecological systems that have historically been, and continue to be, influenced by colonialism. Fire is a central component of these systems; alongside temperature and rainfall, fire is an important disturbance event that drives and shapes the savannas' soil and vegetation nutritional gradient. Humans have co-evolved with fire, altering vegetation and fuel loads to generate mutual socio-ecological benefits. However, in recent years, a combination of anthropogenic climate change and fire management frameworks and policies - the latter being deeply embedded in wildlife conservation paradigms based on colonial ideologies and objectives - have engendered novel fire events above natural variability levels. This thesis takes a systems thinking approach to explore how (in)direct colonialism has shaped contemporary burning practices and fire regimes, specifically focusing on the political-ecology and -economy of East African savanna landscapes, and the opportunities for equitable governance and local decision-making in community-based fire management frameworks.
Supervisor: Ioannis Kountouris
Roghayeh Dejan AlGhaithi
PhD Project Title: European Energy Transition by 2050
PhD Project Summary: I am researching the European energy transition in the electricity and the industrial sectors. My work is mainly focused on identifying the most economical paths for the European Union (EU) to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. That is to achieve the European Green Deal of 2050 carbon neutrality and making Europe the first carbon neutral continent. In line of this deal, my research is focused on how energy systems in the EU should evolve, while ensuring energy-security in each member state. This is while considering national level policies and addressing grid requirements.
Supervisor: Niall MacDowell
Matilda Dunn
PhD Project Title: Investigating the barriers and opportunities to integrating and mainstreaming biodiversity across the UN systems plans, partnerships and operations.
PhD Project Summary: While the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals were established to be an indivisible whole, integration across the different goals within the UN systems’ plans and operations remain a challenge, particularly when it comes to the integration of goals related to biodiversity. My PhD research aims to analyse the UN systems’ contributions to biodiversity-related SDGs in order to understand what actions can be implemented or scaled to better integrate and mainstream biodiversity across the UN’s plans and operations. This research will primarily focus on the barriers and trade-offs to integrating biodiversity across the UN systems at both the UN-agency operations level as well at cross-agency partnerships level. The outcomes of this research will be used to develop an improved “System-Wide Framework of Strategies (SWFS) on the Environment” to help accelerate progress towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, as well as provide a foundation for integrating biodiversity across UN operations and partnerships that can be further utilised beyond 2030.
Supervisor: Caroline Howe
Ebba Engstrom
PhD Project Title: Investigating the Impact of Green Infrastructure on the Multi-dimensional Sustainability Profiles of Vineyards in the UK – An Activities-based Approach
PhD Project Summary: The project will hone in on how vineyard-based activities change in association with the implementation and presence of green infrastructure (e.g. cover crops, hedges, flower strips) and the multi-dimensional sustainability impacts which arise from these. As such their project applies an environmental, economic, and socio-cultural lens - applying environmental impact assessment, economic analysis, and mixed-method approaches. The project will further the understanding of the sustainability impacts associated with green infrastructure in the context of vineyards, but which will also be applicable to similar agricultural fields. More so, the project holds strong policy relevance, especially in the current UK context with roll-out of the Environmental Land Management schemes.
Supervisor: Tilly Collins
Frederick Fabian
Hongwei Fan
Supervisor: Audrey de Nazelle
Elizabeth Fonseca
PhD Project Title: Effects of future agricultural scenarios on air quality and ecosystem protection
PhD Project Summary: Agriculture is a key sector in terms of air quality, biodiversity and climate change. It is the dominant source of ammonia resulting in modification of the cycling of nitrogen in the environment with major consequences for biodiversity, and atmospheric chemical reactions producing small particles with adverse effects on human health. Agriculture is also a large source of greenhouse gas emissions such as nitrous oxide and methane, playing a crucial role in net zero climate pathways and competing future land uses. A shift in diet away from meat and dairy products between now and 2050 may also result in significant changes in the agricultural sector, with potential implications for healthy diets and obesity. What the UK’s agricultural sector will look like in 2050 is therefore highly uncertain. The aim of this studentship will be to define potential future scenarios and explore the resulting consequences with respect to the UKs climate change, air quality and biodiversity targets. Comparison will be made with related work in other European countries.
The studentship will be based in the Integrated Assessment Unit of the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College, and will draw on expertise within a Defra research consortium including the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UKCEH. It will have access to modelling undertaken for Defra including use of the UK Integrated Assessment Model, UKIAM, developed to model future UK emission scenarios with respect to ecosystem protection and human health. It will require good computing skills and a good degree in a relevant discipline, plus a strong interest in computer modelling and protection of the natural environment.
Supervisor: Helen ApSimon
Matthew Gibson
PhD Project Title: Systemic change in food systems and the implications for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
PhD Project Summary: "With a focus on food loss and waste (FLW) and dietary change, this thesis models systemic change in food systems and looks to assess wider implications for sustainability. Specifically, it pursues a mixed-methods approach to present a set of linked analyses: food loss and nutrition in the Global South; dietary change in the Global North; and global dietary scenarios and their impact on FLW. Insights from these analyses will inform a critical discussion of how food loss, sustainable diets and SDG targets interact, the implications for food systems transformation, and how they could be leveraged to better inform policy making."
Supervisor: Raphael Slade
Cornelea Godon
PhD Project Title: Climate-resilient Water Management in Malaysia
PhD Project Summary: The impact of climate change on water resources is a significant challenge for countries worldwide, including Malaysia. As a tropical country, Malaysia is vulnerable to climate variability and change, which could lead to severe impacts on water resources. This research aims to investigate strategies to enhance Malaysia's climate-resilient water management by comparing three elements that are implemented in the United Kingdom and Malaysia. The study will focus on three (3) strategies, which will be integrated into a conceptual framework to improve water management in Malaysia. The outcomes of this research will provide policymakers and practitioners with recommendations to enhance climate-resilient water management in Malaysia.
Supervisor: Karen Makuch
Co-Supervisor: Zen Makuch
Henry Grub
PhD Project Title: Social-ecological-systems approach to badger management in England
Xinyi Guo
PhD Project Title: The UK's municipal waste management system and policy—responding to epidemic
Supervisor: Nick Voulvoulis
Shirin Hakim
PhD Project Title: Water Diplomacy
Supervisor: Karen Makuch
Krista Halttunen
PhD Project Title: Exploring low-carbon transition responses in the global oil industry
PhD Project Summary: Reducing the world’s reliance on oil is crucial for climate change mitigation. However, it is not clear how the transition of the energy system away from oil might play out in practice. This interdisciplinary PhD project uses quantitative and qualitative methods to map out possible future pathways of the global oil industry in the sustainable energy transition, including outcomes for oil companies, investors, and the society as a whole. The work includes collaboration with the non-profit CDP and the Science-Based Targets Initiative.
Supervisor: Iain Staffell
Co-Supervisor: Raphael Slade
Emma Hibbett
PhD Project Title: Public engagement and the governance of complex socio-natural systems.
Supervisor: Mike Tennant
Co-Supervisor: Jem Woods
Caitlin Hinson
PhD Project Title: Investigating the use of natural capital for participatory decision making in river catchment management
PhD Project Summary: "Successful river management should include collaboration between a variety of stakeholders, including local communities, for sustainable decision making and planning. By using the concept of natural capital, the stock of resources that provide vital ecosystem services that underpin society wellbeing, in decision making, participation in decision making should be focused on holistic planning. In collaboration with Thames21, this research will engage with local stakeholders through river catchment partnerships around London, and determine the most successful ways of using natural capital information for participatory decision making. This could provide key evidence and understanding needed to demonstrate the importance of conserving and investing in natural spaces throughout a river catchment to ensure the quality of the environment is preserved for future generations.
This research combines qualitative methods of stakeholder engagement with quantitative environmental indicators and natural capital assessment in a series of interviews and environmental mapping workshops. It will also aim to evaluate stakeholder engagement with the concept and use of natural capital. The catchment-scale approach enables the research to consider the specific pressures of each location while including the diversity of environments that are in a catchment boundary and recognising the vital need for local knowledge and expertise. "
Supervisor: Alexandra Collins
Victoria Hoare
PhD Project Title: Are climate calculators effective decision support tools, facilitating the creation of climate-effective land management?
PhD Project Summary: The land sector is responsible for ~25% of global GHG emissions making it one of the largest contributing sectors. As such, it is important to understand the ways in which the land sector can be used to mitigate climate change, either through the reduction of GHG emissions, or through the uptake of atmoshperic CO2 through sequestration. This research seeks to understand the actual and perceived effectiveness of land-based policy creation and implementation in the past five years, and the role that climate calculators have played within this. Climate calculators are decision support tools (DST) that are designed to facilitate policy creation and highlight different pathways to net-zero carbon emissions. Uncertainty around the utility of climate calculators for climate-smart land sector decision-making, leaves a disconnect between establishment of national climate mitigation targets and the mechanisms by which they are achieved. Highlighting the utility of the climate calculator will ensure that it is the right DST being used and the best way in which to use it to maximise its efficiency.
Supervisor: Jem Woods
Co-Supervisor: Caroline Howe
Claire Hunt
PhD Project Title: Land-based sources of marine pollution
Supervisor: Nick Voulvoulis
Usman Jahun
PhD Project Title: A critical examination of the legal and policy response to Climate Change under the Nigerian environmental law.
PhD Project Summary: My research seeks to critically examine the legal & policy response to Climate Change under the Nigerian environmental law. It is aimed at investigating if & how the existing climate change law & policies have been able to address the local circumstances & legal realities of stakeholders; analysing Nigerian initiatives in counteracting climate change vis-à-vis what other countries are doing; establishing ways in which international legal frameworks can contribute to the Nigerian law; developing an enhanced & context-based multi-stakeholder legal framework; as well as developing a special focus on loss & damage strategy as Nigeria has historically been the victim vis-à-vis the country’s continued reliance & export of fossil fuels.
The focus of the research is on three questions: a. Whether the existing Nigerian legal framework comprehensively address the threat posed by climate change? b. What are the Nigerian National 'initiatives' within the broader context of Nigeria's international commitments to counteracting climate change? and c. How does international law contribute to the Nigerian legal framework for the control of climate change
The questions above are based on the significant role played by law and policy in transforming science and technology’s findings into rules and regulations that guide human behaviour.
Other key interests of my research are the level of implementation of Nigerian law & policies in counteracting climate change, energy transition and sustainable development. I am also looking closely at the transferability & generalizability of the research to other countries.
Supervisor: Karen Makuch
Co-Supervisor: Zen Makuch
Abha Joglekar
PhD Project Title: Why should we plant trees?
PhD Project Summary: Large-scale land restoration efforts are concentrated in the tropics and sub-tropics, yet it is unclear how these regions will respond to and implement restoration at scale. This research focuses on restoration initiatives in Brazil and India and aims to document, a) why individual landholders engage in restoration, b) the perceived and actual impacts of restoration initiatives, and c) multi-actor perspectives on scaling restoration practices in the region. The research uses a mixed methods approach combining surveys and semi-structured interviews. While the interviews will enable a qualitative understanding of the adoption process, the surveys are designed on the social sciences theory of Diffusion of Innovations (Rogers, 2003) which will link the characteristics of the adoption process as well as relative preferences among landholders. This will help in the design and implementation of restoration projects that are likely to scale. Further, a comparison of case studies in India and Brazil will enable an understanding of what works in different socio-ecological contexts. This is particularly important in the broader context where India and Brazil are significant contributors to global restoration goals but have very different experiences of forest restoration to date.
Supervisor: Morena Mills
Nathan Johnson
PhD Project Title: Stabilisation Wedges: measuring progress towards transforming the global energy sytem
PhD Project Summary: Nathan's research focuses on quantifying historical progress and estimating future progress in transforming the global energy system using the well-known Stabilization Wedge framework. His research divides the 'solution' to the carbon-climate problem into small and tractable portions of emissions abatement and conveys this information in a conceptually simple and intuitive way that is accessible to audiences beyond energy professionals.
Supervisor: Iain Staffell
Co-Supervisor: Robert Gross
Sarah Kakadellis
PhD Project Title: The feasibility of food waste and bioplastics co-digestion for industrial anaerobic digestion within a bioeconomy framework
PhD Project Summary: "The recent years have placed plastic pollution under growing public scrutiny and both industrial and political landscapes have been called upon to propose innovative approaches, including ‘greener’ plastic materials. The biodegradable properties of some plant-based plastics (bioplastics), have been identified as a promising opportunity to address this societal and environmental challenge. They represent a solution for food packaging applications by preserving food without persisting in the environment, particularly marine. However, such bio-based biodegradable alternatives may not necessarily provide an improvement in overall environmental impact and little is known about their biodegradation efficacy in given waste streams.
Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective, Sarah’s research project explores bioplastics waste management and addresses their suitability in anaerobic digestion. Chemical and microbiological characterisation will provide an insight into the advantages and limitations they may present in the current European industrial strategy context. To support the experimental research, further engagement with stakeholders in the industry and policy sectors aims to identify the challenges and barriers that exist from a ‘real-world’ perspective. Ultimately, the focus of this thesis is on ensuring that their promotion within a bioeconomy framework is based on environmentally-sound evidence."
Supervisor: Glen Harris
Co-Supervisor: Jem Woods
Jun Wei Hermann Kam
PhD Project Title: Rural restructuring and the broadening of public goods providers in the UK
PhD Project Summary: "My PhD research seeks to understand the rural transition occurring in the UK and how future agri-environmental schemes, such as the Environmental Land Management scheme (ELMs), can continue to be compatible with the changing demographic of rural landholders.
On top of gaining a deeper insight into the changing patterns of rural land occupancy, a key aspect of my research will investigate how land management practices are performed by new land managers, how they differ to the practices of traditional mainstream farmers, and the ease with which new land managers can be brought into (and integrated within) the established community of public good providers in the countryside. My research will also consider how policy makers can tailor future schemes to these new land managers and accomodate for a broadening group of public good providers."
Supervisor: Clive Potter
Co-Supervisor: Morena Mills
Jarmo Kikstra
PhD Project Title: Safe and Social Living: the individual operating space in the context of Climate Change
PhD Project Summary: "The aim of this research is to explore and develop pathways of transformation towards a world where the global society lives without exceeding the carrying capacity of the earth while meeting basic human needs for all.
For this, the project builds upon the Decent Living Standards framework, with a focus on energy. This allows for unifying a social foundation and an ecological ceiling in a coherent framework in such a way that it becomes operational for modelling with a direct link to individual level. "
Supervisor: Joeri Rogelj
Liam Kirkpatrick
PhD Project Title: Investigating the Cultural Ecosystem Services of Urban Blue Space: Policy Planning for Climate Change, Biodiversity and Nature-based Solutions
PhD Project Summary: "This is an interdisciplinary PhD exploring the use of Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) for improving environmental policy understandings. The value of urban water is increasingly becoming overlooked in favour of urbanisation land use strategies, with various integral ecosystem services subsequently coming under threat. Moreover, contemporary climate change risk highlights a need for this wide range of urban water ecosystem services.
However, a failure to acknowledge key socio-political dimensions of urban water tends to run through these discourses, to the detriment of sustainable land use planning. With an aim to help inform policy, this project focuses on how investigating CES within urban blue space may contribute to developing social and environmental health and wellbeing, as well as strengthen understandings of the concept itself. Across various fieldwork sites, the project also investigates interactions that draw climate change adaptations and mitigations, nature-based solutions and biodiversity into the wider CES framework.
Working in close collaboration with the Environment Agency, this research helps to address a key research gap they have identified regarding the value of water and its management in urban areas. Investigation is warranted to assist with the control and application of urban water resources under sustainable and climate-conscious land use planning."
Supervisor: Alexandra Collins
Co-Supervisor: Clive Potter
Emily Lewis-Brown
PhD Project Title: Diffusion of Conservation Initiatives
PhD Project Summary: "Much of nature has been lost (IPBES, 2019) and food and water shortages will worsen without rapid amelioration (IPCC, 2018). Conservation initiatives can mitigate some changes and help people adapt (Field et al., 2012), but, despite a host of conventions and targets, progress to conserve nature is inadequate (Leadley et al., 2014).
Research exists to understand the knowledge-action gap (O’Brien, 2012) and motivations for pro-environmental behaviours (Cetas and Yasue, 2017), although the drivers and barriers that influence adoption and spread of conservation initiatives remain unclear (Mascia and Mills, 2018). Additionally, negative impacts on people from conservation initiatives have been reported (D. Spalding et al., 2016), potentially reducing spread of innovations (Dearing and Cox, 2018) and raising ethical concerns (Bennett et al., 2017). Finally, rebound effects from adopting some conservation initiatives (Dütschke et al., 2018), are presumed with adoption of carbon offsetting (Anderson, 2012), although this remains untested (Günther et al., 2020).
Therefore, my PhD research will examine the adoption and spread of conservation initiatives, focussing on Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs) in subsistence fishing villages in Madagascar. I will also test for rebound effects amongst adopters of voluntary carbon offsets."
PhD Project Title: Quantifying damages from wildfires
PhD Project Summary: "Haleema is a PhD student undertaking research in Economics. Her research focuses on quantifying and monetising damages from wildfires using environmental valuation methods. Her research also aims to investigate the macro-economic impacts of wildfires, specifically on labour markets and income.
Prior to this, Haleema studied a BSc in Physical Geography with an MSc in Economics and Energy Policy at UCL."
Supervisor: Ioannis Kountouris
Jorge Moreno
PhD Project Title: Environmental SDG interactions in Paris compliant development pathways
PhD Project Summary: "Along with the Paris Agreement, which aims to hold the average global temperature increase to well below 2°C , the 2030 Agenda is increasingly becoming a framework around which international development institutions can structure their benchmark objectives. By studying the interactions of multiple earth-human systems, it will be possible to identify how they are linked and design feasible pathways for achieving several goals simultaneously.
My PhD thesis aims to provide information on how interactions of the natural resource base might be affected in mitigation scenarios transitioning from a scenario dominated by the commitments of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) to scenarios aligned with the Paris Agreement. I will focus on the regional interconnections of the Climate-Land-Energy-Water systems in decarbonisation pathways to progress towards SDG and try to understand what synergies should be leveraged and what trade-offs should be tackled to take into account the natural resource base while efficiently transitioning towards a low-carbon society."
Supervisor: Jem Woods
Hannah Murdock
PhD Project Title: Analysis of policy measures and behaviour change for decarbonising the transport sector among major greenhouse gas emitters
Supervisor: Iain Staffell
Sally Musungu
PhD Project Title: Spatial-temporal dynamics of bananas pest with climate change in Uganda.
PhD Project Summary: Banana crop farming is a key economic activity in Uganda. Its productivity (yield/cover area) however, has been declining over the last two decades. At the same time, the temperature and pest prevalence (banana weevil pest - Cosmopolites sordidus) has been on the rise. Here, we investigate climate change-banana pest- banana crop interactions. A case study in the central, southern, and western regions (these regions have distinct climates) will result in the development of a conceptual pest monitoring framework. Data from pest thermal sensitivity studies and surveys of the production sites will be used to model dynamics of banana weevil pests with climate change. These models will constitute a critical element in climate change/agriculture decision support tools to be used by policymakers to make evidence-based decisions. It will also form one of the most powerful pieces of evidence to show the impact of accelerated climate change on banana crops. Whilst this study is particular in Uganda, in principle, the output is applicable to all banana-producing countries.
Supervisor: John Mumford
Ngoc Thuy Nguyen
PhD Project Title: Reducing the Social Inequities in Greenspace Use and Access: A Co-Design Approach
PhD Project Summary: Urban green spaces play a significant role in improving the liveability of cities and connecting urban dwellers back to nature. However, there is differential usage and access to green spaces between social groups, with large and high-quality green spaces being disproportionately posited in wealthier areas. This pattern can exacerbate the poor living conditions of certain groups, including the economically disadvantaged and the minority people.
The issue of equity in urban green spaces is crucial for its impacts on community well-being. It is also an important measure of environmental justice and is particularly relevant to countries with huge income disparities such as the UK and Vietnam. To encourage greater equity in greenspace access and usage, this research examines the social characteristics of the disengaged and investigates the needs and barriers they currently face. It will take a participatory approach to engage different stakeholders in designing green spaces that are accessible and usable for different population groups.
Supervisor: Alexandra Collins
Co-supervisor: Tilly Collins
Juliet Norman
PhD Project Title: Ecosystem Risk Assessment- Using the Redlist of Ecosystem Model for application
PhD Project Summary: "My work is centered around Ecosystem risk assessment . Using the Red list of ecosystem (RLE) model for application. Am studying the dynamics in land use and land cover change (LULC) for the protected areas- Gola Rainforest National Park (GRFNP) and Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary (TIWS), in Sierra Leone West Africa by interpretation of spatial data. Maps will be created that compares the LULC situation in years 2000–2016 and these will be used to Identify which parts of the two protected areas have been deforested or degraded through time.
These focused studies will form the basis for the creation of a robust framework for RLE assessments that may be deployed generally for African tropical ecosystem..
Am adopting two models for this research- a state and transition model and an ecosystem risk assessment model. A detailed description of the ecosystem is essential to ensure a repeatable application of the model. Clear information on the ecosystem classification and description will be provided. The assessment will also cover all the four elements that describes the ecosystem, including the threat and collapse state of the ecosystem. The four elements to be considered include: characteristic native biota, abiotic environment, key processes and interactions, and spatial distribution.
My lead supervisor is professor Mark Burgman assisted by Dr Minerva Singh, but I will be closely working with Dr Aniko Toth and David Keith at the Centre for Ecosystem Science (CES) at University of New South Wales (UNSW). both are members of CES group that leads an extensive global network in the evolution of the Ecosystem Risk
Assessment protocol and pioneered the development of the internationally recognized Red List of Ecosystems"
Supervisor: Minerva Singh
Co-Supervisor: Mark Burgman
Ryan O'Shea
PhD Project Title: Circular Bioeconomy transition: Sustainability appraisal of seaweed aquaculture integration to a wind farm zone
PhD Project Summary: "Ryan is an interdisciplinary LISS DTP postgraduate researcher at the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London. He is also supported by the NERC-funded SSCP DTP run by the Grantham Institute.
He is performing a sustainability appraisal of seaweed aquaculture integration to a wind farm zone. The evaluation is conducted using a mixed-methods approach and divided into two core themes: multivariate probabilistic risk and benefits.
Key terms: circular bioeconomy, seaweed aquaculture, integrative assessment and modelling, risk and sustainable development. "
Supervisor: Caroline Howe
Co-Supervisor: Alexandra Collins
Sofia Palazzo Corner
PhD Project Title: Incorporating climate catastrophe: representing tail-end Earth system behaviour in simple climate models
PhD Project Summary: Tail-end behaviour in the Earth system, which could lead to catastrophic climate change, is not well represented in simple climate models. This project aims to update our understanding of tail-end behaviours that could lead to high warming outcomes, contribute to a simple climate model to better represent one or more of these sub-system behaviours, and hence work to define the fat tail of climate change uncertainty.
Supervisor: Joeri Rogelj
Erika Piroli
PhD Project Title: The human drivers of wildfire - a focus on policy makers’ incentives
PhD Project Summary: "Fire prevention and forest regulations requires an active commitment and strict enforcement from governments at different levels. My research aims to understand if and how policy-makers’ incentives and commitments to promote sustainable forest management and wildfire regulations and policies change around election periods, showing the presence of political cycles, and along the international borders.
Specifically, this research will investigate whether the incentives of politicians change before and after the election periods and across the political borders, analysing the wildfire occurrence. The research will empirically analyse the relationship among election, property rights, national and international borders, and wildfire occurrence. More specifically, the study is going to deal with the following questions:
• Do politicians’ re-election incentives affect wildfire occurrences?
• Are fires more likely on State, Federal or private wildlands?
• Do we obtain similar wildfire outcomes with both a Republican and a Democrat candidate running for re-election?
• Do we experience similar wildfire occurrence at the international/federal borders?"
Supervisor: Ioannis Kountouris
Augustin Prado
PhD Project Title: Modelling Negative Emission Technologies in the UK
PhD Project Summary: "I am modelling and optimising a portfolio of Negative Emission Technology (NETs) to satisfy british national carbon removal targets. The core of my work lies into designing the life cycle of terrestrial-based technologies such as Afforestation and biochar, as well as industrial-based technologies such as Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) or different Direct Air Capture (DAC) archetypes."
Supervisor: Niall MacDowell
Bethany Reyniers
PhD Project Title: Grape Britain: UK viticulture in an era of climate change
PhD Project Summary: The UK viticultural industry has undergone rapid growth in recent years due to changes in climate, making areas suitable for grape growing, with this trend only projected to increase. However, effects of adverse weather events, such as late spring frost, may occur during critical grapevine developmental stages and can have significant effects on yield and quality. This PhD project explores how the UK viticultural industry is adapting to a changing climate, and what adaptive management strategies can be implemented to ensure sustainable expansion of the sector. Using a mixed methods approach, there will be an exploration of how the UK grape growing and wine making industry is currently managed, as well as investigating the priorities and perspectives of producers. Through undertaking case studies and developing frameworks, outputs from this project will include recommendations of how vineyards can be future-proofed whilst also maintaining environmental integrity and improving sustainability practices.
Supervisor: Caroline Howe
Co-Supervisor: Tilly Collins
Alvaro Roel Bellot
PhD Project Title: Adoption and spread of ecosystem restoration and its implication for decision making.
PhD Project Summary: This PhD focuses on understanding the factors driving the adoption, spread and abandonment ecosystem restoration interventions amongst lanholders, as well as on how to optimise the deployment of these interventions in space, using woodland expansion efforts in the UK as a case study. The main objective of his research is to produce key insights to inform the design, priorities and delivery of future ecosystem restoration efforts to maximise environmental and social benefits and minimise costs. Contributing to unleash the huge potential of ecosystem restoration to address the current global environmental crises and enhance biodiversity and human well-being.
Supervisor: Morena Mills
Antanas Sabanas
PhD Project Title: Public Sector Drivers for Sustainable Innovation
Supervisor: Zen Makuch
Louise Spiteri
PhD Project Title: Liability for Climate Change Damage: The case for Insurance as a Supporting Mechanism
PhD Project Summary: The research is dedicated to an analysis of climate change liability, and how this is being tackled both on national level as well as on an international level. Various national and international legal instruments, and also legal doctrines related with the concept of liability are being studied. Then this liability concept is linked with liability insurance claims, and compensation for damages. Once again legal instruments and practices together with caselaw are a fundamental part of this research work. Finally a proposed international legal framework for climate change liability and insurance as a supporting mechanism is going to be proposed.
Supervisor: Zen Makuch
Paisan Sukpanit
PhD Project Title: The contribution of the land sector to Thailand's climate change mitigation
PhD Project Summary: Paisan Sukpanit is a Research Postgraduate in the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London investigating the roles of land biosphere in climate change mitigation. He is a technical support in the International 2050 Calculator Programme, where countries are supported to build their national carbon calculator as a tool to explore national decarbonisation pathways. He currently assists Thailand, Malaysia and Nigeria in their national calculator's developments.
Supervisor: Jem Woods
Michel Valette
PhD Project Title: Environmental management, conservation and restoration initiatives within fire-prone landscapes: evaluating fire management approaches to improve social and environmental outcomes
PhD Project Summary: The PhD will explore the complex relationships between environmental policies and fire regimes in the Brazilian Amazon. More specifically, remote sensing will be used to assess the impact over time of the environmental policies which reduced deforestation rate of the Brazilian Amazon since 2004, as well as different conservation governance regime (such as community-based forest management, indigenous land and protected areas), on the wildfire occurrence. This will be complemented by fieldwork to investigate the use of fire by local communities, its importance for the livelihoods and the evolution of fire management by local communities regarding changing climatic conditions, agricultural opportunities, and environmental regulations. Finally, the performance of MODIS and VIIRS sensor to observe fire regimes in the Amazon will be compared to alternative sources of information.
Supervisor: Morena Mills
Co-Supervisor: Jem Woods
Samuel Watkins
PhD Project Title: Future proofing urban neighbourhoods – Evaluating the role of community co-design in delivering multiple environmental and social benefits from flood resilience schemes
Supervisor: Alexandra Collins
Judy Xie
PhD Project Title: Socially Equitable Pathways Towards Net Zero
PhD Project Summary: Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) were adopted in the early 1990s to evaluate the cost and benefit of climate change mitigation and, after the Paris Agreement, to identify regional least-cost climate stabilization pathways. Ever since these models, the decarbonisation transition has been optimised predominantly under cost-minimising principles with scarce consideration about the region-specific portfolio of physical, social, and natural resources required for the transition. Hence, the success of net-zero energy policies requires further understanding of the socio-economic impacts associated with their implementation at the national and regional levels. After identifying the relevant socio-economic indicators, we aim to couple these metrics to an Electricity System Optimisation (ESO) framework to quantify the socio-economic impacts of low-carbon technology deployment pathways in the medium and long term. This quantitative modelling framework will be used to evaluate, for example, the impacts of transitioning to net zero on regional economies, as well as the effects of advanced manufacturing on the labour market. These impacts will be quantified via specific regional case studies to account for different geopolitical conditions, economic strengths, and natural resources portfolios.
Supervisor: Niall MacDowell
Co-Supervisor: Piera Patrizio
Yurong Yu
PhD Project Title: Developing and testing a framework for assessing ecological and social impacts of transportation infrastructure through biodiverse regions
PhD Project Summary: Governments across the world have been planning and building transportation infrastructure at an increasing speed, which is likely to have negative environmental risks, particularly in terms of biodiversity conservation. In response to the potential environmental harm, numerous policy frameworks have been designed, however, these are mostly focused on financial and economic concerns and are not yet biodiversity centric. More importantly, few frameworks have been designed based on substantial, empirical evidence. In this study, a systematic review was used to collect and synthesize quantitative and qualitative data on the ecological effects and management of transportation infrastructure at a global scale. The outcomes of the review will be used to design a biodiversity-centric policy framework, assessing ecological and social impacts of transportation infrastructure through biodiverse regions. The framework will then be tested via expert feedback and three case-studies.
Supervisor: Mark Burgman
Co-Supervisor: Caroline Howe
Leonardo Zea Reyes
PhD Project Title: Integrating health beneficial climate synergetic policies into city planning
PhD Project Summary: Health is recognized as one of the most basic human needs and as such it is of vital importance to the very existence of cities. The wider context (socio-economic, genetics, nutrition) at interplay with urban design (density, infrastructure, green space), behaviour (transport choice) and pathways (air pollution, noise, temperature) factors influence the morbidity and mortality of individuals. For instance, some of the health effects of air pollution are cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease and chronic respiratory disease. Current knowledge on the relationships between climate change and health has reached a point where it is necessary to move forward towards translating this knowledge into science-based policies and effective implementation on the ground. Therefore, the objective of this study is to undertake a comparative case study analysis in order to better understand the challenges and opportunities of integrating health beneficial climate synergetic policies (adaptation and mitigation) into city planning using a systems approach. A systems approach means bringing people together to identify challenges, co‐benefits, trade‐offs and arrangements which would make solutions likely to happen.
Supervisor: Audrey de Nazelle
Co-Supervisor: Clive Potter
Riqi Zhang
PhD Project Title: Explore the road map of China's industrial low-carbon transformation
Supervisor: Jem Woods