Organisms and Environment – (Ph.D.)

Our aim is to understand the ecological, health and genetic consequences of environmental change on biological diversity. Our approach is to focus on processes and prediction, combining ecological, experimental and molecular approaches, in contrasting groups of organisms. All the major groups are studied, including animals, plants, bacteria, archaea, protozoa, filamentous fungi and yeast.

Research areas are broadly divided into three areas:

1. Genomes, Diversity and Adaptation
2. Individuals, Ecosystems and GlobalChange
3. Microbes, Infection and Communities

PhD projects tend to be multidisciplinary in nature, and range from field ecology to experimental microbiology to population genomics. The group has a field centre in Sabah, Malaysia and O&E faculty are also responsible for maintaining the School’s Molecular Biology and Analytical support facilities. In this large and lively research division, many projects are run in collaboration with Universities and Research Institutes elsewhere in the UK and abroad, as well as with other departments (such as Earth and Ocean Sciences, Social Sciences, City and Regional Planning) within the University.

Research areas:

* Microbial and soil ecology
* Endangered Species research
* Genomics, metagenomics, population and environmental genetics of plants, animals and microbes
* Ecotoxicology in aquatic and terrestrial environments
* Community ecology including pest management
* Interactions between organisms and their food resources
* Behavioural and evolutionary ecology
* Chemical ecology and waste management
* Population dynamics in freshwater and terrestrial systems
* Predator-prey and host-parasite interactions
* Epidemiology and pathogenesis, including medically important bacteria