PhD Studentship: The Hybridity of Polluted Freshwaters

Award type: PhD

Application closing date: 01/05/24

Start date:   01/10/24  

Duration of award: 4 years

Eligibility: UK, EU, Rest of World

Studentship funding

Sponsored by Leverhulme doctoral programme, this studentship provides, fees and stipend costs for scholars for up to 4 years paid at UKRI's standard domestic rate, with an additional grant of £10,000 to each student for research expenses.

Type of opportunity

Introductory Paragraph  

Freshwater pollution is a manufactured water landscape (waterscape), embedding with its flows and cycles technologies, institutions, discourses, and meanings which produce and are produced by power relations.  Yet, existing debates on freshwater pollution ignore the “bio-cultural-political” complexities that result in the decline of freshwater quality and health. Hence, this research will unpack the who, why, what and how freshwater pollution occurs and fosters power and inequalities across scales.

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The political ecology of freshwater pollution will elaborate on how politics, practices, institutions, access, technologies, perceptions and discourses converge in time and space to impact the health and quality of freshwaters. 

In this project, the PhD student will adopt a critical perspective on the cause and effect of polluted freshwaters. Using actor-network theory, you will examine the complex network of actors, networks, and actants in the pollution of freshwater and its consequences on socio-hydrological systems. Assigning anthropogenic activities as a key factor in polluted freshwater ignores pollution as a manifestation of complex socio-hydrological effect. The research will employ ethnographic, historical and hydrographic research tools to explore the co-production of pollution in the dormancy of everyday lives. It will demonstrate the 'interconnectedness' between freshwater, societal values, norms, political economies, cultures and discourses. It will also demonstrate how the co-production process manifests beyond pollution to encompass the reformation of cultures and the creation of environmental identities. Working closely with stakeholders and local communities will help ensure that findings from the project informs communication and engagement activities in the case studies.

You will;
A. Unpack the political economy of freshwater governance and freshwater pollution
B. Establish the relationship between public perception and freshwater governance
C. Identify how freshwater ecologies, physiologies and flow shape the political economy of freshwater governance and vice versa. 

understanding of the interactions between humans and the environment to support sustainable solutions to the environmental challenges affecting our freshwater, lake, wetland, and groundwater ecosystems. To find more information on the programme and other research topics, please see the official CONNECT website.

Entry requirements

An ideal candidate for this position will have a first or second class UK honors and Masters degree in Natural Resource Management, Anthropology, environmental management, water development and management or any relevant social science discipline. Familiarity with the subject of political ecology and ethnographic research methods will be an advantage. 

Funding

The scholarship award will include fees and stipend costs for scholars for up to 4 years paid at UKRI's standard domestic rate, with an additional grant of £10,000 to each student for research expenses. 

How to apply

For further information please contact: Dr Alesia Ofori

Email: [email protected]

T: (0) 1234 758 310

For further information contact us today:

Admissions

T: +44 (0)1234 758082

E: [email protected]