PhD Studentship: Warming the Heart: Identifying how Transforming Tropical Fire Discourses can Contribute Towards More Effective and Equitable Governance

Primary supervisor - Dr Rachel Carmenta, [email protected]

Mode of study: Full-time or part-time

Programme type: Masters+PhD or PhD

The School of Global Development at the University of East Anglia ranked 1st in the UK by the REF seeks outstanding national and international PhD candidates to work on leading people-nature challenges. Tropical wildfires are increasing in extent and frequency and projected to worsen with climate change (Brando et al, 2020). They drive enormous burdens to people and nature-yet their governance has proven a significant challenge (Lapola et al, 2023). This difficulty is partly explained by the perceived benefits obtained through some fire-based activities (e.g. pasture maintenance, land clearance), and the increase in factors fuelling fires (e.g. forest fragmentation and degradation). Notably, another factor potentially slowing progress towards equitable fire management is that scientific understanding and associated discourses of tropical fire largely focus on the carbon emissions, biodiversity impacts or to a lesser extent-the economic costs incurred. Despite being under-researched and under-communicated, the actual place-based, lived experience of fire and flammability is acute for forest-based communities (Carmenta et al, 2021). These groups suffer irreparable damages across all dimensions of human well-being when their territories are threatened by flammability, and degraded through fire 9Lapola et al, 2023). Crucially, empirical evidence suggests that this lived experience discourse would be more powerful across diverse sets of stakeholders to garner support towards the necessary transformation in fire governance (Carmenta et al, 2017). This project addresses this issue by:

i) evaluating the media discourses and framings of tropical fire,
ii) collecting qualitative field data to understand the lived experience of fire and flammability for forest-based communities, and
iii) using behavioural science techniques to identify what discursive framings resonate most strongly with stakeholder groups in order to support better governance.

The focus will be on two increasingly fire-prone hotspots and centres of biocultural diversity-the Brazilian Amazon and Indonesian peatlands. The student will benefit from the support of the Collaborative Partner - CEMADEM in Brazil.

This is a SENSS collaborative doctoral training studentship project.

The deadline applying to University of East Anglia for a place is 23:59 GMT on 23 February 2024.

The deadline for submitting your application for SENSS funding on HEIApply is 12:00 GMT on 11 March 2024. https://senss.heiapply.com/application  

No extensions to this deadline will be permitted.

Funding:

The successful candidate will be awarded an ESRC studentship that pays tuition fees, a stipend, and funding to support research and training costs. Funding may be awarded for four years if the successful candidate needs to undertake a Master’s degree before the PhD, or for 3-3.5 years for the PhD alone, depending on training needs.

Unfortunately, no additional funds are available to assist with relocation or visa costs.