根据我所与宁波诺丁汉大学签署协议，我所从2018年开始与宁波诺丁汉大学合作联合培养博士生。该博士生招生计划及学籍属宁波诺丁汉大学，由我所导师与宁波诺丁汉大学导师共同指导，学生毕业获英国诺丁汉大学文凭。本年度招生指标5-8个，具体招生方向和导师见下面的详细说明，招生截止日期为2018年6月29日16:00。各位有意向的同学请与相关导师联系沟通。 

　　详细招生信息也可以在下面网站查阅：https://www.nottingham.edu.cn/en/graduateschool/phd-scholarships/18053dtpbj.aspx 

　　Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) scholarships at UNNC and IGSNRR 2018 Entry (5 places) 

　　The available PhD scholarships cover:  

　　·       Tuition fee  

　　·       Accommodation for the PhD candidate only (accommodation type is based on availability)  

　　·       Monthly stipend (RMB 3,500) 

　　·       Medical insurance with designate providers  

　　·       All above items are covered for up to 36 months based on satisfactory progression 

　　·       All regulations set out in the UNNC PGR Scholarship Policy apply  

　　In addition to the above scholarship, successful candidates also have the opportunity to carry out paid teaching or research assistant duties at UNNC.  

　　Available PhD research projects  

　　The UNNC-IGSNRR scholarships are available to support five of the following research projects described below:  

　　1.     Impacts of glacier changes on vegetation and lakes in the Tibetan Plateau using remote sensing and ground observations. 

　　IGSNRR supervisor: Prof Jinwei DONG （董金玮） 

　　UNNC supervisors: Dr Ping FU  

　　Alpine glacier shrinkage has been observed globally, especially in the Tibetan Plateau, in recent decades, which have played profound impacts on the regional hydrology and ecology. The project aims to investigate the changes of main glaciers in the Tibetan Plateau and assess their impacts on regional hydrological system (e.g., lake dynamics) and ecosystems (e.g., vegetation dynamics), by integrating remote sensing and ground observation approaches.  

　　Informal inquiries may be addressed to Dr Ping FU (ping.fu@nottingham.edu.cn), and Prof Jinwei DONG (dongjw@igsnrr.ac.cn), but formal applications should follow the instructions in ‘How to apply’ section below. 

　　2.     Regional environmental change in a rapidly urbanising region based on remote sensing and big data.  

　　IGSNRR supervisor: Prof Jinwei DONG （董金玮） 

　　UNNC supervisors: Dr Ping FU & Dr Nicholas HAMM 

　　The potential PhD candidate will be expect to use the most advanced remote sensing and big data technologies to track the environmental change in Hangzhou Bay, which is an urbanisation hotspot. Furthermore, the drivers of urbanisation will be investigated. This project will provide valuable support for regional development and sustainability. This is because urbanization has important implications for the human environment (e.g., air pollution, urban heat island), ecological environment and the economy.  

　　Informal inquiries may be addressed to Dr Ping FU (ping.fu@nottingham.edu.cn), and Prof Jinwei DONG (dongjw@igsnrr.ac.cn), but formal applications should follow the instructions in ‘How to apply’ section below. 

　　3.     Sustainable urban storm water and flood risk management focusing on the practices of low-impact developments (Sponge Cities) and nature-based solutions in urbanised Chinese cities 

　　IGSNRR supervisor: Prof. Suxia LIU （刘苏峡） 

　　UNNC supervisors: Dr Faith CHAN and Dr Meili FENG  

　　The Sponge City concept has been widely promoted in China since 2014, and provides an opportunity for these cities to adopt the nature-based solutions (NBS) that merge with the low-impact developments (LIDs) strategies. Nature-based approaches may transform the current urban planning and future city design about urban water management that includes flood risk mitigations, storm water management, urban catchment pollutants and climate change issues in urbanised Chinese cities.  

　　In fact, these NBS and LIDs concepts are holistically addressing multi-factors of solving urban water (e.g. urban runoff discharge, storm water purifications, enhancement of ecology, etc.) and other relevant environmental issues. This project will focus on two major dimensions on (i) urban hydrology and water issues (e.g. water quality, hydrology, pollutants and purifications) and (ii) urban planning (looking at urban transformation and sponge city design).  

　　Informal inquiries may be addressed to Dr Faith Chan (Faith.Chan@nottingham.edu.cn) and Prof Suxia LIU (liusx@igsnrr.ac.cn), but formal applications should follow the instructions in ‘How to apply’ section below. 

　　4.     The community responses on transboundary water management disputes by human-induced and climate factors – the case of Mekong River  

　　IGSNRR supervisors: Prof. Lei SHEN and Dr Shuai ZHONG （沈镭） 

　　UNNC supervisors: Dr Odette PARAMOR, Dr Faith CHAN and Dr Meili FENG 

　　Transboundary water governance and management issues along the Mekong River have received considerable attention over the past two decades, particularly as a result of the dams constructed in the upper part of Mekong River, and their societal, environmental and economic impacts on its middle and lower reaches. The Mekong River Commission has been involved to address these challenging issues, but many of the disputes have not been resolved. This project will focus on investigating community responses to the impacts of the dams.  

　　Informal inquiries may be addressed to Dr Odette PARAMOR (Odette.Paramor@nottingham.edu.cn) and Prof Lei SHEN (shenl@igsnrr.ac.cn), but formal applications should follow the instructions in ‘How to apply’ section below. 

　　5.     Nutrient retention modelling at river reach and basin scales.  

　　IGSNRR supervisor: Prof. Xianfang SONG （宋献方） 

　　UNNC supervisor: Dr. Meili FENG  

　　Surface and ground water come under enormous pressure from a range of different pressures, such as water shortages, flow regulation, straightening or sediment and nutrient loading. This project involves mathematical simulation, theoretical deduction and experimental studies on nutrient retention processes and provide insights into integrated nutrient processes and water quality simulations. Student must have an excellent understanding of hydrology and hydrological processes, combined with environmental modelling and experimental experience.  

　　Informal inquiries may be addressed to Dr Meili FENG (meili.feng@nottingham.edu.cn) and Prof Xianfang SONG (songxf@igsnrr.ac.cn), but formal applications should follow the instructions in ‘How to apply’ section below. 

　　6.       Space-time analysis of remote sensing and in situ environmental data  

　　IGSNRR supervisor: Prof Yong GE （葛咏） 

　　UNNC supervisor: Dr Nicholas HAMM 

　　For many applications it is important to have quantitative current and historic maps of the environment (e.g., land cover, urban land use, environmental and air pollution).   The historic extent range from the present day to the past 10-40 years.   Such datasets are needed for environmental monitoring and modelling in the context of land-use change, urban expansion and developments surrounding the Belt and Road initiative.  Environmental epidemiology is another application.   Data sources include remote sensing, in situ environmental monitoring networks, socio-economic data, social media and volunteered geographic information.  Core topics to be addressed in this PhD are: (a) identification of appropriate current and/or historic data, (b) integration and modelling of these big geoscience datasets using novel statistical and machine learning methods, (c) data sharing, (d) spatial-temporal scale and (e) spatial data quality and validation.   The exact direction and application will be decided in consultation with the successful candidate. 

　　Informal inquiries may be addressed to Dr Nicholas HAMM (Nicholas.Hamm@nottingham.edu.cn) and  Prof Yong GE (gey@lreis.ac.cn),  but formal applications should follow the instructions in ‘How to apply’ section below. 

　　7.     Uncertainty in environmental maps  

　　IGSNRR supervisor: Prof Yong GE （葛咏） 

　　UNNC supervisor: Dr Nicholas HAMM 

　　In geography and related disciplines we invest a lot of time and effort in creating maps of the natural and man-made environment.   Evaluating the quality of these maps is of critical importance; however, gold-standard validation datasets are often not available.  Core topics to be addressed in this PhD are (a) identifying reference data for validation, (b) validation when reference data are partially or completely absent, (c) uncertainty propagation and (d) spatially distributed validation and uncertainty assessment.  Possible areas of interest are the use of social media and volunteered geographic information and the use of latent class modelling for validation  

　　Informal inquiries may be addressed to Dr Nicholas HAMM (Nicholas.Hamm@nottingham.edu.cn) and Prof Yong GE (gey@lreis.ac.cn), but formal applications should follow the instructions in ‘How to apply’ section below. 

　　8.     Sea level change, marine inundations, and Neolithic settlements in the Ningshao Plain, eastern China 

　　IGSNRR supervisor: Prof Baozhang CHEN （陈报章） 

　　UNNC supervisor: Dr Tengwen LONG 

　　The project will be of interest to students who want to conduct an environmental archaeology project which involves a mixture of palaeoecological analysis and GIS-based modelling. 

　　Ningshao Plain is one of the key global locations for the origin of early agriculture and is characterised by highly developed early Holocene archaeological cultures, such as the Kuahuqiao (from ca. 7,900 cal BP) and Hemudu (from ca. 7,100 cal BP). Throughout the mid-Holocene (from ca. 7,000 cal BP to ca. 4,000 cal BP), however, settlement sites in the Plain seem to have had limited development compared to their counterparts in the Taihu Plain north of Hangzhou Bay. The project will investigate whether the constrained cultural development resulted from frequent environmental changes, notably changes in hydrology associated with mid-Holocene sea level variations. Reconstructing sea level history and geomorphic evolution of the Ningshao Plain will provide essential data for answering this question. The candidate is expected to use palaeoecological proxies and GIS-based modelling tools for such reconstructions. 

　　Example activities in the PhD project could include: 

　　-        Developing microfossil-based elevation transfer functions 

　　-        Recovering Holocene sediment sequences in the Ningshao Plain 

　　-        Laboratory analysis of microfossils in recovered sediment sequences 

　　-        Collecting published and unpublished sedimentary and stratigraphical data 

　　-        Modelling geomorphic evolution of the Ningshao Plain from primary and secondary data using GIS platforms 

　　We welcome students who are interested in reconstructing past environmental change and human-environmental interactions to apply for this position. Previous experience in palaeoecological analysis (e.g. foraminifera, diatoms, pollen and spores) or geomorphic modelling is considered as an advantage. 

　　Informal inquiries may be addressed to Dr Tengwen LONG (Tengwen.Long@nottingham.edu.cn) and Prof Baozhang CHEN (baozhang.chen@igsnrr.ac.cn), but formal applications should follow the instructions in ‘How to apply’ section below. 

　　9.     Application of the Planetary Boundary concept to the Greater Bay Area, China.  

　　IGSNRR supervisor: Prof Fenzhen SU （苏奋振） 

　　UNNC supervisors: Dr Odette PARAMOR  

　　The concept of planetary boundaries was developed to, ‘outline a safe operating space for humanity that carries a low likelihood of harming the life support systems on Earth to such an extent that they no longer are able to support economic growth and human development’ (Rockstr？m et al., 2013). The concentration of human populations into cities, or city clusters, is placing those spaces under enormous social, economic and ecological pressure, in addition to affecting their resilience to environmental change or disasters.  

　　This PhD will focus on the application of the concept of Planetary Boundaries to the Greater Bay Area, China, and will focus on assessing the status of one of the following areas: (1) freshwater use, (2) land use change and its impact on food security, or (3) how the resilience or carrying capacity of the Greater Bay Area has changed since 1978.  

　　Rockstr？m, J., Steffen, W., Noone, K., Persson, ？., Chapin, F.S., Lambin, E.F., Lenton, T.M., Scheffer, M., Folke, C., Schellnhuber, H.J., Nykvist, B., De Wit, C.A., Hughes, T., Van Der Leeuw, S., Rodhe, H., S？rlin, S., Snyder, P.K., Costanza, R., Svedin, U., Falkenmark, M., Karlberg, L., Corell, R.W., Fabry, V.J., Hansen, J., Walker, B., Liverman, D., Richardson, K., Crutzen, P. and Foley, J.A. (2009) A safe operating space for humanity. Nature 461 (7263) 472 – 475   

　　Informal inquiries may be addressed to Dr. Odette PARAMOR (Odette.PARAMOR@nottingham.edu.cn) and Prof Fenzhen SU (sufz@lreis.ac.cn), but formal applications should follow the instructions in ‘How to apply’ section below. 

　　PhD programme structure  

　　PhD programmes at the UNNC are composed of 3 years research and submission is expected within 3 years for full-time students. PhD supervision is undertaken jointly by academics from the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC), Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resource Research, CAS (IGSNRR) and the University of Nottingham UK (UNUK). On successful completion, students will be awarded the University of Nottingham PhD degree, and no reference will be made on the degree certificate as to where the degree has been completed. The University of Nottingham PhD degree will be accredited by the Chinese Ministry of Education.  

　　Eligibility  

　　·       Applicants must have a first class honours undergraduate degree or 65% and above for a Masters’ degree from a British university, or the equivalent from other institutions 

　　·       Applicants must meet the required English language proficiency 

　　·       More details can be found on the ‘entry requirements’ page of the website   

　　How to apply  

　　Please email scanned copies of the following documents to PHDadmissions@nottingham.edu.cn by 16:00 (China time) on 29 June 2018. All documents must be in English. If original documents are not in English, a translated English version is required in addition to the original one. An application missing any of the following documents (except for English language score) is incomplete and will not be considered.  

　　Please quote the scholarship reference number in your application form if you are applying for this scholarship.  

• A completed application form
• A research proposal
• A brief CV
• Copies of degree certificates for undergraduate and postgraduate studies (Xueli certificates are required too for applicants from Chinese universities)
• Official transcripts with marks for all individual modules/courses from undergraduate and postgraduate studies (with official university stamp)
• English language test score (IELTS/ PTE academic) (not required for native English speakers)
• Two references (must be emailed directly by the referees)
• A copy of ID or passport (both sides of an ID card required)
• An electronic copy of passport-sized photo taken within three months of  this application

　　The scholarships are competitive and we advise you to apply as early as possible. It normally takes 5-6 weeks after the closing date for us to process your application.