RHN 3/2025 | Opportunity
PhD Position in the Project Cultural-Historical Geographies of European Peatlands in Changing Climates (Primary Supervisor: Naomi Millner, Co-Supervisor: John Morgan)
School of Geographical Sciences at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
Deadline for Applications: 1 April 2025
Scholarship
A fully funded PhD studentship including UK fees (it may be possible to apply for further cover if international fees apply), annual stipend, and a research budget, is available at the University of Bristol. Study will begin in September 2025 and is funded for 3.5 years. The deadline for applications is 1 April 2025.
Project
This PhD project investigates the cultural-historical geographies of climate in European peatlands, with a specific focus on case studies where human communities have long resided. The central aim is to examine how these landscapes were historically understood, shaped and governed, focusing on both “folk” and emerging scientific perspectives on the relationships between peatlands and environmental change, including place-based and site-specific understandings of climates and weather. A key and linked dimension of this research is to interrogate how far peatlands were characterised as “empty” spaces, or places devoid of labour, and the impact these imaginaries had on subsequent rounds of management and land use change. This will involve uncovering everyday practices of work, commoning and care that were historically bound to these landscapes, and potentially using these to unsettle and challenge reductive notions of peatlands as unproductive or marginal environments, and sites of extraction, which have been reproduced ever since.
Summary of PEATSENSE: Diverse Knowledges and Sensing Practices in Peatlands for Inclusive Climate Futures
This 3.5-year studentship is part of the interdisciplinary PEATSENSE project, funded by the European Research Council, which investigates the transformation of peatlands in Latin America and Europe as new global institutions and actors arrive as part of transnational climate mitigation action. PEATSENSE sets out to document implications of these transformations as well as identifying pathways towards just and inclusive governance. The premise of PEATSENSE is that the arrival of these new imaginaries, technologies and actors stands to further exclude the exclusion of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IP&LC) and associated forms of Indigenous and Local forms of Environmental Knowledge – but that this is not inevitable. The wider project sets out to analyse the sensing practices and multispecies relationships play in peatlands across a set of case studies under transformation via large-scale climate mitigation interventions and to implement a participatory decisionmaking process in and beyond the case study areas to inform future policymaking.
How the studentship fits within the wider project
This studentship is integral to PEATSENSE, linking cultural and historical insights with the project’s broader objectives of inclusive and effective peatland governance. The four key contributions of the PhD to the wider project are:
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Illuminating cultural-historical knowledge practices: By tracing the evolution of weather-related and environmental knowledge in peatlands, the research will contribute to understanding how past governance models have influenced present-day exclusionary practices and environmental degradation (as well as conservation practices).
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Integrating folk / local environmental knowledge and institutional knowledge: The project bridges traditional and institutionalised knowledge systems, enriching the participatory ambitions of PEATSENSE by highlighting the diverse epistemologies at play.
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Contextualizing current interventions: Historical timelines developed through the PhD will inform evaluations of contemporary mitigation measures, emphasising the conditions that fostered sustainable peatland use in the past. 4. Expanding public engagement: The student’s contributions to “The Peat Archives” and interdisciplinary outputs will enhance the project’s accessibility, fostering dialogues between academic, policy, and community stakeholders.
Candidate Requirements
We seek a motivated candidate with a strong background in historical/cultural geography, environmental studies, environmental history, or related disciplines. Candidates will have strong written and oral communication skills and will enjoy working both independently and collaboratively in an interdisciplinary and international research team.
Ideally, candidates will have all of the essential qualifications and some of the desirable qualifications:
Essential Qualifications:
- A Master’s degree in the social sciences or humanities (Human Geography, Environmental Humanities, Environmental History, Anthropology, or related) including training in Social Science and/or Humanities Research Methods;
- Experience with using qualitative research methods, such as archival methods, oral histories and/or document analysis;
- Prior research in related themes and/or case study regions;
- High level written and verbal communication skills in English.
Desirable Qualifications:
- A Master’s dissertation undertaken in a broadly linked area (whether by empirics, theoretical approaches, or theme);
- Proficiency in, or interest in, learning Scottish and/or Irish Gaelic;
- Lived and/or research experience in one of the case study countries (Scotland; Ireland)
- Interest and/or experience in public engagement, participatory processes and/or scientific communication to a wider audience;
- Experience of working in an interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, or international team;
- Familiarity with Cultural/Historical Geographical and/or Environmental Humanities approaches.
Please contact Naomi Millner (naomi.millner@bristol.ac.uk) for informal enquiries
How to Apply: Please apply to the “Geography (PhD)” programme online till 1 April 2025.
Further information about the project and the application: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/geography/courses/postgraduate/humanphd.html#peat
Sources: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/geography/courses/postgraduate/humanphd.html#peat and https://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/geography/documents/PhD%20scholarship%20histcult%20draft%20FINAL.pdf