The British Geophysical AssociationThe BGA routinely compiles and publishes a list of funded geophysics-related PhD projects available for the coming academic year.
Below you will find the current list of available PhD projects.
To submit a PhD project for inclusion, please fill out the Google Form.
| PhD title | Institution | Supervisors | Deadline | Project details | Funding body | Open to UK & international students |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate-tectonic interaction in the Southern Tian Shan: Can glacier retreat drive fault creep in a rapidly deforming region? | University of Edinburgh | Dr Qi Ou (Edinburgh), Dr Lizzie Orr (Edinburgh), Prof Richard Walker (Oxford), Dr Maximillian Van Wyk de Vries (Cambridge), Dr Feng Li (GFZ) | 02 December 2026 | Project page | E5 DTP | Yes |
| Forecasting Catastrophic Failure in Mining | University of Edinburgh | Stuart King, Qi Ou, Ian Main | 02 December 2026 | Project page | E5 DTP | Yes |
| From background to eruption: Unravelling the drivers of explosive activity at Volcán de Fuego | University of Edinburgh | Amelia Bain (University of Edinburgh), Andrew Bell (University of Edinburgh), Eliza Calder (University of Edinburgh), Sophie Butcher (British Geological Survey), Silvio De Angelis (University of Liverpool) | 02 December 2026 | Project page | E5 DTP | Yes |
| New tools for old problems: What can a regional vector magnetic field model tell us about UK crustal geology? | University of Edinburgh | William Brown (British Geological Survey), Kathy Whaler (University of Edinburgh), Karen Lythgoe (University of Edinburgh), Andrew Curtis (University of Edinburgh), Juliane Huebert (British Geological Survey) | 02 December 2026 | Project page | NERC | Yes |
| Rift dynamics on Venus: the curious case of the Diana-Dali chasmata system | University of Edinburgh | Dr. Iris van Zelst (University of Edinburgh), Dr. Zoltán Erdős (GFZ Potsdam), Prof. Wyn Williams (University of Edinburgh) | 02 December 2026 | Project page | E5 DTP | Yes |
| Finding The Faults That Matter: Understanding Structural Controls On Critical Metals And Geothermal Energy In SW Britain | University of Plymouth | Andy Parsons (Plymouth), Michelle Harris (Plymouth), Will McKenzie (Cornish Lithium), Robin Shail (CSM), Catherine Mottram (Portsmouth) | 16 December 2026 | Project page | ARIES DTP (NERC) | Yes (with some restrictions) |
| Listening to La Soufrière: Fibre Optics and AI for the Next Generation of Volcano Monitoring | University of East Anglia | Dr Jess Johnson, Dr Lidong Bie, Dr Jacob Newman, Dr Corentin Caudron, Dr Erouscilla Joseph | 16 December 2026 | Project page | NERC | Yes |
| Revealing the Regolith: the critical role of the subsurface in co-seismic shallow landsliding | University of Plymouth | Sarah Boulton, Martin Stokes, Suryodoy Ghosal | 16 December 2026 | Project page | ARIES DLA | Yes |
| Deciphering the evolution of the hidden landscape beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet | Durham University | Dr Guy Paxman (Durham University), Prof. Neil Ross (Newcastle University), Prof. Stewart Jamieson (Durham University) | 5 January 2027 | Project page | NERC IAPETUS2 DTP | Yes |
| Glacier geohazards in Iceland | University of Stirling | Dr Tom Bradwell (Stirling), Prof. Neil Ross (Newcastle), Dr Devin Harrison (Kelpie Geoscience), Dr Jeremy Everest (Kelpie Geoscience) | 5 January 2027 | Project page | IAPETUS NERC DTP | Yes |
| How does ice flow enhancement and rearrangement impact the West Antarctic Ice Sheet? | University of St Andrews, Newcastle University, British Antarctic Survey | TJ Young, Neil Ross, Clara Henry, Carlos Martín | 5 January 2027 | Project page | NERC IAPETUS | Yes |
| How to peel a slab: Insights into slab weakening and slab-plume interactions in the Afar region | University of Glasgow | Prof. Finlay Stuart – University of Glasgow Dr. Antoniette Greta Grima – University of Glasgow Prof. Jeroen van Hunen – University of Durham | 5 January 2027 | Project page | Iapetus DTP | Yes (international students need to contact main supervisors by 7 December 2026) |
| Melting the ice: modelling ice-brine dynamics and cryovolcanism on Europa | University of Glasgow | Dr. Antoniette Greta Grima – University of Glasgow Dr. Tobias Keller – University of Glasgow Dr. Daphne Lemasquerier – University of St. Andrews | 5 January 2027 | Project page | Iapetus DTP | Yes (international students need to contact main supervisor by 7 December 2026) |
| Novel applications of remotely-sensed radar data for understanding Antarctic ice sheet flow | Newcastle University | Professor Neil Ross (Newcastle), Professor Michael Bentley (Durham), Dr Christine Batchelor (Newcastle), Dr Tom Jordan (British Antarctic Survey), Dr Armando Marino (Stirling) | 5 January 2027 | Project page | Iapetus NERC DTP | Yes |
| Restore, re-wet, re-measure, Re-PEAT: Quantitative Assessment of Peatland restoration techniques using time-lapse Electromagnetic Geophysics | Durham University | Jenny Jenkins, Mihai Cimpoiasu (BGS), Fred Worrall, Daniel Green | 5 January 2027 | Project page | IAPETUS NERC DTP + CASE sponsor Terradat | Yes (international students need to contact but main supervisor before 7 December 2026) |
| Can Heterogeneous Nucleation Explain Earth’s Solid Inner Core? | University of Leeds | Alfred Wilson-Spencer and Thomas Whale | 12 January 2027 | Project page | YES•DTN – BBSRC-NERC Doctoral Landscape Award (DLA) | Yes |
| Characterising Earthquakes in Oceanic Lithosphere: New Seismological Constraints on Plate Stresses and Deformation | University of Leeds | Dr. Tim Craig (Leeds), Prof. John Elliott (Leeds), Prof. Jessica Hawthorne (Oxford), Prof. Alex Copley (Cambridge) | 12 January 2027 | Project page | NERC/ YES-DTN | Yes |
| Geothermal seismology in Iceland | University of Leeds | Andy Nowacki, Esme Glastonbury-Southern, Sebastian Rost, Brandon VenderBeek (University of Oxford); collaborators Vala Hjörleifsdóttir (Reykjavík University), Dario Ingi Di Rienzo (Reykjavík Energy) | 12 January 2027 | Project page | NERC YES•DTN | Yes |
| How do Slow Earthquakes work? Using field, microstructural and -chemical evidence in combination with targeted experiments to gain a deep understanding of Slow Earthquakes | University of Leeds | Prof Sandra Piazolo (Leeds), Prof. David Healy (Leeds), Dr. Tim Chapman (University of New England, Australia), Dr. Lars Hansen (University of Minnesota) | 12 January 2027 | Project page | NERC/ YES-DTN | Yes |
| Measuring Morocco’s Earthquake Cycle from Space: Satellite Radar, Active Faults and Seismic Hazard | University of Leeds | Prof. John Elliott (Leeds), Dr. Sami Samiei Esfahany (Leeds), Prof. Richard Walker (Oxford) | 12 January 2027 | Project page | NERC/ YES-DTN | Yes |
| Seismology for the Stone Age: Nodal Seismic Imaging of Archaeological Mounds | University of Leeds | Prof Adam Booth, Dr Andy Nowacki, Prof James Hammond, Dr Jim Leary | 12 January 2027 | Project page | NERC / YES-DTN | Yes |
| Unravelling Earth’s Magnetic Reversals | University of Leeds | Prof. Jon Mound, Prof. Chris Davies | 12 January 2027 | Project page | NERC/ YES-DTN | Yes |
| Using machine learning to model and predict Earth’s magnetic field | University of Leeds | Phil Livermore, Chris Davies | 12 January 2027 | Project page | NERC | Yes |
| Seconds to act: Seismic Early Warning for Catastrophic Landslides | UCL | Stephen Hicks, Ana Ferreira | 14 January 2027 | Project page | NERC (TREES DLA) | Yes |
