PhD Studentship: Multifunctional Land Use for Sustainability & Resilience, IEA Bioenergy Task 45

University of Surrey • Guildford, England, United Kingdom • 4d ago

We are pleased to advertise this exciting and truly international project with the International Energy Agency (IEA) Bioenergy Task 45 Team. In collaboration with 13 member countries from across the world, the PDS candidate appointed into this role will have the opportunity to work at the interface of research, industry and policy. You will become an integrated member of the Task, acting as a bridge across the member countries and facilitating collaborative engagement with the task and beyond.

BACKGROUND AND APPROACH

Land underpins the delivery of a wide range of ecosystem services beyond the “provisioning” services directly valued in the economy, such as carbon storage, sustaining biodiversity, regulating clean water. Monoculture production of food, feed and biomass, involving maximum delivery of a small number of crops, undermines the sustainability and resilience of land use. However, we do not have a good understanding of how land could be used for multiple purposes whilst being sustainable and resilient to future change.

This project will evaluate potential future land use configurations in several countries, exploring where and how biomass production can support multiple objectives for a sustainable & resilient land sector and wider economy. The influence of different future global contexts will be considered, using Shared Socioeconomic Pathways narrative futures as a framework, providing insights into the robustness and resilience of land use decisions in an uncertain future.

Relevant landscape models will be applied in selected case study countries to explore greenhouse gas flux and nutrient loss estimates for future land configurations. These configurations will be co-created with stakeholders to ensure delivery of necessary food, feed and biomass quantities, centred on multifunctional land uses to promote sustainability and resilience, constrained by biophysical limits (e.g. productivity, land areas, soil types, etc.). Where possible, models will produce quantitative data (e.g. Mt CO2e annual flux or kt N annual loss to water). These quantitative metrics will be supplemented by expert screening of spatially explicit scenarios in terms of biodiversity and resilience to future climate and market “shocks”. We will gain a deep insight into assessment methodology, as well as identify opportunities/barriers for sustainable and resilient biomass production in future landscapes.

A major output will be a decision support matrix that enables structured, multi-criteria analyses of land use decisions in future contexts. This matrix will translate quantitative and qualitative data into a scoring system to support transparent and holistic evaluation of bioenergy-integrated-landscapes alongside other landscape configurations that prioritise other aspects.

The Doctoral Practitioner will need to be flexible to spend 3-6 month durations at different IEA T45 member countries to complete this project. This is a fantastic opportunity to travel and experience varied research culture across the world.

Supervisors: Dr Zoe Harris, Dr Floor van der Hilst, Dr David Styles

Entry requirements

Open to UK and international candidates. Starting October 2025.

You will need to meet the minimum entry requirements for our PhD programme.

How to apply

Please click the 'Apply' button, above, where you can find more information about this exciting project and to start your application.

Interviews will take place on 8^th, 16^th and 17^th July 2025.

Funding

UKRI enhanced stipend £22,000. Tuition fees covered.

Research support grant included. Funding duration: 3.5 years.

Application deadline: 24/06/2025

Enquiries: Contact Dr Zoe Harris