Summary
The coastline of southern Africa is particularly vulnerable to relative SLR and worsening storm surges under global climate change. Given a business-as-usual scenario and 1.5°C global warming by the 2030s, SLR in southern Africa is likely to exceed 50 cm by the 2070s. Without mitigation, warming to 4°C by 2100 will likely result in over a metre of SLR in this region. The eastern coastline of southern Africa is also near a concentration of tropical cyclone activity in the Western Indian Ocean. Tropical cyclones are a major natural disaster risk in the region and have killed ca. 700 people and affected > 3 million people between 1950 and 2010. Coastal cities such as Maputo and Durban are particularly vulnerable due to their geomorphology, proximity to tropical storms and storm surge conditions, and high rates of population growth and urbanization. Major impacts include coastal flooding, loss of dry land (including agricultural land), salinity intrusion threatening supplies of drinking water, and forced migration, in addition to the large economic costs caused by flood damage to coastal infrastructure.
Benefits:
Training post: tuition fee; stipend; paid internship and allowances
Eligibility:
Candidates must hold citizenship of an African Nation, and preference will be given to Mozambican nationals.
Applicants for this studentship must have obtained qualifications equivalent to a First or Upper Second Class UK Honours degree in an appropriate area of science or technology and have applied for a place on MSc Global Sustainability Solutions. The candidate should have a foundation in coastal engineering, coastal management, sustainable development, risk management, physical geography, environmental science, or a related subject. They should have basic numeracy and programming skills to enable them to undertake basic quantitative analysis of environmental data. They should have an understanding of adaptation to mitigate coastal hazards, a willingness to conduct fieldwork in remote locations, and a passion to inform adaptive management options to have a positive impact in society. Please refer to the person specification for additional information on the selection criteria.
If English is not your first language, you will need to meet our English language requirements. For details about the specific English language requirements for our Postgraduate programmes, please see here: www.exeter.ac.uk/postgraduate/entryrequirements/englishlanguagerequirements/. There may be scope to support a precessional English course to help achieve these requirements.
Deadline:
3rd April 2023
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