Leverhulme Scholars PhD project 3

Investigating the influence of competing land uses on forest livelihoods and biodiversity in an Indonesian Biosphere Reserve

Scholarship value

The MSc by Research (if relevant) and PhD scholarships include a stipend (equivalent to the Research Councils UK National Minimum Doctoral Stipend; the 2024/25 rate is £19,237, which is not taxed income). Tuition fees are covered at the home student rate. The PhD scholarship comes with a £10,000 research and training fund.

Deadline
The deadline to apply for this Leverhulme ‘Space for Nature’ Doctoral Scholars funding is Tuesday 25th June 2024.

Criteria

• Hold a 1 or 2.1 Bachelor's degree or, if applicable, a taught Master's degree at merit or distinction or MSc by Research. Please be aware that securing a PhD scholarship tends to be a competitive process, with most applicants holding a Master’s degree. We are therefore committed to trying to remove this barrier by offering fully funded MSc studentship at the University of Kent, particularly targeted towards individuals from lower-income or ethnic minority backgrounds. This project has access to a MSc by Research scholarship.
• Provide a CV. On the CV, please list the degree modules you have studied and provide the grade you were awarded for each one. Please also provide the overall grade you were awarded for your degree(s).
• Provide a covering letter, which outlines why you are interested in the PhD, no more than two A4 pages long. Any statement exceeding this limit will not be accepted.
• Complete our equality, diversity and inclusivity questionnaire in full via this link: 
• Provide academic references in support of your application; these will be requested if you are successful through the shortlisting process.
• Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed by members of the supervisory team.
• Be able to start the MSc by Research or PhD programme in Sept 2024.

Eligibility

This award is open home students. To be classed as a home student, candidates must meet the following criteria and the associated residency requirements:

• Be a UK national or,
• Have settled status or,
• Have pre-settled status or,
• Have indefinite leave to remain or enter.

Scholarship details
There is more background information on the Leverhulme ‘Space for Nature’ Doctoral Scholars main page.

School of PhD registration: Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE)

PhD degree award: Biodiversity Management

Primary supervisor name: Dr Matthew Struebig (DICE, UoK)

Email address: m.j.struebig@kent.ac.uk

Co-supervisor name: Dr Mahesh Poudyal (DICE, UoK)

Co-supervisor name: Dr Daniel Ingram (DICE, UoK) 

Co-supervisor name: Chris Wiggs (Executive Director, Sangga Bumi Lestari, previously AidEnvironment Asia)

Project Details: Understanding the interplay between people’s uses of forests and their interactions with wildlife remains a key research priority in rapidly changing tropical landscapes. Yet tackling this problem is complicated by the different ways that people use land, and the multifaceted relationships between governance and equity amongst various stakeholders involved.

This PhD project will investigate this problem in the Betung Kerihun Danau Sentarum Kapuas Hulu Biosphere Reserve in Kalimantan, Indonesia. This extensive >940,000 ha multi-use landscape comprises globally important forest biodiversity, and has significant ecological value to people. Yet, the region experiences agricultural encroachment and illegal wildlife trade, exacerbated by the expansion of a road connecting to the Malaysian border.

Here, NGO partner Sangga Bumi Lestari is promoting sustainable forest management and landscape connectivity in the buffer zones between Betung Kerihun and Danau Sentarum national parks. This intermediary landscape is defined by several competing and sometimes contested land-uses, including forestry and oil palm agriculture, but also two alternative land-based conservation measures. While extensive degraded forests have been designated ecosystem restoration licenses, local communities are embracing social forestry as means to assert their land rights and enhance forest livelihoods.

The student will develop an interdisciplinary project centred on these competing land-based conservation measures to help further the ecological resilience of the landscape through more inclusive land management. Priority topics that the student might explore include:

• Investigating the biodiversity value of various land-uses and conservation measures, including the impact of the new road, through camera trap surveys and spatial analyses.
• Understanding community objectives for managing forests alongside the equity and fairness of how social forestry schemes are implemented.
• Studying the dynamics of people’s uses of forests and wildlife to understand how these behaviours are influenced by shifting governance of the landscape or outside factors (such as an outbreak African Swine Fever)

The successful candidate will have strong analytical skills (including GIS), and be familiar with sustainability policies relevant to tropical countries. They will have some fieldwork experience (either ecological, or social or both), and will receive training in methods they are less familiar with to ensure the project is interdisciplinary.

How to apply
Please apply by sending your covering letter and CV to LHScholars@kent.ac.uk and filling out our equality, diversity and inclusivity questionnaire via this link 

These tasks must be completed by Tuesday 25th June 2024 at 23.55.

For informal enquiries about the project, please contact the primary supervisor directly via email.