2027 Studentships

Studentship projects for cohort 2027/28.

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Iapetus projects for the 2027/28 cohort will be added here from October 2026, with a complete list of projects by the 6th of November 2026. The Studentship Competition will open in November 2026. Please see this page for more details.

How did Earth become a habitable planet? Revealing the origins of Earth’s water using Antarctic meteorites

University of Glasgow IAP-26-022

Fresh or recycled? Tracing weathering, carbon, and clay formation in shale landscapes from the Alps to the Andes

Durham University IAP-26-072

Tracing Ash to the Ends of the Earth: New Ice-Core Constraints on Long-Range Volcanic Ash Transport

University of St Andrews IAP-26-029

Feathered Witnesses: Unravelling the Impact of Habitat Loss on Neotropical Avifauna with Stable Isotope Analysis

University of Glasgow IAP-26-018

Uncovering environmental and artificial light impacts on domestic animals

University of Glasgow IAP-26-048

The Heatwave That Never Was: Assessing Scotland’s Vulnerability to Plausible Extreme Heat

Newcastle University IAP-26-080

How does ice flow enhancement and rearrangement impact the West Antarctic Ice Sheet?

University of St Andrews IAP-25-104

The 30m raised beach conundrum – reconstructing UK sea-level change and land motion over 200,000 years.

Durham University IAP-26-116

The Blueprint for Marine Biomineralization in a Changing Climate

University of Stirling IAP-26-093

Investigating the oceanic impacts of Greenland’s meltwater

University of St Andrews IAP-25-096

The impacts of electromagnetic fields from offshore cabling on lobster and crab behaviour

Newcastle University IAP-26-102

Drivers of changing geohazard exposure and risk in the Hindu-Kush Himalaya

Durham University IAP-26-069

Physics, biology and microbial ecology of toxic plankton blooms

Newcastle University IAP-26-124

Human ancestry and social organisation at the dawn of the Iberian Megalithic phenomenon

Durham University IAP-26-033

Finding and protecting Scotland’s hidden groundwater-dependent ecosystems

University of Glasgow IAP-26-044

Beavers as landscape engineers

University of St Andrews IAP-26-024

Isolation in Paradise – How Arc-Continent Collision and Tectonic Uplift Have Influenced Species Diversification in New Guinea

Heriot-Watt University IAP-26-051

Deciphering the evolution of the hidden landscape beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet

Durham University IAP-26-114

The glaciers of South Georgia from the 1950s to 2100 CE

Newcastle University IAP-26-109

How hot is my plant? Modelling global warming effects at the plant level

Durham University IAP-26-090

Depth Effects on Functional Homogenisation, Turnover, and Network Connectivity of Coral Reef Fish

Newcastle University IAP-26-112

Understanding planktonic foraminiferal ecology and geochemistry

Durham University IAP-26-118

From sensors to solutions: understanding and reducing air pollution exposure in everyday environments

University of Stirling IAP-26-066

Investigating records of terrestrial precursors in the early Solar System using Cr, Ni and Zn isotope compositions of meteorites

University of St Andrews IAP-26-059

Understanding the genetic health of Galapagos giant tortoises

Newcastle University IAP-26-119

Protecting Groundwater above CO₂ and Hydrogen Stores: Will Clay-Rich Caprocks Hold?

University of Glasgow IAP-26-125

Who benefits from blue-green flood resilience? Mapping the distribution, accessibility and social value of urban nature-based flood interventions

University of Glasgow IAP-26-039

Advancing AI-guided geomorphic change detection in braided rivers

University of Glasgow IAP-26-036

Predator visual adaptations for breaking camouflage

Newcastle University IAP-26-081

Development of foraminifera palaeoproxy calibrations for application over glacial/interglacial time scales

University of St Andrews IAP-26-026

Controls on glacier retreat and glacier-related hazards in the Greater Caucasus

Durham University IAP-26-107

Scalable and transferable monitoring of carbon-rich ecosystems: integrating UAV and satellite remote sensing

University of St Andrews IAP-26-056

Numerical modelling of anisotropic ice flow in West Antarctica

British Antarctic Survey IAP-26-008

Life at the extremes: linking Antarctic microbial diversity to novel biosynthetic potential using single-cell genomics

Newcastle University IAP-26-084

From Flow to Bloom: Explainable Physics-Guided AI for Predicting Compound Hydrological and Water-Quality Extremes

Heriot-Watt University IAP-26-054

Regenerative farming in upland landscapes, roots and reality- a long view.

University of Stirling IAP-26-127

Greenhouse gas balance in an agricultural grassland system with enhanced rock weathering of basalt as a carbon dioxide removal strategy

Newcastle University IAP-26-098

Reconstructing glacier histories and investigating glacial geomorphology in the Sør Rondane Mountains, East Antarctica.

University of Glasgow IAP-26-005

Unlocking tight geothermal reservoirs: coupled experiments, near-wellbore modelling and techno-economics of soft stimulation

Heriot-Watt University IAP-26-053

Exploring Holocene Antarctic Ice Sheet dynamics using a data-modelling approach

British Antarctic Survey IAP-26-006

Hot spots or homogeneity? Resolving variation in soil CO₂ flux through dense low-cost sensor arrays and radiocarbon analysis.

University of Glasgow IAP-26-009

Engineering recovery: how does ecosystem engineering by beavers shape biodiversity, and can we predict where it could deliver the greatest benefits?

University of Stirling IAP-26-096

Monitoring environmental impacts on archaeology using geophysical methods

Durham University IAP-26-091

Impacts of Peatland Restoration on Hydrological Risks and Ecosystem Services under Climate Change

University of Glasgow IAP-26-042

How many drills and mandrills remain on Earth? Using camera traps to count Africa’s most colourful primates

Durham University IAP-26-134

Quantifying the Freshwater Extinction Risk driven by Pollution: Ecotoxicology to inform global targets

Newcastle University IAP-26-099

Microplastics in Sustainable Drainage Systems: Fate, Retention and Ecological Impacts in Urban Blue-Green Infrastructure

Heriot-Watt University IAP-26-052

Female choice, genetic effects, and the experience of pregnancy in live-bearing and egg-laying lizards

University of Glasgow IAP-26-034

Tracking evolution of the northern Greenland Ice Sheet over the Pliocene – Pleistocene climatic transition

Durham University IAP-26-079

Reconstructing past ice-sheet and ocean interactions using marine cores collected offshore Norway.

Newcastle University IAP-26-121

Reconstructing Groundwater Pollution Release Histories under Geological Uncertainty Using Machine Learning and Adaptive Monitoring

Heriot-Watt University IAP-26-055

Manipulation without hands: the causes and consequences of avian vertebral evolution

Newcastle University IAP-26-120

Adapting to the Urban Night: Behavioural and Genomic Responses in Nocturnal Predators

Durham University IAP-25-126

New approaches to tropical coastal protection

Newcastle University IAP-26-110

Mathematical Modelling of Ecosystem Resilience in a Changing Climate

Durham University IAP-26-106

Animal-free models to measure the impact of climate change on host-pathogen interactions in fish gills and skin

University of Glasgow IAP-26-046

Glacier geohazards in Iceland

University of Stirling IAP-26-094

The Urban Eye – How Light Pollution Reshapes Moth Vision

University of Glasgow IAP-26-020

Can microclimate refugia save an iconic floral assemblage under climate change?

Durham University IAP-26-085

Plastic pathways: heavy metal uptake and transport by microplastics in the environment

Newcastle University IAP-26-123

Jet Stream Regimes and Atmospheric Rivers as Drivers of Antarctic Climate Extremes and Surface Melting

British Antarctic Survey IAP-26-002

Jobs for the Boys: Investigating the Social and Cultural Functions of Adult Males in Polygynous Mammals beyond reproduction.

Durham University IAP-26-087

Sentinels of ecosystem change: integrating biochemical tracers and environmental genomics to reconstruct cetacean diet, condition and food-web change in UK shelf seas

University of Glasgow IAP-26-021

Catalysing community assembly to accelerate woodland recovery

University of Stirling IAP-26-128

Reindeer and a changing Arctic: reconstructing long-term interactions between herbivores, climate and ecosystems

Durham University IAP-26-115

Timing Giant and Critical Mineral Systems: A case study of the Central African Copperbelt

Durham University IAP-26-077

A beneficial plant-microbial interaction: the ecology of flax retting.

Durham University IAP-25-139

Climate-driven biogeochemical changes across the late glacial-interglacial transition: developing ultra-high-resolution lake sediment records using novel scanning techniques

Newcastle University IAP-26-083

LCT pegmatites of the Orange River, South Africa: A geochronological and isotopic study of the source of the rare metal mineralisation

University of St Andrews IAP-26-031

How to peel a slab: Insights into slab weakening and slab-plume interactions in the Afar region

University of Glasgow IAP-26-011

Rethinking Recreational River Water Quality: A Catchment-Scale Modelling Approach

University of Stirling IAP-26-126

Global bird community change and its drivers: building reliable evidence from uneven monitoring

Durham University IAP-26-086

Enhancing conservation decision-making through scientific innovation

Newcastle University IAP-26-012

The impacts of marine heatwaves and other anthropogenic stressors on kelp forest ecosystems

Newcastle University IAP-26-101

Molecular archives of environmental change: reconstructing Late Quaternary ecosystems from Paisley Caves

Durham University IAP-26-016

Assessing the Vulnerability of Scotland’s Peatland Historic Environment under Future Climate and Restoration Scenarios

University of Glasgow IAP-26-049

Restore, re-wet, re-measure, Re-PEAT: Quantitative Assessment of Peatland restoration techniques using time-lapse Electromagnetic Geophysics

Durham University IAP-26-064

Neodymium stable isotopes in rivers and the oceans

Durham University IAP-26-078

How important is mantle carbonation in Earth’s long-term carbon cycle?

Durham University IAP-26-104

The Agricultural Plastisphere: Environmental Reservoirs of Pathogens and Antimicrobial Resistance Under Climate Change

University of Glasgow IAP-26-007

Automated Continuous In-situ Dissolved Metal Monitoring & Modelling (ACID M3)

Durham University IAP-26-075

A Comparative Investigation of Strain Localisation, Deformation and Remobilisation in Biogenic and Fine-Grained Marine Sediments.

Newcastle University IAP-26-097

Geospatial Foundation Models in Geomorphology: New Insights into Controls on Landscape Denudation

University of Glasgow IAP-26-043

Carbonatite exsolution from Nepheline Syenite: The Lillebukt Nepheline Syenite-Carbonatite Complex, Northern Norway

University of St Andrews IAP-25-102

Modelling the dengue, chikungunya and Zika risks from Aedes aegypti range expansion into novel environments

United Kingdom Centre for Ecology & Hydrology IAP-26-070

From Sound to Structure: Explainable AI for Multimodal Ecosystem Health Monitoring

Newcastle University IAP-25-062

From Fire to Sink: Wildfires, Carbon Transfer and Burial across the Land-Ocean-Aquatic-Continuum

University of St Andrews IAP-26-023

How does fault geometry control deformation and energy partitioning during earthquakes on normal faults?

Durham University IAP-26-063

Stress Testing the Future: Assessing the Impact of Heatwaves on Insect Biology

Durham University IAP-26-088

Sounding out the deep: using AI and passive acoustic monitoring to reveal spatial and temporal patterns in deep-sea ecosystems

University of Glasgow IAP-26-040

From ice to ecosystem: assessing the risk of glacier melt and legacy contamination for reindeer in Sápmi (Lapland)

Durham University IAP-26-105

Beyond planting trees: biodiversity and multifunctionality following woodland creation

University of Glasgow IAP-26-041

Occupancy, density and the ecology of terrestrial British mammals

Durham University IAP-25-060

How Earthquakes Become Tsunamis: Investigating Rupture Propagation into Subduction Zone Accretionary Prisms

Heriot-Watt University IAP-25-118

Seeing before drilling: uncertainty aware multi physics imaging for the first deep geothermal doublet in the Durham and Gateshead coalfield.

Durham University IAP-26-076

Arctic ecosystems under climate Intervention: Biological responses to sea-Ice geoengineering

British Antarctic Survey IAP-26-010

Privacy-Preserving AI for Assessing UK Data Centre Water Demand

Newcastle University IAP-26-111

Where does the carbon go? Tracking river to sea carbon with satellites and AI

University of Stirling IAP-26-129

Transforming landscapes: the role of large herbivores in Holocene ecosystem dynamics

University of St Andrews IAP-26-015

FUNGRASS: Fungicide resistance in fungal endophytes of grasslands

Heriot-Watt University IAP-26-035

When nutrients turn toxic: how metals shape microbial coexistence

Durham University IAP-25-029

Late Glacial and Holocene glacier dynamics in southeast Alaska / British Columbia

Newcastle University IAP-26-122

Persistence, predictability and extremes in a changing climate

University of St Andrews IAP-26-025

Under Pressure: comparative assessment of the effects of hydrostatic pressure, and oxygen availability on marine and freshwater animal physiology

Newcastle University IAP-26-113

Genomic hotspots of adaptation in wild insects

University of St Andrews IAP-26-013

Investigating biogeochemical cycling in Archean and modern extreme environments

University of St Andrews IAP-26-028

Groundwater, emissions and air quality: unravelling hydrogeological and atmospheric linkages

British Geological Survey IAP-26-017

Scalable early warning and rapid response data systems for invasive species biosecurity

Newcastle University IAP-26-108

Determining the Widespread Risk of Atmospheric Aerosols Released During Environmental Hazard Events, using Satellite-based Observations.

University of Stirling IAP-26-132

The adaptive role of symbiotic diversity in montane lichens

University of Glasgow IAP-26-045

How confident can we be in coastal change? Uncertainty-aware satellite monitoring of Scotland’s diverse coasts to support coastal adaptation planning.

University of Glasgow IAP-26-038

Methane Mitigation, Emission Factor Refinement, and Spatial Impact Dynamics in Forest-to-Bog Restoration

Durham University IAP-26-073

Volatile happenings on the igneous side of metamorphism

University of St Andrews IAP-25-001

Biodiversity Monitoring Using Deep Learning Under Ground Truth Uncertainty: Supporting Conservation of Wandering Albatrosses and Hedgehogs

University of Glasgow IAP-26-050

Tyre additives in freshwater and terrestrial environments: occurrence, behaviour, and fate in a changing climate

United Kingdom Centre for Ecology & Hydrology IAP-26-071

Fault Reactivation and Mine-Water Geothermal Systems

Durham University IAP-26-103

The history of tropical peatland vegetation in Peruvian Amazonia and implications for conservation and management

University of St Andrews IAP-25-103

Understanding and predicting the hydrological resilience of urban rain gardens under a changing climate

Durham University IAP-26-074

Melting the ice: modelling ice-brine dynamics and cryovolcanism on Europa

University of Glasgow IAP-26-001

A nitrogen cycle inside a plant: do ants or microbes feed ant-farmed epiphytes?

Durham University IAP-26-089

Novel applications of remotely-sensed radar data for understanding Antarctic ice sheet flow

Newcastle University IAP-26-082

Human-wildlife coexistence in a changing world: Applying social learning theory to understand human–chimpanzee interactions in Western Uganda

Durham University IAP-26-135

The role of ditches in the global carbon cycle: A critical & unrecognised player.

University of Glasgow IAP-25-007

Using functional genomics to assess population health after a local reintroduction of the field cricket in Cornwall

University of Glasgow IAP-26-047

Environmental Drivers of Elephants Movement, Behaviour, and Spatial Adaptation in a Changing Savanna Ecosystem

University of St Andrews IAP-26-027

Constraining the interplay of fault reactivation and fluid metasomatism in a continental strike-slip system

University of Glasgow IAP-26-003

The origin of animals: Building a precise timeline from the geological record

Durham University IAP-26-062

Environmental Change, Compound Hazards and Community Resilience in Tropical Delta Socio-Ecological Systems

University of Glasgow IAP-26-037

Understanding the Earth’s response to deglaciation of the Patagonian Ice Sheet

Durham University IAP-26-117

Bizarre Love Triangle: the interaction between sex, parasites, and predators in an aposematic insect.

University of St Andrews IAP-26-060

Can Shrub Regeneration Alleviate Climate Change Impacts on Soil Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning?

University of Stirling IAP-26-067

Amakinite and green rust: mineral drivers for the origin of life?

Newcastle University IAP-26-100

AI-Driven Digital Twins to Transform Green Infrastructure Design and Performance

Heriot-Watt University IAP-26-061

Why stop feeding? – The genomic basis of parasitism loss in an ancient vertebrate

University of Glasgow IAP-26-019

The ecology of fear: can restoring trophic connectivity promote woodland regeneration?

University of Stirling IAP-26-095

Adaptation to an anthropogenic habitat: Integrated modelling of ecological, physiological and reproductive impacts on chacma baboons

Durham University IAP-26-133

Deciphering the fate of carbon across the land-ocean interface

University of St Andrews IAP-26-030

Ocean ventilation in a warming world

University of St Andrews IAP-26-057

Modelling landscape-level approaches for mitigating the evolution of pesticide resistance

University of Stirling IAP-25-133

An investigation of interglobular dentine as a novel proxy for climate related childhood stress using XR-CT

Durham University IAP-26-032

Refugee camps: climate change, one-health, and solidarity.

University of Stirling IAP-26-131

Hidden Risks of Saline Intrusion: Climate-Driven Sea-Level Rise and Geotechnical Implications for Coastal Stability and Resilient Coastal Infrastructure

British Geological Survey IAP-26-068

Quantifying the frequency and causes of extreme wet and dry periods in the Himalayas

British Antarctic Survey IAP-26-004

Investigating the organic matter reactivity continuum in UK Coastal Shelf Seas.

Heriot-Watt University IAP-25-116

Atmospheric circulation over land in a changing climate

University of St Andrews IAP-26-014

Ecological Colonisation of New Anthropogenic Rocks

University of Glasgow IAP-25-009

Forecasting Rusty Rivers: Permafrost thaw and iron release into Arctic rivers

Durham University IAP-26-065

The impact of horizontal gene transfer on the evolution of eukaryotes

University of Stirling IAP-26-092

Development and application of multispecies capture-recapture models

University of St Andrews IAP-26-058

Can we grow more resilient riverbanks? How plant traits, invasion and drought shape riverbank erosion

University of Stirling IAP-26-130