PhD candidate on Aeolian Transport and Dune Growth

The 2016 call for PhD Studentships by the FCT (Portuguese Science and technology Foundation) will open from 15 June to 15 July 2016. CIMA announces one PhD project on coastal geomorphology and aeolian processes and will select a candidate to apply to an FCT grant on the below topic.

Project Title
Aeolian sediment transport and dune growth at barrier systems

Project Description
CIMA center at University of Algarve is seeking a PhD candidate in the area of engineering or natural sciences. The project involves close collaboration with the group of coastal processes at CIMA and the department of Geography at Edge Hill University.

The primary goal of the project is to determine the environmental conditions promoting dune growth at coastal barrier systems, using Ria Formosa, southern Portugal, as a case study and exploring aeolian sediment transport potentials, the recent and present-day aeolian activity and dune response. The candidate will work with primary and secondary data including time series of wind and aeolian sediment transport records, aerial photographs, high-resolution digital terrain models, process-based models, and coastal geomorphology.

Requirements
The PhD candidate must have a master degree in engineering science or natural science or equivalent academic qualifications, with a minimum grade of 15/20 (or equivalent). The candidate must have a background in data analysis and be familiar with geographic information systems, mathematical modelling, and computing. Practical experience in fieldwork and data collection is desirable. Furthermore, candidates with knowledge and experience in coastal dynamics (including publications) will be better evaluated. The candidate must be fluent in English, both spoken and written.

Approval and Enrolment
CIMA will select just one candidate for this topic and will support its application to a FCT Grant. The grant will be supervised by Susana Costas and Óscar Ferreira at CIMA/UAlg and by Irene Delgado-Fernandez from Edge Hill University. The student will be enrolled at the PhD course on Marine, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Algarve.

Application
CIMA will only support those candidates highly motivated and with good qualifications. For that, the candidates must send a letter of motivation and CV, until the 10th of June, to scotero@ualg.pt andoferreir@ualg.pt

Further information concerning the final application for the selected candidate is available at FCT website (https://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/)

Posted on: 06/06/2016, by :