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DPhil Projects for 2023 Entry

Update: Please note that the projects and scholarships listed on this page have either been allocated or are no longer open to new applications, however you can still devise a project of your own in consultation with potential supervisors.  A list of Faculty and their contact details can be found here.

Listed below are the doctoral research projects offered for 2023 entry.  You can also devise a project of your own in consultation with potential supervisors.  Please ensure you contact the project supervisor or a potential supervisor to discuss your project.  This is essential if you are not applying to a listed project.  A list of Faculty and their contact details can be found here.

You will need to apply for both the programme and the project via the main University online graduate application form, and pay an application fee.  The application form, all supporting materials required for the programme (including references), and payment must be submitted by the application deadline.  To access the application form and application guide please visit the University’s website at www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/apply.

If you are applying for an advertised project you must indicate this by entering the project reference code (given below) on the application form, in the sections headed ‘Proposed field and title of research project’ and ‘Departmental Studentship Applications’.

Academic Futures

Academic Futures is a series of scholarship programmes that will address under-representation and help improve equality, diversity and inclusion in the University’s graduate student body.

This funding is open to any project listed on this page, or a project you devise yourself in consultation with potential supervisors.

Further information about the Academic Futures Scholarships can be found on the University website.

Black Academic Futures

Up to 30 scholarships are available across the University for UK Black and Mixed-Black postgraduate offer holders, to financially support them to pursue graduate study at Oxford.  The Department of Earth Sciences is proud to be one of the funding partners for one of these scholarships.

To apply for the Black Academic Futures Scholarship, all you have to do is submit your completed graduate course application, including ethnicity information, by the January deadline and you will automatically be considered.

Shell Studentship

Primary Supervisor: Jon Blundy

There is a single Shell studentship available for the project listed below.  The studentship would be 3 years duration in the first instance, with the possibility of extension to 4 years.  It includes fees at the overseas rate, stipend, travel and research funds, and is available to UK and overseas students.  Applications should be submitted no later than 31 March 2023.

STFC (Science and Technology Facilities Council) Studentship

There is a single STFC studentship available on the DPhil in Earth Sciences; the subject area would be in Solar and Planetary Science (e.g. Earth Observation); we would welcome applications with research proposals within this subject area (please use project reference: EARTH-23-STFC1) or applications to the listed projects below.  The studentship would be 3 years duration in the first instance, with the possibility of extension to 3.5 years.  It includes fees at the home rate, stipend, travel and research funds, and is available to home (UK resident) students.

  • Project EARTH-23-CN4: Investigating planetary processes using the pallasite meteorites: How does parent body location in the solar system influence core dynamos, impact events and volcanism?
  • Project EARTH-22-HM2: Experimental Study of Planetary Ices at High-Pressure/-Temperature Using dynamic diamond-anvil cells
  • Project EARTH-23-JB1: Elucidating planet formation using chondrule oxygen fugacity
  • Project EARTH-23-JH1: Exploring high-frequency seismic signals: tracking wind and ocean waves or probing shallow lunar structure
  • Project EARTH-23-JW1: The fate of Venusian Chlorine
  • Project EARTH-23-RK3: Tidal dissipation, magmatism and mantle convection on Io

ERC (European Research Council) and Department Studentships

Primary Supervisor: Ros Rickaby

There is a single ERC-Department studentship available for one of the projects listed below.  The studentship would be 3 years duration in the first instance, with the possibility of extension to 4 years.  It includes fees at the home rate, stipend, travel and research funds, and is available to UK and overseas students; the studentship does not cover the difference between the home and overseas fee rates.

  • Project EARTH-23-RR1: Environmental controls on calcification of phytoplankton from the geological record
  • Project EARTH-23-RR2: The prevalence of eccentricity forcing on evolution and the carbon cycle

Primary Supervisor: Bob Hilton

There is an ERC-Department studentship available for the project listed below.  The studentship would be 3 years duration in the first instance, with the possibility of extension to 4 years.  It includes fees at the home rate, stipend, travel and research funds, and is available to UK and overseas students; the studentship does not cover the difference between the home and overseas fee rates.

  • Project EARTH-23-BH2: Warming rivers and greenhouse gas release: Tracking CO2 and CH4 release from Arctic rivers

DPhil Projects

The following projects can be applied for via the DPhil in Earth Sciences.  Fees and stipend may be offered from various sources, such as the Clarendon, but this is not guarnateed; training and research costs can be covered up to a certain amount agreed with the primary supervisor.  They are also open to applicants who will be self-funded.

DTP Projects

The following projects can be applied for via the DTP, which has funding.  They are also open to applicants to the DPhil who will be self-funded (including training and research costs).

  • Project EARTH-23-BH1: Carbon dioxide from crumbling coasts: Rock weathering as a carbon source
  • Project EARTH-23-CN1: Early Earth magnetism: exploring if Earth’s magnetic field played a role in habitability
  • Project EARTH-23-CN2: The thermal structure of subduction zones: investigating magnetic signals at depth
  • Project EARTH-23-CN3: Using paleomagnetism and plate tectonics to understand core crystallization and early geodynamics
  • Project EARTH-23-DP1: Age and development of Santorini volcano, Greece
  • Project EARTH-23-HB1: Bringing light to life: a global study of the photophysiology of marine phytoplankton
  • Project EARTH-23-HJ1: Lateral Eddy Transports in the Global Ocean
  • Project EARTH-22-HM1: Rapid Multi-dimensional Seismic Property Mapping of Earth Materials
  • Project EARTH-22-HM2: Experimental Study of Planetary Ices at High-Pressure/-Temperature Using dynamic diamond-anvil cells
  • Project EARTH-23-HM3: Understanding Earth’s Lower Mantle Structure and Composition Through Laboratory Seismology
  • Project EARTH-23-JH1: Exploring high-frequency seismic signals: tracking wind and ocean waves or probing shallow lunar structure
  • Project EARTH-23-JH2: High-precision geodesy and seismology for hydrology and slow earthquakes
  • Project EARTH-23-LS1: Triggering dynamics between Greenland supraglacial lakes
  • Project EARTH-23-PK1: Imaging mantle upwellings under isolated oceanic islands
  • Project EARTH-23-PK2: Tomographic proxies for the presence of post-Perovskite in Earth’s lowermost mantle
  • Project EARTH-23-PK3: The potential of seismic monitoring during urban tunnel boring
  • Project EARTH-23-RC1: The role of body size in shaping patterns of biodiversity across time and space in Phanerozoic animals
  • Project EARTH-23-RC2: Unveiling the spatial structure of functional, morphological and phylogenetic diversity in Phanerozoic animals
  • Project EARTH-23-RK1: From dislocations to subduction: the microphysics of olivine deformation and its geodynamic implications
  • Project EARTH-23-RK2: Resources for sustainable energy: ore formation by percolative reactive flow
  • Project EARTH-23-RP1: Petrogenesis of gold in shear zones, a case study of hydrothermally altered rocks in the Southeastern Desert, Egypt
  • Project EARTH-23-RP2: Tracing the effects of the Neoproterozoic oxygenation event on the redox state of the Mozambique ocean and associated sub-arc mantle
  • Project EARTH-23-SK1: Mathematical and computational methods for Earth System Modelling
  • Project EARTH-23-TM1: Understanding carbon dioxide emissions from Iceland: carbon budgets and their use for forecasting changes in volcanic behaviour