The School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences at Queen Mary is one of the UK’s elite research centres, according to the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF). We offer a multi-disciplinary research environment and have approximately 180 PhD students working on projects in the biological and psychological sciences. Our students have access to a variety of research facilities supported by experienced staff, as well as a range of student support services.
You will be supported by the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology strength in the School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, and supported both at sea and in the home laboratory by an array of analytical instruments.
These include:
Our PhD students become part of Queen Mary’s Doctoral College which provides training and development opportunities, advice on funding, and financial support for research. Our students also have access to a Researcher Development Programme designed to help recognise and develop key skills and attributes needed to effectively manage research, and to prepare and plan for the next stages of their career.
You will be trained in state of the art stable isotope analytical techniques including for trace gases and solids and the related analytical chemistry techniques needed to prepare samples for isotope analyses. You will also be trained in a variety of gas-chromatography and oxygen sensing techniques. Other training will be provided for the microbial molecular parts of your PhD including a range of genomics technologies from nucleic acid isolation to sequencing library preparation, wider data analysis and presentation skills.
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent climate gas, with its strong warming potential and ozone-depleting properties both focusing research on N2O sources. There are, however, many accounts in the literature of oxygen-rich fresh and marine waters being undersaturated in N2O i.e., acting as sinks for atmospheric N2O. To date, many of these observations have literally been dismissed as artefacts or simply ignored and, even though denitrification is thought to be restricted to anoxic ecosystems, the last step in denitrification (N2O →N2) remains widely regarded as the only sink for N2O on Earth.
We have very recently (Si et al. 2023) challenged this perspective by confirming biological N2O fixation as an alternative freshwater sink for N2O. Among the candidate microbes that may mediate N2O-fixation are the methane oxidising (CH4 to CO2) Methylomonas spp. that are already known to assimilate their nitrogen for growth from a variety of nitrogenous substrates including N2-gas, nitrate and ammonia (Nguyen et al. 2017). Isolating a Methylomonas spp. capable of consuming two strong greenhouse gases could have real climate benefits.
Here you will use a variety of stable isotope tracer techniques (13C-CH4, 15N-N2O, 15N-N2) with mass-spectrometry and gas-chromatography in combination with molecular microbial techniques (q-PCR, RT-qPCR, next-generation sequencing) to characterise the potential combination of CH4 oxidation and N2O-fixation in both natural freshwaters and communities enriched with Methylomonas spp.
This studentship is open to students applying for China Scholarship Council funding. Queen Mary University of London has partnered with the China Scholarship Council (CSC) to offer a joint scholarship programme to enable Chinese students to study for a PhD programme at Queen Mary. Under the scheme, Queen Mary will provide scholarships to cover all tuition fees, whilst the CSC will provide living expenses for 4 years and one return flight ticket to successful applicants.
Applicants must be:- Chinese students with a strong academic background.- Students holding a PR Chinese passport.- Either be resident in China at the time of application or studying overseas.- Students with prior experience of studying overseas (including in the UK) are eligible to apply. Chinese QMUL graduates/Masters’ students are therefore eligible for the scheme.Please refer to the CSC website for full details on eligibility and conditions on the scholarship.
Applicants from outside of the UK are required to provide evidence of their English Language ability. Please see our English Language requirements page for details: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/international-students/englishlanguagerequirements/postgraduateresearch/
Informal enquiries about the project can be sent to Mark Trimmer at m.trimmer@qmul.ac.uk or Ozgy Eyice o.eyice@qmul.ac.uk.
Formal applications must be submitted through our online form by 31st January 2024 for consideration, including a CV, personal statement and qualifications. You must meet the IELTS/ English Language requirements for your course and submit all required documentation (including evidence of English Language) by 14th March 2024. You are therefore strongly advised to sit an approved English Language test as soon as possible.
Shortlisted applicants will be invited for a formal interview by the supervisor. If you are successful in your application, then you will be issued an QMUL Offer Letter, conditional on securing a CSC scholarship along with academic conditions still required to meet our entry requirements. Once applicants have obtained their QMUL Offer Letter, they should then apply to CSC for the scholarship by in March 2024 with the support of the supervisor.
Only applicants who are successful in their application to CSC can be issued an unconditional offer and enrol on our PhD programme. For further information, please go to: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/scholarships/items/china-scholarship-council-scholarships.html
Apply Online
Si, Y., Y. Zhu, I. Sanders, D. B. Kinkel, K. J. Purdy, and M. Trimmer. 2023. Direct biological fixation provides a freshwater sink for N2O. Nat. Commun. 14: 6775.
Nguyen, N. L. and others 2017. A novel methanotroph in the genus Methylomonas that contains a distinct Glade of soluble methane monooxygenase. J. Microbiol. 55: 775-782.