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Blurring the boundaries – discovering how anaerobic metabolisms persist in oxygenated environments

Supervisor :

Prof Mark Trimmer

Dr Chris Engl

Deadline :

27th January 2027

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 and one return flight ticket to successful applicants. 

 
Applicants must: 

  • Be applying for CSC funding.  
  • Be a citizen and permanent resident of the People’s Republic of China and hold a Chinese passport. 
  • Satisfy all eligibility criteria set out by the CSC and must refer to the CSC website for full details. 
  • Apply to QMUL by 27th January 2027. Late applications will not be considered.  
  • Submit ALL required documentation, including evidence of their English Language ability ahead of the CSC application deadline.  

 

CSC application rules differ slightly for domestic applicants (students applying from China) and overseas applicants (students applying from overseas). Therefore, ALL applicants are advised to see the CSC website for full details on eligibility and conditions on the scholarship.  

 

Project Overview

The microbial cycling of nutrients from the land to the sea is a key ecosystem service that sustains life on Earth. Until recently, this microbial activity was thought to be divided between oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor environments that supported separate aerobic and anaerobic microbial metabolisms. Our recent work along with that of others has shown that processes once considered to be strictly anaerobic, such as nitrogen recycling and methane production, can also occur where oxygen is still present. Moreover, some of these counter aerobic to anaerobic microbial parts of these systems appear to “move” together. This project will explore how these anaerobic metabolisms persist in oxygenated environments, combining fieldwork and laboratory experiments with analytical and molecular techniques to uncover the microbial communities and processes responsible. There is scope to develop the molecular aspects of the project further, particularly the mechanisms of oxygen tolerance in anaerobic microbes, their interactions with their aerobic counterparts and a multitude of potential kinetic effects.

 

Research Environment 

Training in analytical techniques, including mass spectrometry, gas chromatography, and oxygen microsensors, will be provided one-to-one by the supervisory team, in-house technical expertise, and the wider research group. Molecular microbial training will be provided at Queen Mary supported with in-house molecular technical staff and in collaboration with Chris Engl as the co-supervisor. Additional training will cover fieldwork design, sample handling, and data integration across analytical and molecular datasets.

School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences

 

Entry Requirements 

We are looking for candidates to have or expecting to receive a first or upper-second class honours degree and a Master’s degree in an area relevant to the project such as Biology, Environmental Microbiology, Biogeochemistry/Geochemistry, Microbiology, Ecology

Good laboratory practice skills e.g., working with and accurately preparing reagent solutions etc., are essential and knowledge or experience of analytical techniques, even if only on related instruments i.e., general gas chromatography, ion chromatography or mass spectrometry etc., would be beneficial as would knowledge / experience of basic molecular microbiological skills.

You must meet the IELTS requirements for your course and upload evidence before CSC’s application deadline, ideally by 17th March 2027. You are therefore strongly advised to sit an approved English Language test as soon as possible, where your IELTS test must still be valid when you enrol for the programme.

Find out more about our entry requirements here.

 

How to Apply

Formal applications must be submitted through our online form by 27th January 2027 for consideration. Please identify yourself as a ‘CSC Scholar’ in the funding section of the application. 

Applicants are required to submit the following documents: 

  • Your CV 
  • Personal Statement 
  • Evidence of English Language e.g.) IELTS Certificate 
  • Copies of academic transcripts and degree certificates  
  • References 

Find out more about our application process on our SBBS website.

 

Informal enquiries about the project can be sent to Prof Mark Trimmer m.trimmer@qmul.ac.uk. Admissions-related queries can be sent to sbbs-phd-admissions@qmul.ac.uk

Shortlisted applicants will be invited for a formal interview by the supervisor. If you are successful in your QMUL 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 with the support of the supervisor.  

For further information, please go to the QMUL China Scholarship Council webpage. 

 

Apply Online

 

See Also

 

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