PhD scholarship on predicting and monitoring lake health using spatio-temporal early warning signals

25 November 2024

Applications are invited for a PhD scholarship to study the health of shallow coastal lakes across Aotearoa, which are mostly in a state of decline.

A number of interventions have been trialled to improve the health of shallow coastal lakes, with mixed success. We need novel approaches to better understand lake health and identify appropriate natural solutions or human interventions to reverse these declines.

Wairewa, a shallow polymictic shoreline lake on the southern side of Te Pātaka o Rakaihautū Banks Peninsula, has had a troubled history. The water is turbid and prone to toxic algal blooms. The customary, highly productive tuna (eel) fishery has been the verge of collapse due to the highly degraded state of the lake.

You will use spatio-temporal early warning signals analysis to develop methods to predict and monitor the health of Wairewa. Shallow lakes are an example of bistable systems with tipping points. This project will develop both temporal and spatio-temporal models of Wairewa, to apply the theory of critical transitions to develop an optimal monitoring regime for lake health.

Eligibility

This scholarship is open to anyone who can be in New Zealand and meets the requirements to enrol in a PhD at the relevant institution. We are happy to consider students from a diverse range of fields including applied mathematics or a similar quantitative discipline. Interested students should have at least some background in differential equations, bifurcations and numerical methods.

No particular knowledge of lake biology is required, though you must at least be willing to learn! The project will also involve significant interaction with groups invested in the health of the lake, including local iwi and environmental agencies. The successful candidate will hold, or expect to complete soon, an honours or masters level qualification, with a significant research project.

Applicants from all countries and backgrounds are actively encouraged to apply. Members of underrepresented groups are very welcome, as are students with families. Our research group aims to achieve work-life balance within a productive scientific environment.

Location

You will be based at the University of Auckland and will work with Associate Professor Graham Donovan and Dr Matiu Prebble.

You will be part of Te Pūnaha Matatini, the Aotearoa New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence for Complex Systems. Te Pūnaha Matatini brings together ‘many faces’ – different disciplines, ways of thought, methods, and crucially, people – to define, and then solve, society’s thorny interconnected problems. Te Pūnaha Matatini has an active whānau group which supports early career researchers, committed to the Te Pūnaha Matatini values of manaakitanga and whakawhanaungatanga, offering supportive tuakana / teina learning environments.