IS REWILDING A FEASIBLE LAND MANAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR THE UK?

Deadline: Friday 17th March 2023.

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About the Project

Conservation and society are intimately linked; conservation cannot work without the support of societies, and societies can’t function without biodiverse ecosystems. However, biodiversity is continuing to decline, and consequently a new approach to conservation is needed. Rewilding (the restoration of degraded ecosystems through the reintroduction of missing species) has both grabbed and polarised the public, with research suggesting a suite of potential benefits: increasing biodiversity, stimulating local economies (e.g. through tourism), facilitating community health and engagement through access to green spaces, and increasing carbon sequestration. Thus, with careful planning of where and how rewilding is carried out, both biodiversity and deprived rural areas stand to benefit. However, to achieve this requires tensions between local stakeholders (e.g. farmers) and conservation proponents (e.g. rewilding charities) to be resolved. Building a roadmap to achieve this is fundamental for conservation to be successful across the UK over the coming decades, necessitating a strong focus on engaged local communities to improve health, wellbeing, and the environment for a sustainable planet.

This project consists of two linked PhD scholarships: one in social sciences (Human Geography) and one in ecology (Biology). These two PhD’s will run in parallel and feed results into one another, combining ecological habitat suitability modelling and a social survey, along with qualitative research, to identify areas of the UK where, and how, rewilding is both societally supported and ecologically possible. Doing so will:

• Identify what areas of the UK provide the best initial sites for rewilding

• Identify the best species to reintroduce into a given area to restore missing functions

• Identify which areas have the greatest potential social and economic impact from rewilding

• Understand the challenges and opportunities of rewilding, particularly the tensions and trade-offs with agriculture

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Studentship 1 (Ecology, Biological Sciences)

Studentship one will focus on the ecological feasibility of rewilding in the UK. Working primarily with Dr Chris Clements, the student will use species distribution modelling, the student will (1) identify suitable habitat in the UK to reintroduce a range of species covering a range of ecological functions (from predators to ecosystem engineers), (2) identify potential rewilding hotspots – areas where multiple species can be simultaneously reintroduced into the same area, (3) incorporate economic data to identify which of these sites could have the greatest economic benefit to local areas, and (4) integrate the outputs from studentship 2 (social sciences) to give a holistic understanding where rewilding might have positive environmental and social impact.

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Studentship 2 (Human Geography, School of Geographical Sciences)

Studentship Two will focus on the socio-cultural, political, and economic challenges and opportunities of rewilding in the UK. Working under the primary supervision of Dr Lauren Blake (Geographical Sciences), this project will explore the tensions and synergies between rewilding and food production/agriculture, including considering its viability, acceptability, and trade-offs. Policy analysis may also be relevant, as well as current trends towards regenerative and agroecological farming. The research will require primarily qualitative approaches (possibly including participatory/creative methods), but some quantitative methods will also be expected (e.g. survey data). As well as empirical, the PhD project should have strong theoretical grounding. The research will require integrating results from studentship 1 to give a holistic understanding of rewilding’s environmental and social potential and feasibility in the UK.

The project will require the postgraduate researcher to cultivate their autonomy over the project’s focus and trajectory. The successful student’s particular interests, background, experience, and expertise will heavily shape both the project focus and methodology accordingly. Applicants’ experience and ideas for moulding the potential of the research should be outlined in the application proposal.

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Applications

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The deadline to apply is Friday 17th March 2023. Interviews for shortlisted candidates are expected to take place during the weeks of 20th and 27th of March.

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