[ES_JOBS_NET] Coastal Processes PhD project at the University of Waikato, New Zealand

[Julia.Mullarney at phys.ocean.dal.ca]

PhD: Turbidity variations in Tauranga Harbour, New Zealand


Project description:


The Coastal Marine Group at the University of Waikato in Hamilton New
Zealand is seeking a student for a 3-year, fully-funded,  PhD project. 
The objective of the project is to study the variations of turbidity (both
natural and due to port operations) around Centre Bank, and how those
variations might impact the benthic species (pipi, seagrass) living on the
bank.  The project will have 3 components: (1) to study timeseries
collected since 2011 from turbidity sensors surrounding the bank, in order
to determine the statistical characteristics of turbidity pulse-events
(duration, magnitude, source) (2) to undertake laboratory-based physiology
experiments on benthic species to determine the impact of varying
turbidity (3) to model the dispersion of turbidity events around the
harbour (to determine residence time, spatial footprint, etc) using an
existing model.


This project requires someone with a research BSc (Hons) or research
Masters degree, who has demonstrated numerate skills, knowledge of coastal
processes and basic knowledge of marine ecology. A student having
completed an honours or MSc project with field-experience is preferred.
The project is funded by the Port of Tauranga, and relates to their
requirement to monitor turbidity levels during proposed capital dredging
activity; therefore the project would suit someone who was interested in
applying their knowledge to a practical problem. Nevertheless, the group
is committed to training students that achieve high-level research
outcomes through international publication of their findings.  The student
would join a vibrant group of 15 PhD students and 6 staff, working and
living near some of world’s most beautiful landscapes.


The project will be supervised by Karin Bryan, Conrad Pilditch and Willem
de Lange and we are looking for a student to start December 2013-January
2014.


Contact:

k.bryan at waikato.ac.nz

http://sci.waikato.ac.nz/about-us/people/kbryan

http://sci.waikato.ac.nz/research/centres-and-units/cmg