PhD opportunity: Monitoring mammals to inform local conservation

A competitive NERC CASE funded PhD position is available, starting in October 2014.  The successful candidate will work with the Durham Wildlife Trust (http://www.durhamwt.co.uk/) to engage members in a modern and technology-driven approach to monitoring the distribution and abundance of mammals.  The resultant information will help to inform local conservation strategies.  The candidate will gain skills and experience in field biology, camera trapping, citizen science and modern inferential techniques.  They will also have a direct impact on management plans for the study area.
Further details of the project are here: http://www.iapetus.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/IAP_13_36-DUR-Stephens.pdf

Applicants should have, or expect to obtain, good Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in a relevant area. Highly competitive students will have evidence of enthusiasm for scientific publication.  Applicants should meet NERC’s eligibility criteria, detailed in NERC’s current studentship handbook.  Ineligible but otherwise excellent applicants should get in touch to discuss alternative funding possibilities.
Please contact philip.stephens@durham.ac.uk as soon as possible.  Informal enquiries are welcome.
The final deadline for applications is 10 Feb 2014; however, short-listing of applicants will start as
early as 10 Jan 2014 and interviews will need to be completed before the final phase of the
application process (which starts on 17 Feb).