NOTE: 10th JANUARY 2020 deadline for applications.
Myself and my colleagues in Mineral Sciences are advertising PhD topics to be filled in 2020. We are also looking for candidates for the two taught MSc programmes in Mineral Resources and MSc Geochemistry. A full list of PhD topics offered by the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of St Andrews, is to be found here, including entrance requirements and IELTS scores for candidates for whom English is not a first language. Note that applications via the Iapetus2 funding scheme close on the 10th January 2020.
I am always interested to hear of potential PhD or MPhil by research topics from industry.
Our currently available PhD topics include:
Volatile element and critical metal cycles beneath the Greenland Craton – Supervisors Adrian Finch, Sami Mikhail, Eva Stueeken, Will Hutchison (St Andrews) and Lydia Hallis (Glasgow). It has been long suspected that the formation of mantle-derived mineral deposits is preceded by subduction of elements into the mantle, fertilising it prior to rift-related melting. This project will use nitrogen isotopes to trace recycling of surface materials into the mantle, complementing recent research by Will Hutchison and the team on sulphur recycling. It will explore the hypothesis that subduction in Ketilidian times primed the mantle to create the enriched mantle that would be access by rifting in Gardar times. By analysing the nature of the sub-Greenland as a function of time, the candidate will constrain the link between Wilson cycles and mineral deposit formation across Earth history,
Giant Dykes & Deep Time Tectonics; the role of Dyke Swarms in shaping the early Earth Dr William McCarthy, Professor Adrian Finch (St Andrews), Dr Craig Magee (Leeds), Dr John MacDonald (Glasgow)
Climate-changing volcanic eruptions from magma source to ice core archives: a sulphur isotope perspective Dr Will Hutchison, Dr Andrea Burke, Dr Mark Claire (St Andrews), Dr Madeleine Humphreys (Durham), Dr Cees-Jan De Hoog (Edinburgh).
A new multi-parameter toolkit to unlock records of past volcanism Dr Will Hutchison, Dr Andrea Burke, Dr James Rae (St Andrews), Professor Siwan Davies (Swansea) and Dr Michael Sigl (Bern) NB Fully funded.
A number of biomineralisation-based topics are being advertised by our colleague Nicola Allison including:
The Roles of Lipids in Coral Biomineralisation and the Effects of Future Climate Change Dr Nicola Allison (School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, St Andrews) and Professor Terry Smith (School of Chemistry, St Andrews) NB fully funded.
Coral osteoporosis: how does seawater phosphate affect the calcification of tropical marine corals? Dr Nicola Allison (St Andrews), Dr Heidi Burdett (Heriot Watt)
How do biomolecules affect calcium carbonate diagenesis and palaeoproxy relationships Dr Nicola Allison (St Andrews), Dr Stuart Jones (Durham)
Other Mineralogy-related projects by St Andrews colleagues include:
Archaean geodynamics of the Zimbabwe craton. Dr Nick Gardiner (St Andrews), Professor Jeroen van Hunen (Durham), Professor Laurence Robb (Witwatersrand) and Dr Kathryn Goodenough (BGS).
Rwanda’s strategic Sn-W-Ta endowment: Tectonic and metallogenic framework (CASE-Funded) Dr Nick Gardiner (St Andrews), Professor Laurence Robb (Witwatersrand), Dr Nick Roberts (BGS), CASE partner: AfriTin Mining, Johannesburg
Reconstructing Earth’s redox evolution with selenium isotopes in hydrothermal ore deposits Dr Eva Stueeken (St Andrews), Prof David Selby (Durham)
Professor Adrian Finch 