41 PhD Degree-Fully Funded at Nottingham Trent University (NTU), England

Mountain regions are particularly threatened by global warming. The magnitude of the effects of climate change on mountain biodiversity will depend on the species’ ability to cope with their unique and shared challenges resulting from change. Mountain species often have high genetic diversity and are well adapted to the high seasonality and heterogeneity of the environment. Thus, they could have a higher capacity for morphological, physiological or behavioural responses to local changes. However, these responses might represent transient responses of populations with already reduced fitness and fail to counter the speed and magnitude of current climate change. Due to the complexity of species and population dynamics, the actual effects of climate change on mountain biodiversity are extremely difficult to predict.

Intermittent fasting (IF) is a novel weight loss method, whereby calorie intake is restricted to a daily 4-8 h eating window. This avoids some of the pitfalls associated with traditional dieting, such as calorie counting, and can achieve additional health benefits compared to conventional dieting (e.g., improved insulin sensitivity). Benefits of IF can be enhanced by exercising during the fasting period, with one study showing that training before breakfast improved insulin sensitivity more than exercising after breakfast.

Our recent research has found that eating early in the day and fasting in the evening is the optimal version of IF, due to interactions between nutrient intake and circadian physiology. But evening fasting corresponds with when hunger typically peaks and may disrupt social occasions centred on an evening meal. Our recent work also found that IF can cause ‘undesired weight loss’, reducing lean mass more than traditional dieting.

This projects aims to analyse the interplay between neighbouring public international law frameworks (included, but not limited to, jus ad bellum, jus in bello, international criminal law, and international environmental law) in terms of (again included, but not limited to) accountability for severe and widespread environmental harm, lack of compliance with obligations of mitigating carbon emissions, sanctions and reparations. It will also consider the development of risk mitigation within legal instruments revolving around the nexus between war, environmental harm, and climate breakdown. The broad scope of the research will allow candidates to explore the implications of e.g. the growth of military spending by states, the emissions of armies and of the biggest carbon and fossils-based economic sector (the military sector), as well as the devastating environmental harm all armed conflicts tend to produce. The research will explore the implications of climate breakdown as crucial driving factor of mass displacement and forced migrations, resource scarcity and escalating competition, and thus of global destabilization and increased risks of exacerbating geopolitical contrasts and new wars.

Life on Earth depends on the vitality of its soils, encompassing both the surface topsoil and the often-neglected subsoil layers. While extensive research efforts have concentrated on understanding the topsoil, subsoils have largely remained a terra incognita. Through the collaborative efforts of leading experts and practitioners, this project, which is a component of the EU DeepHorizon initiative (submitted to the EU Commission in September 2023), aims to reveal the hidden mechanisms and processes of the subsoil within the critical zone. Our objective is to harness this knowledge to deploy holistic solutions that enhance subsoil functions and promote soil health.

As demand for egg products has increased over the past two decades the egg industry has had to evolve to meet this demand. It has been considered that extending the period of lay closer towards 100 weeks may be beneficial for producers and use less replacement birds. However, with the push for an extended laying period this may create more skeletal problems or animal welfare concerns. The skeletal problems present in the egg industry currently vary between production system.

We hold a very large dataset of parameters that study the skeletal development of laying hens from rearing to end of life. Birds were sampled from 4 different housing systems through this whole period every 6 weeks. NTU dataset include shell thickness, shell strength, and egg weight.  Data was generated through a collaboration with the large egg producer in the UK and an international feed formulation company. The first aim of the project was to determine the most appropriate evaluation parameters and compile a database for changes over time in differing housing systems, which was completed in a previous PhD. However, the greatest impact from the dataset will arise through using data in early life to predict bird health outcomes in later life, so that interventions may implemented in time to prevent health and welfare issues in elderly hens.

Early Modern Europe and Colonial North America, tens of thousands of individuals were executed for witchcraft following prosecution and trial, or alternatively, killed by their community in acts of extrajudicial violence.   The victims were predominantly female, and frequently vulnerable and marginalised people.  In recent years there have been moves to address these injustices, with the grant of pardons in some contexts, and public acts of memorialisation.

The project seeks to examine how these responses to historical allegations of witchcraft relate to dealing with accusations in the contemporary world.  Does the recognition of past abuses help to draw attention to plight of individuals currently persecuted as witches, or does it risk exacerbating their situation, by framing such events as an historical, rather than contemporary, reality?

This PhD research will explore and investigate the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the field of creative design, aiming to advance our understanding of how AI technologies can enhance various aspects of the design and creative process.

In an era marked by rapid technological advancements, the synergy between AI and design offers a dynamic landscape for exploration. This research seeks to investigate the practical applications and theoretical underpinnings of AI in design across a range of potential domains, including industrial, product, and digital design.

For centuries, thinkers and creative minds have been captivated by mental imagery. Within our minds eye, we create fictitious scenarios, envision events, strategize for the future and simulate actions.  Imagination thus enables us to plan our behaviour and actions. It is an invaluable cognitive tool, but the extent to which imagination is related to other cognitive processes is less well understood. Research at NTU and elsewhere has explored the relation between imagination and other cognitive processes such as perception and memory (Atkin et al, 2020; Pearson, 2019, Keogh & Pearson, 2017), showing them to be highly related. For example, imagining an object activates brain areas in the visual system that are highly active when we see these objects and remember them (Albers et al, 2013). The idea that our perceptual and representational worlds are linked, with the brain processes responsible for perception also active in representation, has become an increased area of focus in the last two decades (Barsalou, 2008). However, despite imagery, memory and perception having long research histories they have broadly been studied independently.

This project has two aims. The first is to explore and articulate a history of narrative illustration as it intersects with at least TWO of the above-named fields and in at least TWO global cultures. For example, a candidate may propose investigating the history of live illustration in carnival, fairground, magic, theatrical or urban street art settings. The second aim of the project is to interrogate the role narrative illustration in performance may play in developing our aesthetic, political and ethical understanding of long-form visual storytelling at this critical juncture in our multi-media landscape, and to harness narrative illustration techniques in the development of this understanding. Research questions to explore may include (but are not restricted to): authenticity through performance; historical understanding of performative narrative illustration; enhancing visual storytelling literacy through performance; engagement; the construction of the spectator/ audience in illustration performance; audience participation / interactivity in illustration performance; the role of process as methodology; print culture and performativity; ethics and visual storytelling through performance; the politics of illustration performance.

The aim of this project is to explore and develop new materials that can enhance the performance, sustainability, and functionality of textiles. Specific objectives are: (a) Investigate advanced materials with the potential to replace or enhance traditional textile components (fibres, coatings, finishes). (b) Develop sustainable textile materials that reduce environmental impact, including materials derived from renewable sources and those designed for efficient recycling. (c) Enhance textile functionality through the integration of smart and functional materials. (d) Assess the mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties of the developed materials to ensure they meet industry standards and regulatory requirements.

We invite applicants to submit proposals on the topic of understanding face and voice identity matching, using an experimental methodology. Proposals could involve investigating the contribution of cues such as masculinity/femininity, dominance, attractiveness, race or sexuality, comparing face and voice ratings, or manipulating facial and vocal features through morphing. Proposals might also involve using eye-tracking methods, the role of cognitive biases, mental imagery, or whether confidence in face-voice matching judgments predicts accuracy.

You will develop a specific research question to investigate the performativity of the metaverse, including (but not limited to) the digital built environment, the digital body in space, and consideration of the latest technologies and innovations in digital arts and design.

You will explore how the development of a shared digital space has transformed the way that live performances are designed, and then performed, by and through individuals (avatars) in this new social digital space.

Through its multidisciplinary approach, encompassing art, design, and psychology, ‘Design for Performance on the Metaverse’ welcomes candidates from different disciplines, capable of delivering a rigorous multidisciplinary research project. Candidates will have appropriate expertise, knowledge, and skills to develop research questions relating to the metaverse and its performative aspects, potentially including (but not limited to) the gaming experience.

Practice research proposals are invited which focus on embodied and sensorial approaches to experimental artists’ film and video. With increasing availability and sophistication of digital technologies for moving-image and audio-visual work, what new critical approaches are required for exploring and negotiating the relationship of the body, of bodies, and of embodiment within the expanded virtual realities of contemporary life? Proposals are invited which approach film and video as research, for testing the potential and possibilities of different media, for exploring new perspectives on the lived realities of human (and more-than-human) experience. How might artists’ film and video offer new insights into the corporeal, sensorial and fleshy experiences of the body (and of human / more-than-human relations) within the context of an increasingly digital and virtual world? How might artists’ use of film and video technologies offer a reparative to the increasingly ocular- and surveillance-focused tendencies of contemporary society? How can film and video practices cultivate new ecologies of attention within an increasingly attention-deficient culture? Can audio-visual technologies be tested in unexpected ways, for exploring what such technologies can do, indeed, what a body can do?

This research project will investigate dissenting visual narratives in at least TWO East European nation states, which may include (but is not restricted to) Russia and Ukraine. Its focus is on intersections between visual narratives, dissident citizenship, activism, underground and exile cultures, public and civic space, and political oppression in the East European political and civic space. Applicants must have a primary focus on illustration and/or graphic design; secondary areas that may be considered include fine art and photography.

This PhD project will address the pressing need for smart and sustainable natural fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites that can biodegrade at a predetermined rate at the end of their useful life. Such composites hold great promise as environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional materials, especially in the rapidly growing FRP composites market, projected to reach $84.5 billion by 2027. The project will contribute to meeting the UK’s “Net-Zero” target by 2050 by reducing the environmental impacts associated with non-biodegradable FRP composites.

AI has seamlessly integrated into our daily lives, sparking transformations in diverse domains including medical diagnosis, security, robotics, and more. With AI’s relentless expansion into resource-constrained mobile and edge platforms, the emergence of low-cost, low-energy micro-controller (MCU) and micro-processor (MPU) powered devices has ushered in a new era of possibilities for tiny machine learning (TinyML). These remarkable technological strides empower the execution of deep learning models on incredibly compact devices, opening up unprecedented vistas for AI applications in the realms of security and safety.

The revolution of epigenetics has revitalized cancer research, shifting focus away from somatic mutation toward a novel perspective involving the dynamic states of chromatin. Regardless of aetiology, the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is highly variable and is influenced by numerous non-genetic factors such as age, diet, and inflammation. This phenotype points to the epigenetic nature of HCC and highlights the need to further our insight into how epigenetic mechanisms may influence HCC development. The overall goal of this project is to identify epi-modulator compounds with a therapeutic potential, either as a stand-alone regimen or in combination with conventional chemotherapy.

In recent years, populist governments have multiplied in number across the globe, allowing populist parties and leaders to shape their countries’ politics from a position of power. These governments have taken a novel approach to foreign policy in their criticism of the existing liberal international order and in a desire to restructure the foreign policy of their countries. Existing scholarship claims that actual changes have rarely, if ever, gone beyond the rhetorical. However, recent global and regional crises, including COVID-19, the global energy crisis, and the war in Ukraine, have created both novel security risks and exceptional global windows of opportunities for populist governments to affect real changes in their foreign policies.

The oppression of women is a central feature of all authoritarian regimes around the world, yet too little attention has been paid to the promise of women’s uprisings against autocratic governments. Authoritarian regimes are using the control of women’s rights as an integral part of their repressive strategies. Examples are not too hard to find. The Chinese government’s population policies subject women to forced abortions or forced pregnancies depending on the ‘needs’ of the country; Iran’s morality police have been brutally enforcing compulsory hijab laws on women; Qatar is criminalizing extramarital sex where pregnancy acts as evidence against women; Russia and Turkey are intentionally retreating from the protection against domestic violence; in Afghanistan, the Taliban are once again denying women and girls education, work and most basic freedoms.

This PhD project will explore the impact of perceptual factors on decision-making performance. There is a clear link between sensory and cognitive decline in older adults. As people get older their vision and hearing worsen, and so too do their cognitive abilities, such as attention, memory, and decision making. Recent research has shown that these declines are not independent, showing a complex interaction between perception and cognition (Roberts & Allen, 2016; doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2016.00039). This raises the exciting possibility that we can improve cognitive function by improving the perceptual clarity of task materials, and there is currently a great deal of research in this area focused on older adults.

Education in England is characterised by continuous change. Schools are required to meet the challenges of constant policy shift and associated change agendas from central government and the Office for Standards in Education, the body which inspects and sets quality standards in the English system. The result is the need for annual improvement planning and the continual embedding of new practices. Given the complex nature of schools, and the characteristics of resultant change agendas, those working in schools are required to undertake and successfully embed new practices, some of which they may agree with, others which they may not. This makes change a political process, both within schools, as leaders attempt to encourage employees to alter their practices, and beyond as they react to a stream of new policy and guidance created by government and its agencies. This project builds on ongoing research into organisational change in education, extending theories and research on change processes to include the political as a crucial, but often implicit/hidden aspect of change processes.

This project will explore how spelling fluency is achieved. There is a small existing literature in this area, including work at NTU and University of Stavanger. The project will contribute to understanding of different routes to spelling retrieval, how these compete or complement each other, and how this interaction plays out in the period between first intending to write a word and completing its output on the page. For example, must a complete orthographic representation of the target word be available before participants start writing, or is this retrieved piecemeal as the word is written?

This project aims to consider the regulation of cryptocurrency influencers from a comparative and doctrinal perspective. Previous research by the proposed supervision team has highlighted the importance of social factors in driving cryptocurrency investments, including a significant role played by some influencers on social media.  The project will build on this work to examine how influencers have been approached in selected jurisdictions, with a view to the development of normative approaches to regulation of this sector (including market self-regulation). This is a prominent  global issue as the market revenue worldwide for cryptocurrencies is projected by one source to grow to US$37.87bn in 2023.  As part of this, 2.3 million UK citizens have been identified as having invested in these assets, with around 6% borrowing money to do so.

Candidates will be expected to identify the sites of closed courts and the changing uses of the sites and explore the afterlife of court closures, exploring the impact of their historic role in the community, the ongoing legacy of their physical presence, and the way in which their history continues to inform and shape their evolving roles now and into the future.  They may also wish to explore the ways in which court closures and the changing relationship with, and proximity to, local justice has impacted upon communities.  While not exhaustive possible methodologies could include a combination of spatial mapping, visual methods including visual ethnography, place-based or photo elicitation and documentary and/or archival research. Some conceptual and theoretical perspectives and literatures that prospective students may wish to engage with include but are not limited to, cultural criminology, visual criminology, ecological models, carceral geographies and/or ghost criminology.

The extent to which human facial expression is biologically based and hard-wired or shaped by social and cultural factors has been long debated. Understanding potential cultural variability in facial expression is key to understanding the role of facial expression in human social interaction and how this is related to evolutionary function. Currently, our understanding of cultural variability in facial expression is largely derived from the perception and production of specific, prototypical expressions (e.g. Russell et al, 1994; Cowen et al., 2021) which may not occur frequently in our day-to-day life. Recent developments in automated tracking of facial movements means that we can instead measure individual variability in overall facial expressivity in our everyday social interactions (Kavanagh et al., 2022). Anecdotally, assumptions are often made about how cultures differ in emotional expressivity, but whether this is limited to linguistic content (Jackon et al, 2019) or manifest and quantifiable in nonverbal behaviour is debated. In this project we will conduct social interaction experiments (online and in person) to measure the extent to which individuals across cultures differ in their facial responses to typical social situations, such as greetings, cooperation, conflict of interest, and contagious yawning. This PhD will expand our understanding of the evolution of facial communication and how we use these behaviours to form and maintain diverse relationships with others.

The project will examine issues with access to justice in the England and Wales jurisdiction. This could be focused on the criminal justice system, civil justice system or access to justice more broadly. Alternatively, it could adopt a more precise focus on a particular area, such as immigration and asylum tribunal claims, or advising poor people at police stations.

The successful candidate would adopt a socio-legal empirical research methodology, broadly defined (i.e. understanding law and legal practice via social science theories and methods). A social science or socio-legal background (e.g. potentially via module/s on their masters’ degree) would therefore be desirable.

In the cognitive phenomenon referred to as the ‘truthiness effect’ (e.g. Newman et al., Psychonomic Bulletin & Review (2012) 19:969–974), when a claim is presented with a relevant image, there is often an increase in people’s belief that the statement is true, even when the image contains no evidence to actually support the claim being made. One explanation for these effects is that the presence of an image increases the ease of thinking about the claim (i.e. increases processing fluency; Zhang, Newman & Schwartz, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (2021) 92, 104054) as fluency increases judgements of truth (Reber & Schwartz, Consciousness & Cognition (1999) 8(3), 338-342). There are broad implications for society, such as in the apparent credibility of social media posts (Nadarevic et al., Cognitive Research: Principles & Implications (2020) 5:56) and smoking health warnings including images (Maynard et al., BMC Public Health (2018) 18:468).

Most sleep research has been conducted on males and, historically, research focusing on women’s health has been neglected. Much of what we do know of sleep across the menstrual cycle is based on contrasts between different ‘phases’ (times of the month). Where sleep has been measured using brain activity (Electroencephalography, EEG – the gold standard measure of objectively measuring neural activity during sleep), this has been done in the sleep laboratory and under conditions which restrict many aspects of ordinary living. These studies demonstrate that sleep under such controlled conditions is different before and after ovulation, with amount of REM sleep, duration of Stage 2 and arousals in the luteal phase reducing (e.g., Baker & Colrain, 2010). This might be because of a progesterone-driven retention of nightly core body temperature (e.g., Kravitz et al., 2005) or changes in circadian pressure across the cycle (e.g., Shechter et al, 2010). Additionally, studies of home sleep have not used EEG but do show a possible related pattern of results: reported satisfaction with quality of sleep also appears to decrease after ovulation (Baker & Driver, 2004; Groeger et al., in prep.). These findings are important, but they are limited by necessary methodological compromises: either suitable technologies were not available (which would allow for more naturalistic studies of sleep processes and underpinning physiological change) or repeated daily measurement across menstrual cycles was prohibitively challenging, and computationally complex.

Courts throughout England and Wales have historically played an important role in enabling people and communities to exercise local justice over local affairs, providing access to justice and related facilities.  This is particularly the case of Magistrate’s Courts which draw upon the local lay population to exercise justice in the community, deciding the fate of those who come into contact with them.  Equally importantly, they have facilitated the right for trial by one’s peers in one’s own community.  Over time, however, many UK courts have been closing, a process which has accelerated at such a rate that since 2010 over half of courts in England and Wales have closed (The Law Society 2023).  The impact of closures is not equally distributed, and its effects are not felt equally as a result.  The Law Society (2023) has expressed concerns around the impact upon groups from particular demographics including those:

Generative AI, mostly in the form of text-generating online services, is undergoing an era of rapid transformation and poses a range of risks and opportunities, not least in educational settings. While Higher Education institutions in the UK are concerned with supporting student groups at risk of academic under-achievement, the use or non-use of generative AI carries the potential of creating a novel achievement gap. Understanding how student characteristics, social-demographic, psychological and ability-related, determine engagement with generative AI and further academic outcomes is therefore vital for addressing student inequalities that are likely to extend to society at large.

University student accommodation is an aspect of student life that sits at the junction of the student experience, student wellbeing, and wider financial questions such as ‘value for money’ (Howard et al., 2022; Savage et al., 2021). However, student housing as an integral component of the student experience continues to be overlooked. Such a lack of attention in student housing matters creates a gap in student equity research. The under-discussed nature of the student residential experience is made all the more relevant due to the increasing supply and demand strains on student housing markets, as well as the rapidly changing landscape of the student accommodation offer. Namely, that the student housing sector consists of a largely unregulated private sector alongside a burgeoning purpose-built student accommodation taking a near 50% of the market share (Mulhearn & Franco, 2018). This project, therefore, aims to consider the status of undergraduate student housing at one midlands university by examining the notion of the student residential experience. These aims are undertaken in light of the ways in which purpose-built student accommodation shapes the nature of what it is to study at university for undergraduate students, and could be developed to support student wellbeing, satisfaction and equity issues. Both the research question(s) and the methodological approach to this research project would be negotiated with the successful candidate. It is expected, however, that the candidate would use qualitative methods, and potentially creative methods such as photo-elucidations, storytelling, or potentially digital technologies to explore the student experience.