Urban green infrastructure (UGI) and Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are terms for sustainable solutions to managing urban flood risk that offer substantial co-benefits (i.e. pollution control, public amenity value and ‘eco-wilding’ biodiversity benefits). However, a lack of accepted, standardised testing methodologies for these hybridised solutions makes it difficult to determine the effectiveness of individual GI features or draw comparisons between different systems. Ensuring maximum dual-functionality of soil retention (flood prevention) and water filtration (water quality) benefits will require developing these testing methods both in-field and within a laboratory setting. Further, the ecological stressors (i.e. influence of wildlife, flora and fauna as ecosystem engineers and the influence of plants and roots on water dynamics) should be considered alongside hydrological testing.

This PhD project will address this research gap by collecting, analysing and interpreting field-sampled and -monitored water quantity and quality parameters to determine multi-benefit, holistic system performance, and link this into wider biodiversity assessments of urban wetland systems. This will be combined with citizen science methodologies to underpin hydroclimatic understandings of GI ‘performance’.

PhD Student – Elise Cheng



“My PhD research relates to the need for flood mitigation in urban cities using Nature-based Solutions and Green Infrastructure. I will be focusing on analysing rain garden behaviour during extreme flood events through constructing a portable rainfall simulator. Flooding impacts infrastructure, society and ecosystems more so in a negative manner, by restoring or replicating natural environments will have the goal of slowing the flow of water movements and reducing the severity of pluvial flooding. My overarching aim is as follows: Investigating the behaviour and placement of SuDS in the central belt of Scotland through conducting in-situ field testing and desk studies. Following this aim covers the areas of knowledge gaps in current literature and contribute to the ongoing research that holds a high impact in urban cities.”

Wet woodlands are valuable and diverse habitats that can play an important role in landscape scale nature recovery, the restoration of hydrological functions, and terrestrial carbon storage. However, wet woodlands are often rare and highly fragmented habitats in the UK due to historic woodland clearance, intensive management, and the drainage of catchments for agricultural or forestry purposes. These habitats are under stress from climate change and chronic nutrient deposition, and thus the unique biodiversity found there could be compromised.

This project will work alongside conservation bodies to understand how we can quantify biodiversity and functioning in these ecosystems, and work at a unique new lagg habitat management project in South Cumbria to develop new tools to manage wet woodlands. The project team is supervised by experienced field ecologists with a track-record in wetland and woodland ecosystem science, as well as the wider team including conservation evidence and practice officers and regional managers.

PhD Student – Lucy Stewart

Freshwater systems are amongst the most threatened on Earth and are predicted to lose 80 % of their biodiversity as a result of multiple stressors by 2050. Mini-wetlands – including ponds, pools, wet woodland, marsh – are amongst the most highly threatened globally. These important and unique ecosystems support exceptionally high biodiversity; however, 30-50 % of wetland biota are estimated to be threatened. They are one of the most important habitats for freshwater molluscs which are experiencing severe declines on a global scale due to anthropogenic activity.

The supervisory team comprise expertise across multiple stressor science, ecotoxicology, analytics and water policy. This scientific topic is extremely important for protecting biodiversity and is a dynamic and rapidly advancing area of study.

PhD Student – Doyinsola Suliat Mustapha



“Hey there! I’m Doyin, and I’m excited to be part of the ECOWILD CDT programme. I’m based in HWU and my PhD is looking at how combinations of environmental stressors impact freshwater snails living in mini-wetlands. These ecosystems, though small, support exceptional biodiversity but are increasingly threatened by human activities. Through a combination of fieldwork, laboratory experiments, and analytical techniques, my project aims to understand how multiple stressors interact and what this means for the health, survival, and conservation of freshwater wetland species.”

As beavers engineer new wetlands, potential stressors like temperature, eutrophication, and invasive species intersect with alterations to the processes that shape riparian habitats. This study aims to uncover the most relevant stressors in beaver-created wetlands, evaluating their implications for ecosystem health, particularly on indicator species like pearl mussels and salmonids. By identifying circumstances where beaver activity may conflict with conservation goals, the project guides decisions on licensing and management. Employing cutting-edge eDNA metabarcoding and field methods, this research analyses community diversity, species abundance, and stressor quantification using multi-stressor theory.

PhD Student – Megan Boffin

Intertidal supra-littoral wetland ecosystems are defined by extremely dynamic and variable environmental conditions driven by tidal, climate, and terrestrial input cycles. They are increasingly exposed to multiple human-induced stressors of global climate change and pollution. In this project, we will use the rockpool copepod Tigriopus brevicornus as a laboratory model to examine the short and long term impacts of such stressors and the ways in which extreme intertidal species might adapt under future climate change scenarios. Tigriopus copepods are adapted to survive in high intertidal pools, which undergo extreme fluctuations in environmental conditions, principally salinity, temperature, oxygen, and pH, over tidal, semilunar (spring/neap) and seasonal cycles. Tigriopus are emerging as an ideal laboratory model to study the mechanistic basis of zooplankton response and adaptation to environmental variation and local pollutants. This project brings together expert supervisors in zooplankton ecology, behaviour, chronobiology, genetics, genomics, and applied conservation to shed light on mechanisms of stress response and long-term implications of transgenerational adaptation to multiple stressors in these extremophiles.

PhD Student – Nele Thomsen



“My interests are in extreme environments, biological adaptations, and ecotoxicology. I am particularly fascinated by copepods and how they deal with climate change related stress in a complex environment. I apply multilevel analysis methods to understand how these organisms will cope on a genetic and wider biological level in future climate conditions. For my PhD project, our main goals are to assess general sensitivities of the rockpool copepod Tigriopus brevicornis to common environmental stressors in a multistress scenario, understand the underlying mechanisms that might improve their resilience, and investigate the transgenerational impact of selected multistressors on the genome, genetic functioning, and general fitness of T. brevicornis.”

The Flow Country in northern Scotland is an internationally important peatland supporting an incredibly diverse waterbird community, proposed as the world’s first peatland world heritage site, yet many breeding bird species are declining there. This project investigates the multiple stressors and drivers of change in Flow Country waterbird population trends to identify causes and enable successful conservation management. The supervisory team has a range of international expertise, including wetland, predator and waterbird ecology, and data science.

PhD Student – Lucy Mortlock

This project aims to assess the multiple stressor implications of pollution, climate change and landscape management on floodplain functioning including water hydrology, pollutant and sediment retention, carbon storage, greenhouse gas emissions, and biodiversity. A supervisory team at the forefront of ecosystem research on plants, water and soils, soil fauna, contaminants, carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas fluxes is in support.

UK floodplains are crucial for healthy riverine ecosystems, but their functionality has been degraded by channel manipulation, agricultural use and pollution. Climate change may additionally affect floodplain performance through changes in flooding dynamics and conditions (e.g. more frequent summer floods), but this is less well studied. As these multiple stressors will occur simultaneously, we also urgently need to know their combined impacts. UK floodplains have been under pressure from human activity and can be hotspots for pollutant input through contaminated sediment deposition. Simultaneously, floodplain functions may also be affected by climate change.

This cutting-edge study will therefore provide critical evidence on how these multiple stressors, single and in combination, will impact pollutant and sediment retention, carbon storage, greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity in floodplains to inform management, restoration and climate change mitigation.

PhD Student – Mahmuda Islam



“My PhD project involves understanding the impacts of flooding and potentially toxic elements on soil biogeochemical cycling, including greenhouse gas cycling. Soil microbes play a crucial role in greenhouse gas cycling. I am interested in applying an interdisciplinary approach that merges soil microbial ecology with redox chemistry to explore how microbes adapt or respond to multiple stressors (e.g., chemical pollution and flooding) and how these interactions ultimately influence greenhouse gas dynamics. I hope the findings of this study will contribute to the strategies to mitigate climate change and restore floodplains.”

Over half the world’s wetlands occur in the tropics, with multitudes of people and species relying on these resources, yet there is little research about how these wetlands can be conserved for biodiversity whilst delivering vital ecosystem services. This collaborative project will build a holistic and comprehensive picture of the multiple stressors affecting the wetlands of the Cambodian Lower Mekong Delta and the socio-economic and policy drivers.

The student will complete fieldwork in Cambodia in collaboration with the WWT Cambodian team, the Cambodian Development Resource Institute and other partners in Cambodia. A mixed-method and multidisciplinary approach, combining qualitative and quantitative methods, will be used to gather and map information. The student will develop expertise and skills in ecological quality analysis, wetland ecology, GIS and modelling environmental change, statistical analysis, sustainable development, social sciences methodologies eg. interviews, content and policy analysis. Dr Julia Newth and WWT colleagues will lead project development and Cambodian fieldwork. At University of York, the student will be supervised by Professor Kathryn Arnold (biodiversity conservation), Dr Richard Friend (water resource management, hydropower, fisheries and local livelihoods in the Mekong region) and at UHI Dr Elizabeth Marsden (spatial analysis).

The student will also gain experience in the design and implementation of biodiversity monitoring and experiments in natural settings to disentangle multiple biodiversity stressors. Additionally, they will develop valuable and transferable skills in cutting-edge molecular methods like DNA metabarcoding and bioinformatic and statistical analysis. The student will also engage with measurements and modelling of peatland emissions and develop a holistic understanding of the peatland biodiversity and functioning.

PhD Student – Christopher Middleton


“Over the course of my PhD I hope to work collaboratively with local stakeholders to create a sustainable, just, and bright future for the wetlands of the Mekong Delta and the people and wildlife that call it home.”

Peatlands are wetland habitats crucial for climate and water regulation but largely degraded in western Europe, with climatic trends and increased risk from wildfires further exacerbating their degradation. In Scotland, restoration efforts are improving peatland condition through tree-removal, creating mosaics of natural, degraded, and restored peatlands but wildfires continue to threaten restoration progress. Peat microbiomes determine ecosystem functioning but remain understudied, with basic understanding of the progression of such communities following restoration, wildfires, or both, lacking. Scottish landscapes offer the conditions to disentangle the effects of such stressors, and link microbiome to function.

The supervisory team of this project is comprised by UHI and University of York academics with expertise in atmospheric pollution science, and landscape-scale peatland and eDNA monitoring, in collaboration with private (SSE) and public (Forestry Land Scotland) stakeholders, and is well equipped to support the student’s development and project.

PhD Student – Beccy Middleton


“I am really interested in how insights from community ecology can help us to refine and improve ecological restoration outcomes. Although my background is in plant ecology and botany, this project focuses on the tiny organisms in peatland habitats which have an enormous impact on ecosystem functioning – bacteria, fungi and micro-eukaryotes (or protists). Protists are astonishingly diverse but have received less attention in the past than other microbes. A better understanding of how these groups respond to disturbances such as wildfires and bog restoration will help us look after our precious peatland habitats”

This CASE studentship project focuses on stressors causing wetland loss in the US and UK, compensatory restoration of wetlands, and the cutting edge of practical policies designed to achieve net positive environmental outcomes for wetlands overall. The supervisors at Oxford (Bull, zu Ermgassen) are ecologists, and leading experts in net environmental outcome instruments. The industry stakeholder
(Owen, from AstraZeneca) will link the student into a multi-million dollar global programme of landscape restoration projects. The supervisor at York (Heinemeyer) is a UK peatland expert, with an established network of stakeholders across UK uplands and to policymakers. The US supervisor (Robertson, from Wisconsin-Madison) will provide the same for the USA. The student will combine development of field-based skills and experience in wetland ecology – across the US and the UK – with cutting-edge analytical
research into some of the most important emerging regulatory mechanisms for nature conservation in the world today: net environmental outcome policies. They will consequently need to have or develop skills in fieldwork, statistical analyses, spatial analysis, and restoration ecology.

PhD Student – Alexander Dhond


“I am interested in identifying the risks to and improving policies around biodiversity offsets, particularly those focusing on wetland conservation. My PhD will investigate stressors causing wetland loss in the US and UK, and how policies like No Net Loss, Biodiversity Net Gain, and Nutrient Neutrality can enhance wetland restoration. I hope to combine field data on wetland characteristics in the UK with data from US restoration projects to identify effective policy attributes linked to successful outcomes. I am hoping the results of this work will feed into stronger legislation that will help us protect our valuable wetland ecosystems.”

Christmas Island is unique as it is dominated by tropical land crabs which act as keystone species, including in wetland areas which are recognised internationally by the Ramsar Convention. Two of the major threats to these wetland systems and species are pollution and climate change. This project seeks to study the combined impacts of changing climatic conditions (e.g. warming) and presences of metal contaminants on the early life stages of land crabs inhabiting the wetlands of Christmas Island. The supervisory team comprises expertise in Christmas Island land crab developmental biology, ecophysiology, molecular toxicology, and analytical chemistry as well as applied conservation management (JNCC, Ramsar, and Parks Australia). 



PhD Student – Charlotte Wilson


“I have a background in Marine Biology and during a 2023 research expedition to Christmas Island, Indian Ocean, I became fascinated by the biology of land crabs, particularly their resilience during their early life stages. I also have a strong interest in using multidisciplinary techniques to explore stress responses at different levels of biological organisation. My project will utilise molecular approaches (e.g. DNA damage, gene expression) and embryophenomics in lab and field experiments to understand how land crab species cope with climate and pollutant stressors during a period of their life history which is crucial for long term survival and recruitment of the population.”

This project will use the Lincolnshire Coastal Grazing Marsh, on the eastern coast of England, with other sites, as a living laboratory to investigate the effects of climate change on coastal wetlands and the intertidal zone.  This stretch of coastline contains saltmarshes and freshwater dune slacks that have formed in areas that were previously lagoonal environments protecting the shoreline from the effects of North Sea storms. Climate change means the dynamics between freshwater and saline habitats will be increasingly fluid, but the conservation implications of this are unclear. The project will use a mix of palaeo-ecological and ecological techniques to understand from past habitats what future conditions might look like. The supervisory team consists of experts on dune ecology, palaeo-environmental reconstruction and nature conservation bodies to establish evidence-based guidance on coastal wetland management. The team offers training in the field, laboratory, data interpretation, writing and presenting. Time spent at Natural England and Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust will provide experience and contribute to conservation organisations that aim to conserve wildlife and wild places and promote an understanding and enjoyment of the natural world, enabling the wider community to value nature and the environment.    


PhD Student – Gabriella Goodridge


“Hello, I’m Gabriella and I’m thrilled to be a part of the ECOWILD and York University communities! I’m passionate about sand dune and salt marsh conservation as I come from a coastal background, and have volunteered with the Lancashire Wildlife Trust and Fylde Sand Dunes Project since 2018. My PhD will examine the effects of multiple stressors, including climate change, sea level rise and eutrophication on saline and freshwater wetlands and observe any alterations in their interactions with each other. This project is interdisciplinary, combining soil science, hydrology, ecology and paleoclimatology to answer my research questions. I’m incredibly eager about this topic and if you have any questions about my research, please feel free to get in touch.”

This project examines how combinations of abiotic and biotic stressors affect germination and survival of seagrass seeds and seedlings, alongside use of synthetic materials (e.g. polyacrylamide) as a matrix for planting, which may protect against stressors, but may also constitute stressors on benthic infauna. This knowledge will help to understand the dynamic interannual changes in seagrass density and bed extent observed in nature and will help inform seagrass restoration efforts by allowing targeted planting of seeds in the best available areas. It will involve seed collection, aquarium work, challenge of seedlings with combined stressors, verification of stressor levels in the field and mapping of these to predict in situ germination and survival rates. Work involved will include testing of different approaches for seed planting and sediment mixtures, including enrichment, and possible effects of these approaches on benthic biota.



PhD Student – Ruth Flynn


“My fascination for seagrass ecology led me to return to university to study Marine Biology, and I am now pursuing a PhD investigating how environmental stressors affect seagrass germination and survival. My research aims to inform and enhance restoration practices, supporting more effective restoration strategies that strengthen the resilience of our coastal ecosystems.”

The agricultural landscape is a patchwork of different land covers. Fields are often separated by artificial drainage ditches, dug historically to make land more productive. However, as we move to more balanced multi-functional landscapes, with a greater emphasis on ecosystem services, the role these ditches play is crucial at a network and catchment scale. Management and maintenance e.g. vegetation cutting, ditch blocking, can provide flood and water quality control. This project brings together expertise in relevant topics in an experienced and supportive supervisor team to investigate the problems/stressors, hydrological functioning, and management solutions that ditches can provide in agricultural landscapes.


PhD Student – Andrew Tucker


“Hi, my name is Andrew Tucker. I am 41 years old and have an 8-year-old daughter. I have recently completed an MSc in Land & Ecological Restoration at the Eden Project learning centre, which is part of Cornwall College and Plymouth University. My dissertation here focused on hedge heights and their impacts on surrounding soil qualities, which involved landscape spatial analysis, soil sampling, and soil quality evaluation at different distances from the hedge (moisture content, soil organic carbon content, microbial hydrolysis activity, glomalin-related soil proteins). Previously, I completed an integrated Master of Engineering (Materials & Design) at The Open University, where I was particularly interested in modelling and simulation. I have always been interested in sustainability, particularly in agricultural systems, where there is a need for increased output at reduced costs. During both of my postgraduate studies, I have been fortunate to run my own gift shop business in Dawlish, Devon. These experiences have helped me gain a wealth of knowledge that I can apply to my PhD project on Agricultural Ditch Networks for Flood and Pollution Management.”

Freshwater wetlands are currently exposed to complex mixtures of chemicals which can adversely affect the health of resident biota. The sensitivity of wetland biota to chemical exposure could alter in the future due to physico-chemical changes resulting from climate change. To protect wetlands from chemical exposure into the future, it is essential to understand how chemicals and climate change may potentially interact to alter the risks of chemicals to biota. This PhD project will explore how climate change will affect the exposure of wetland invertebrate species to mixtures of chemicals and the implications of this for chemical risk. The project is supported by a CASE award with Reckitt, an international healthcare and consumer hygiene company.


PhD Student – Toby Popple


“My PhD, based at the University of York, investigates how different combinations of environmental and chemical stressors affect both wetland communities and individuals. Understanding how these environmental stressors may influence the fate and toxicity of chemical pollutants is essential for improving climate resilience. Using a range of fieldwork, laboratory experiments, and modelling techniques in collaboration with Reckitt, this project aims to strengthen current and future ecological risk assessments to better protect vulnerable wetland ecosystems.”

The flux of energy and materials across terrestrial-aquatic boundaries is a key characteristic of wetlands which creates important food web links between organisms. However, these so-called ‘trophic subsidies’ will be affected by multiple stressor scenarios, with implications for the wider wetland food web and biodiversity. In this project how these stressors interact to alter trophic subsidies in wetlands will be quantified. Impacts of any multiple stressor driven changes in subsidies on the biodiversity and diet of wetland species, with a focus on bats, will be explored. Supervision is by an interdisciplinary team with expertise in food webs, bat conservation, ecological management and isotopes.


PhD Student – Stefania Luca


“My research focuses on understanding how energy and material fluxes across terrestrial–aquatic boundaries shape wetland food webs, with particular interest in how anthropogenic stressors alter these dynamics. Wetlands are critical ecosystems where trophic subsidies, such as insect emergence, provide essential resources for higher trophic levels. However, multiple stressors—including land-use change—impact ecological systems and can have cascading consequences for biodiversity. By investigating how these factors interact, I aim to contribute to a deeper understanding of ecosystem resilience and the management strategies needed to protect wetland communities.”

Wetlands support exceptionally high biodiversity, especially for invertebrates. This diversity is threatened by extreme events, including drought, heatwaves, and chemical spills (e.g., in sewage from storm overflows). This PhD will quantify how these pulsed multiple stressor events interact over time and space to affect wetland invertebrates using a range of techniques (including experiments and population modelling). This information will be used to to develop a species conservation and recovery programme for some of the most at-risk invertebrates in the UK. Supervisors will be Dr Michelle Jackson at the University of Oxford (the host institute), Dr Louise Lactivore (Freshwater Biological Association in the Lake District), and Dr Tim Szewczyk (Scottish Association for Marine Science). This supervisory team has expertise in multiple stressors, conservation, and quantitative ecology.


PhD Student – Isabel Quinn


“My research interest is in understanding the processes that influence invertebrate biodiversity in aquatic systems. My PhD will explore how aquatic invertebrates, in marine and freshwater wetlands, respond to and recover from pulsed multiple stressors, such as a heatwave or chemical spill. I will investigate this using a combination of fieldwork, experimental and demographic modelling approaches. I am particularly interested and excited to use my research to develop species conservation and recovery programmes for at-risk invertebrates in the UK.”

The coastal machair and farmed peatland landscape of the Uist islands in the Outer Hebrides supports internationally important densities of breeding waders, but populations have declined by 25% since 1983. An important driver of these declines is egg predation by introduced hedgehogs, but recent declines in areas without hedgehogs suggest that other stressors, including land-use and agricultural intensification are also involved. This project aims to better understand the extent and interactivity of these multiple stressors potentially driving machair shorebird declines. Supported by experienced supervisors, the Uist Native Wildlife Project team and conservation scientists, policy staff and land managers, scientific research is applied to directly influence and inform conservation management.


PhD Student – Liam Paulson


“Hello! I’m Liam, based at the University of York. My interests are in active conservation outcomes, wetland environments and most importantly, birds! My PhD project involves understanding the stressors impacting breeding waders on the Outer Hebrides, a nationally incredibly important site for a number of species. I hope to combine field data, spatial imagery and historical trends to unpick the drivers of these stressors and potentially through this work contribute to the strategies and policies aimed at improving outcomes for these birds.”

Ponds in the UK are usually defined as still, lentic waterbodies between 1m² and 2ha  
in size. Although there are several schemes that encourage the creation or restoration of ponds, the location and number of ponds in the UK is unknown. There could be anywhere from 200,00 to over 3 million ponds- a massive variance. In order to better plan the management of ponds, more data is needed about the ponds we already have. Advancements in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles like drones have seen them being used in surveying and monitoring of habitats. By comparing drone imaging and satellite imaging, a review of the most efficient ways to map ponds in the UK can be reached, and hopefully, this will improve our UK pond data collection. Furthermore, there are other advancements in drone technology that can be used. Different cameras and sensors can record information from different wavelengths, and each of these could provide new insights into ponds. Ponds function more as ‘pondscapes’ than as individual habitats. Pondscapes are the network of ponds within a landscape. These pondscapes are important because most pond species use one of two key adaptations to make them resilient: dormancy or dispersal. For species to be able to disperse, there must be a functioning pondscape rather than an isolated individual pond. The student hopes that a model may be able to use the importance of pond proximity, along with other variables, to create a way for pond creators to determine the best places for them to create ponds on their land.


PhD Student – Nic Mortimer-Cook


“Wetlands are wonderfully biodiverse habitats and I’m really excited to be working on ponds. I come from a background of biodiversity and ecology and am keen to work on such a multi-disciplinary project. Technology is always evolving, and with so much to monitor and manage, using every tool we can to make helping the environment easier is a big win.”

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widespread persistent pollutants. Because of their mobility, they are expected to reach wetland environments. In these biodiverse habitats, the toxicity of PFAS on invertebrates has a high probability to differ with temperatures, given that both PFAS and temperature can modify metabolic rate. This project will assess PFAS exposure and effects in ponds/ditches under different climate regimes (Mediterranean, N/S UK, Arctic). The study will collate known information and sample ephemeral waterbodies for PFAS. They will study how PFAS are taken up, modify feeding, affect metabolism and have population effects under different temperature (extremes).


PhD Student – Lizzie Cooke


“Hi! My name is Lizzie Cooke, and My PhD research focuses on understanding how per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals,” impact aquatic biodiversity under different climatic conditions. PFAS are highly persistent pollutants that can accumulate in ponds and ditches, where their effects on invertebrates may vary with temperature and other environmental stressors. Through a combination of fieldwork across Europe; from Mediterranean to Arctic regions, I will investigate how PFAS influence feeding, metabolism, growth, and reproduction in aquatic organisms such as Daphnia and algal biofilms.”

Tropical wetlands are especially vulnerable habitats in global climate models that predict temperatures will increase substantially, extreme storm events will occur more frequently, changes in riverine discharge (i.e., leading to changes in salinity of estuaries) will become more dramatic, and negative anthropogenic factors (pollution, shipping, overfishing) will become more severe as human populations increase.  Our established ecotoxicology tropical amphipod Parhyale hawaiensis model enables cross-laboratory experimentation (UK-Brazil) and field research within our existing field sites in São Paulo state Brazil.  The supervisory team is composed of experts in field and laboratory ecotoxicology, pathophysiology and in the investigation of multiple stressors.


PhD Student – Georgina Chow


“My PhD project will be looking at pollution and climate change in the context of mangrove forests, where I will be using a model amphipod (Parhayle hawaiensis) in the lab and in the field to study how these factors affect the organism at a molecular and behavioural level. This will help us to understand how community level processes, interactions and functions are impacted, and ultimately how we can better protect these important mangrove ecosystems.”

Microorganisms play an essential role in freshwater biogeochemical processes. This project will investigate the effects of chemical mixtures and physical stressors (temperature), on microbial composition, functionality and ecosystem service delivery. It will focus on semi-natural and wastewater treatment wetlands, which are exposed to a wide range of chemical contaminants, and in which microbes play critical roles in contaminant degradation and transformation. The cross-disciplinary supervisory team spans academia, policy, and the water industry to elevate this research into a valuable contribution to environmental and public health, whilst also supporting research and career aspirations.

PhD Student – James Evans


“I am interested in how chemical and climatic stressors affect microbial communities and functions in constructed wetlands. These nature-based systems provide low energy water treatment by replicating the key biogeochemical processes found in natural wetlands, many of which are driven by microorganisms. I hope the findings of this project will contribute to optimising constructed wetland systems to improve environmental and public health.”

This is an exciting project at the intersection of ecotoxicology and ecology to investigate the impacts of multiple stressors. A range of anthropogenic stressors will be investigated for their effects on UK native amphibian species, both in the context of single species exposures and as part of amphibian communities. These charismatic organisms are integral to wetland ecosystems, relying on both aquatic and terrestrial compartments to complete their life-cycle. The project will encompass both mesocoms and field-based approaches to answer fundamental questions central to developing a better understanding for the real-world impacts of multiple stressors. The supervisory team comprises: Multiple stressor/amphibian ecotoxicologist (Orton, Heriot-Watt), mesocosm/multiple stressor aquatic ecologist (Jackson, Oxford) and expertise in amphibian conservation (Smart, Froglife).  

PhD Student – Andrew Joseph


Andrew Joseph is an Aquatic Animal Health Scientist with eight years of professional experience at the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas). He has joined the ECOWILD Centre for Doctoral Training to investigate the impacts of multiple environmental stressors on UK amphibian species and their ecological implications. His research integrates ecotoxicological mechanisms with community-level responses and ecosystem dynamics to better understand the real-world effects of anthropogenic pressures on amphibian populations.

Riparian ecosystems are biodiversity hotspots and play a crucial role in maintaining river health by potentially alleviating stressors such as pollution, habitat degradation and climate change effects. Despite a significant loss of wetland habitat worldwide, the recent reintroduction of Eurasian beavers to Britain presents an opportunity for recovery, as these ecosystem engineers create new riparian wetlands. However, there is a concern that these habitats may intensify the impact of certain stressors, such as invasive species, and could act as additional stressors for priority species like pearl mussels or salmonids.    

PhD Student – Megan Boffin



“I have a background in wildlife conservation and a strong interest in the ecology and conservation of data-poor and elusive mammal species. During my MRes in Biosciences (awarded 2025), I explored the reintroduction of pine martens from Scotland to southern England, using genetic techniques and population modelling to inform management decisions. My PhD builds on this work by investigating how beaver presence in Scotland, alongside environmental stressors, affect mammal populations and wider ecosystem health. By combining genetic and ecological approaches, my research aims to understand how species respond to changing environments and to support more effective, evidence-based conservation strategies.”

Alex Braggins is a PhD researcher at Heriot Watt University, supervised by Dr Leo Peskett. His research, part of the ECOWILD project, investigates how land use and climate pressures on upland wetlands and floodplains influence their ability to mitigate floods and droughts. By combining field hydrology, water tracer techniques, and modelling, his work aims to advance understanding of how these landscapes store and release water under change.   

PhD Student – Alex Braggins