GW4 + PhD Studentship - Human-animal interface

Many geospatial data products show where people live but not where they spend their time or what they do there, which limits prediction of human-environment interactions, such as land-use, human-wildlife conflicts and zoonotic disease risk. Yet in most landscapes people follow predictable daily and seasonal routines shaped by livelihood and the habitats they live in. This project asks whether that knowledge, encoded in mechanistic models, can generate continent-wide maps of human presence and activity by time of day and season, and how well such models transfer between countries. Case studies will test their value for predicting zoonotic disease exposure and human-wildlife conflict, with consideration of how these human-animal contact patterns might be altered by climate change.

The student will draw on large GPS datasets from people, wildlife and livestock in countries across sub-Saharan Africa, paired with drone surveys and satellite imagery. Hidden Markov and machine learning models will classify activities, and agent-based models built from livelihood rules will be trained on some countries and validated on others.

The student will receive training in geospatial and mechanistic modelling, AI and machine learning, Bayesian statistics, drone and satellite remote sensing, reproducible coding, and the ethical and secure handling of human location data. They will lead first-author papers, present at international conferences, and, with mentoring, write small complementary grant proposals to gain grant writing experience. They will decide which case studies and modelling directions to prioritise, agreed with supervisors through an annual development plan.

Redding (NHM) brings a disease ecology background, Razgour (Exeter) species distribution modelling and zoonotic disease expertise, and Cunliffe (Exeter) drone remote sensing and African landscape ecology. The student will be embedded in all three groups. NHM offers a large doctoral community, science communication and public engagement opportunities, and, with regular joint supervision and pastoral support across both institutions.

You should have obtained, or be about to obtain, a First or Upper Second Class UK Honours degree, or the equivalent qualifications gained outside the UK. If you have a Lower Second Class degree, you can be considered if you also have a Master's degree or relevant professional (e.g. work) experience.

Thriving at the Museum: the way we work

We are proud to work at the Museum and have identified the qualities we all need to embody to reach our shared ambition. This sits alongside the Museum's values and forms the framework for the way we work.

Find out more here