In 2022, EASTBIO has awarded two UKRI BBSRC Doctoral Career Development Funds to the following former EASTBIO students:

First, Dr Jennifer Wardle who has been working with Professor Jo Smith at the University of Aberdeen, School of Biological Sciences on the project involving the production of an "interactive web resource mapping urban food growing locations around Aberdeen with pop-up quantitative and qualitative information about the soils found there" (April to August 2022). The project falls under the 3rd BBSRC strand of exploring the application of Jennifer's doctoral research and training beyond academia for economic or societal impact in other sectors: it establishes connections with key and periphery participants in urban growing activities; provides laboratory characterisation of soil samples from a range of urban food growing sites and includes interviews of soil keepers.
 

Secondly, Dr Jessica Harvey-Carroll who has started working with Dr David March at the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, Spain, on a project that aims to develop new lines of research for Fellowship applications. The project, which runs from July to December 2022, researches the effects of anthropogenic stressors on the behavioural ecology and physiology of Loggerhead turtles (Caretta Caretta) in the Western Mediterranean. There is growing evidence that chronic stress caused by anthropogenic events can have severe impacts on turtle populations. The proposed research question will be investigated through a combination of field research and advanced analysis of long-term telemetry datasets.

We are looking forward to receive the reports from our two awardees and share via our website and social media!

The call is still live so please check your eligibility and the application details here and consider applying before autumn 2022.