Diadromous Fish Interactions with Offshore Wind Developments

Project Description:

This project is now closed to applicants for 2026 entry.

This PhD scholarship is offered by the EPSRC CDT in Offshore Wind Energy Sustainability and Resilience, a partnership between the Universities of Durham, Hull, Loughborough and Sheffield. The successful applicant will undertake six-months of training with the rest of the CDT cohort at the University of Hull before continuing their PhD research at Hull, supported by industry partners, the Environment Agency and Cefas.

The project aims to address gaps in knowledge regarding diadromous fish migration pathways and offshore wind (OSW) farms and their associated subsea cables on the British North Sea Coast.

Diadromous fish, such as critically endangered European eel (Anguilla anguilla) and Atlantic salmon (Salmon salar), migrate between oceanic and riverine environments. Both are known to utilising a magnetic map to navigate and are sensitive to electromagnetic signals from anthropogenic sources. However, there are significant gaps in knowledge regarding diadromous fish and their interactions with OSW turbines and subsea cables which emit electromagnetic fields, especially in the North Sea.

This is particularly relevant to the Humber Estuary as a key migration route for European eel and Atlantic salmon, and leader of OSW development along the British North Sea coast. To fill these knowledge gaps, European eel and Atlantic salmon will be acoustic tagged and tracked using arrays of strategically deployed acoustic receivers, including in the vicinity of other anthropogenic pressures, in the Humber Estuary and the East coast of Britain.
Doing so will provide greater understanding of vulnerable and commercially important diadromous fish migration at a large spatial-scale, and thereby facilitate a greater evidence base for effective species protection and future OSW infrastructure management and policy.

Training and development

You will benefit from a taught programme, giving you a broad understanding of the breadth and depth of current and emerging offshore wind sector needs. This begins with an intensive six-month programme at the University of Hull for the new student intake, drawing on the expertise and facilities of all four academic partners. It is supplemented by Continuing Professional Development (CPD), which is embedded throughout your 4-year research scholarship.

The successful candidate will benefit from access to a Safe AI module during the second year.

Entry requirements

If you have received a First-class Honours degree, or a 2:1 Honours degree and a Masters, or a Distinction at Masters level with any undergraduate degree (or the international equivalents) in Bioscience or Environmental Science, we would like to hear from you.

The ideal candidate will have experience in Coding/Programming (R or Python), Animal Telemetry and movement analysis, Fieldwork in aquatic environments, Geographic Information Systems, Statistical Analysis, Oceanographic Modelling, and Data Presentation.

If your first language is not English you will be required to provide evidence of your English language proficiency level that meets the requirements of the Aura CDT’s academic partners. This course requires academic IELTS 7.0 overall, with no less than 6.0 in each skill.

If you have any queries about this project, please contact Dr Jon Bolland, J.Bolland@hull.ac.uk

You may also address queries about the CDT to auracdt@hull.ac.uk.

Watch our short video to hear from Aura CDT students, academics and industry partners:

Funding

The Offshore Wind CDT is funded by the EPSRC, allowing us to provide scholarships that cover fees plus a stipend set at the UKRI nationally agreed rates. This is £21,805 per annum at 2026/27 rates and will increase in line with the EPSRC guidelines for the subsequent years (subject to progress).

Eligibility

The advertised CDT scholarships are available to Home (UK) Students only. Research Council funding for postgraduate research has residence requirements. We have reached our quota for international student applications for 2026 entry and so advertised CDT scholarships are only available to Home (UK) Students. To be considered a Home student, and therefore eligible for a full award, a student must have no restrictions on how long they can stay in the UK and have been ordinarily resident in the UK for at least 3 years prior to the start of the scholarship (with some further constraint regarding residence for education). For full eligibility information, please refer to the EPSRC website.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme

The CDT is committed to generating a diverse and inclusive training programme and is looking to attract applicants from all backgrounds. We offer a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for home fee status candidates who identify as Black or Black mixed or Asian or Asian mixed if they meet the programme entry requirements. This positive action is to support recruitment of these under-represented ethnic groups to our programme and is an opt in process.

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Interviews

The first-round interview panel for shortlisted candidates will comprise the project supervisory team members from the host university where the project is based, plus a representative of the CDT.  Where the project involves external supervisors from university partners or industry sponsors then representatives from these partners may form part of the interview panel and your application documents will be shared with them (with the guaranteed interview scheme section of the supplementary application form removed).

If you are successful, you will progress to a second interview. This will be with key academics from the CDT from across our four partner institutions (Durham University, University of Hull, Loughborough University, University of Sheffield) and your application documents will be shared with them (with the guaranteed interview scheme section removed from the supplementary application form).

If you have any queries about this project, please contact Dr Jon Bolland, J.Bolland@hull.ac.uk

You may also address queries about the CDT to auracdt@hull.ac.uk.