PhD opportunity in the Peak Park

The Peak District National Park Authority, with the Philosophy Department at the University of Sheffield, is offering a PhD studentship in Understanding Landscape Change.

Starting in October, the doctoral research position is to be funded by White Rose College of the Arts and Humanities (WRoCAH).

The project will support the Peak District National Park Authority’s work in protecting the landscape and promoting understanding.

Anna Badcock, Peak District National Park cultural heritage team manager, said: “Landscape change is a fact of life, but the present climate crisis means that such change is unprecedented in speed and scale. We have undertaken to monitor landscape change in the National Park and want to better understand how people appreciate evolving landscapes. The student will work closely with us in carrying out the research and, ultimately, the results will directly influence how we understand, define and communicate landscape change to diverse audiences, and contribute to the development of national policy.”

Dr Megan Blomfield, from the University of Sheffield’s Philosophy Department, said: “We need to reconsider landscape conservation objectives in light of climate change. This is a truly significant challenge that will require us to critically question our existing ideas and understandings of landscape. We need new tools to enable us to better articulate and evaluate these difficult choices. This project will enhance our understanding of landscape change by formulating a definition of landscape change that can be used by practitioners and policymakers in the UK land sector; and by designing principles to evaluate different kinds of landscape change.”

Interested individuals should submit an Expression of Interest, with an academic CV and covering letter, to WRoCAH by 5pm on Wednesday 26 April.

For more details on how to apply, visit bit.ly/CDA_Projects