Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.

Snakes are a large radiation (ca. 4,000 species) of reptiles that evolved from lizard ancestors. Although the early evolutionary history of snakes is hotly debated, the remarkable transition to an elongated, limbless body form is generally thought to have evolved as an adaptation to a fossorial (burrowing) lifestyle. Life in soil imposes several, severe functional constraints on morphology and this has led to the view that limbless, headfirst burrowers are less likely to undergo rapid or adaptive radiation. Surprisingly, very few studies have explored the ecomorphological diversification of any major extant burrowing snake lineage, despite implications for understanding evolution in soils (including the possible origin of snakes). SOILRAD will trace the diversification of lineages and the adaptive possibilities of ecomorphology in Uropeltoidea, a major lineage of soil-dwelling snakes with great diversity in body and hea shape. In SOILRAD, I will explore uropeltoid diversification through three Research Objectives: (1.) apply 3-dimensional geometric morphometrics to microCT data from the huge collection of museum specimens at NHM, to quantify and identify the main axes of variation in skeletal morphology (skull, mandible and 'neck' vertebrae); (2.) use ancient DNA and Next-Generation sequencing techniques to reconstruct a more-complete evolutionary tree of Uropeltoidea; and (3.) assess rates and modes of lineage and ecomorphological diversification, and test hypotheses of adaptive radiation. SOILRAD will produce the most comprehensive phylogenetic hypothesis and first extensive quantitative data on uropeltoid osteology, and first detailed assessment of diversification in any major lineage of burrowing snakes. Through SOILRAD, I will be trained in CT imaging, 3D morphometrics, ancient DNA methods, museum collection management, public engagement and other professional skills that will establish me as a potential research-group leader in evolutionary biology research.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

We aim to understand how propagule banks contribute to demography and genetic diversity through a combined empirical and modelling approach. The genetic structure of sediment bound propagules and of populations from different years will be characterized in bryozoan and plant systems. Models will predict temporal changes in genotype frequencies and the proportions deriving from propagule banks. Stage structured model simulations will identify key parameters that influence demography. Our study would have broad implications regarding the ecological significance of temporal gene flow in taxa ranging from zooplankton and plants to microbes, and a mechanistic basis for characterizing demographic contributions from propagule banks.

Impact cratering is ubiquitous across the Solar System. Due to their abundance, impact craters are key to understanding the evolution of planetary surfaces. In this project we will exploit the vast secondary crater population to investigate a range of features and processes in the Solar System. This work will involve refining the method of primary and secondary impact crater identification in remote sensing data, before developing a modern workflow of their use as absolute stratigraphic markers. This novel approach will be applied to a range of key science questions on different planetary bodies, including Mercury, the Moon, Mars and Europa. The questions that we will address are: (1) What is the rate of ice flow on Mars? (2) What is the detailed stratigraphy of the lunar Mare? (3) Are there active surface processes on Mercury? (4) How fast is plate tectonics on Europa? The outcome of this project will be a new, widely applicable, and open method of deriving absolute ages across the Solar System.