PhD Studentships in Strategic Environment Assessment, University of the West of England

UK. This three year full-time PhD studentship provides the opportunity to investigate the role played by governance and different forms of knowledge in supporting regional environmental sustainability objectives. The successful candidate will work along side UWE researchers on the UK case study: implementation of the EU strategic environment assessment directive (SEA) in South West England.

Student fees will be paid and there will be a stipend of £12,300 and then annual increases thereafter

Research Project Overview
The project will compare the extent to which regional (and local) governance modes are able to manage and integrate different forms of knowledge to produce more democratic and effective strategic environmental assessment. This project is directly linked to a major 3 years EU funded Framework 6 inter-disciplinary project “Governance for Sustainability” (G-FORS) which involves universities and research centres in 8 European countries as well as public sector practitioners(Metropolitan Region of Hanover) and Euro cities.

G-FORS is developing an innovative comparative model to analyse the use of different types of knowledge by national, local and regional governance arrangements to promote sustainable policies using efficiency, effectiveness and legitimacy benchmarks. By offering a comparative methodology and developing a systematic dissemination strategy to end-users at all levels of government, G-FORS will allow the development of direct links between the collaborators in this GWR project (the student, Bristol University, UWE, Strategic Impact and Bevan Brittan) and the European G-FORS consortium as well as knowledge transfer on the interaction between modes of governance, knowledge and broadened participation. In this context, the PhD offers excellent opportunities to meet researchers from across Europe working on similar topics.

The PhD is jointly supervised by the University of the West of England and Bristol University and offers the opportunity to work with co-funders Bevan Brittan, leading national law firm and Strategic Impact, a local public affairs consultancy.

For information on how to apply and access to an online application form please visit here and follow the “PhD study” link or contact Carolyn Webb at carolyn.webb@uwe.ac.uk or on 0117 328 3102. Application deadline will be on 15 July 2006.