Underwater soundscapes: non-invasive ecological monitoring of marine environments

Summary

The global ocean is under threat from a number of interacting factors including, climate change, ocean acidification, overfishing, pollution, mechanical disturbance (Sala et al., 2021). Area-based protection in the form of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) is one of several important mechanisms to help safeguard biological resources and ecosystem services in marine environment. Societies are increasingly moving towards the proposed target to protect 30% of territorial waters by the year 2030, for the Convention on Biological Diversity in support of SDG14: Life Below Water. With this commitment, comes the requirement to develop robust and meaningful tools with which to evaluate the efficacy of area based protection and develop better information support.

Recent work exploring innovative methods for non-invasive monitoring in the marine environment points to the utility of developments in hardware, software and data analytics (machine learning and AI). Sound is a dominant sensory mode for marine life (and humans) for sensing the underwater environment, and technology now allows affordable and effective underwater acoustic monitoring. These techniques are becoming mainstream monitoring tools for both ambient and biological noise, and standardised practices for analysis are being developed. Understanding soundscape response will become increasingly important in our efforts to determine how marine systems respond to environmental changes in the anthropocene (Duarte et al., 2021). These opportunities present the opportunity to explore other analytical frameworks in terms of bioacoustics, anthropogenic noise detection and wider approaches related to soundscape ecology.

Soundscape ecology refers to the use of sounds recorded in distinct environments with the purpose of fomenting analysis and interpretation of a large variety of conditions in that environment (Pijanowski et al., 2011; Servick, 2014). The applications are multiple both for surface and underwater environments, from environmental monitoring, diversity analysis, identification of spurious factors, detection and measurement of effects of human intervention as well as climate change, detection of particular species of groups of animals, etc. (Parks et al., 2014; Righini and Pavan, 2020). Handling this data is challenging. The area needs the development and adaptation of data analysis, machine learning and visualization approaches as well as computational strategies to handle large amounts of data.

The partnership between applied researchers (ecology, geography, agriculture, oceanography, zoology) and data science researchers is required to advance this state of the art field. Various strategies to handle recordings in natural environments have been developed. Researchers have developed a number of different indices calculated from that type of data that can help in discriminating events in various scales, such as landscapes (Dias et al., 2021), groups of animals [Hilasaca et al., 2021), and species (Dias et al., 2021) as well as in the problems of active learning and labelling [Hilasaca et al., 2021).

This project will bring together a multidisciplinary team of scientists from academia and government, with extensive experience in marine ecology, soundscape ecology, geophysics, passive acoustics and signal processing. The project will explore the utility of soundscape ecology using passive acoustics based on data holdings from active and legacy projects related to marine environmental monitoring.

In reference to documentation required at application stage, we can confirm that proposals are not required. After submission of application you may be contacted and asked to submit one but please ignore as this is an automated request.

Essential criteria

Applicants should hold, or expect to obtain, a First or Upper Second Class Honours Degree in a subject relevant to the proposed area of study.

We may also consider applications from those who hold equivalent qualifications, for example, a Lower Second Class Honours Degree plus a Master’s Degree with Distinction.

In exceptional circumstances, the University may consider a portfolio of evidence from applicants who have appropriate professional experience which is equivalent to the learning outcomes of an Honours degree in lieu of academic qualifications.

• A comprehensive and articulate personal statement
• A demonstrable interest in the research area associated with the studentship

Equal Opportunities

The University is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applicants from all sections of the community, particularly from those with disabilities.

Appointment will be made on merit.

Funding and eligibility

The University offers the following levels of support:

Vice Chancellors Research Studentship (VCRS)

The following scholarship options are available to applicants worldwide:

• Full Award: (full-time tuition fees + £19,000 (tbc))
• Part Award: (full-time tuition fees + £9,500)
• Fees Only Award: (full-time tuition fees)

These scholarships will cover full-time PhD tuition fees for three years (subject to satisfactory academic performance) and will provide a £900 per annum research training support grant (RTSG) to help support the PhD researcher.

Applicants who already hold a doctoral degree or who have been registered on a programme of research leading to the award of a doctoral degree on a full-time basis for more than one year (or part-time equivalent) are NOT eligible to apply for an award.

Please note: you will automatically be entered into the competition for the Full Award, unless you state otherwise in your application.

Department for the Economy (DFE)

The scholarship will cover tuition fees at the Home rate and a maintenance allowance of £19,237 (tbc) per annum for three years (subject to satisfactory academic performance).

This scholarship also comes with £900 per annum for three years as a research training support grant (RTSG) allocation to help support the PhD researcher.

• Candidates with pre-settled or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, who also satisfy a three year residency requirement in the UK prior to the start of the course for which a Studentship is held MAY receive a Studentship covering fees and maintenance.
• Republic of Ireland (ROI) nationals who satisfy three years’ residency in the UK prior to the start of the course MAY receive a Studentship covering fees and maintenance (ROI nationals don’t need to have pre-settled or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme to qualify).
• Other non-ROI EU applicants are ‘International’ are not eligible for this source of funding.
• Applicants who already hold a doctoral degree or who have been registered on a programme of research leading to the award of a doctoral degree on a full-time basis for more than one year (or part-time equivalent) are NOT eligible to apply for an award.

Due consideration should be given to financing your studies. Further information on cost of living