PhD students

The Open University is home to a thriving campus-based research community located in Milton Keynes. At any one time, we have about 25 full-time PhD students based here on campus. We also have postgraduate research students located at other institutes and locations around the UK, on both a full-time and part-time basis.

EEES is a member of The Central England NERC Training Alliance CENTA, a consortium of research-intensive Universities and research institutes that are working together to provide excellence in doctoral research training.

In addition, we have a number of PhD projects that are funded through other external and internal sources; see below for further details.

In terms of research areas, we have students working across each of our main research themes, on a variety of topics covering Earth, Environmental and Ecosystem Sciences. These include geological processes, oceanography, polar science, Earth systems modelling, palaeoclimate, biogeochemistry and geochemistry, micropalaeontology, microbiology, grass and wetland ecology, peatland stability and greenhouse gas cycles.

There is a much larger PhD student community here on campus, with over 300 research students based in the Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics alone, and a total of around 900 research students across the four faculties and three institutes that make up the Open University.

If you are a school or undergraduate student and you're thinking about a career in science, you may want to consider a work experience placement. Please use the link on the right-hand side of the page, or the one directly above for more information about how to apply.

Susanne Schwenzer

Postgraduate Research Tutor

Luke Mander

CENTA DTP Point of Contact

Yoseph Araya

Acting CENTA DTP Point of Contact