PhD Opportunity “Predicting the impact of climate change on Irish tillage farms and developing adaptation strategies

Background To ascertain the potential contribution tillage farming can make to the Irish agricultural industry of the future, accurate predictions of the impact climate change will have on the growth and development of major Irish crops will be of key importance.

A collaborative project, funded by the Teagasc Walsh Scholarship programme, aims to evaluate currently available crop growth simulation models for cereals using existing agronomic data from contrasting Irish site-seasons. Subsequently, crop development, yields and environmental emissions will be simulated using high resolution climate projection for Ireland to investigate potential impacts on production in the coming decades. The proposed study will address the gaps in existing knowledge for regional development and yield estimates in climate change scenarios for the most commonly sown cereal crops in Ireland. This knowledge will be highly valuable as strategies for changes in the Irish Agri-Food industry are developed in the coming years.

The successful student will develop strong knowledge of the agronomy of the major crops in Ireland, while gaining substantial skills in mechanistic modelling and data analysis which will likely be of key importance to the sector in the decades ahead.

Requirements Applicants should have a minimum honours degree (2.1 class minimum) or MSc degree in a relevant discipline to the project (including Agricultural, Biological, Plant or Environmental Sciences, Computer Science or Engineering). Candidates are expected to be proficient in Microsoft Excel with data analysis experience. A knowledge of cereal crop agronomy and an understanding of crop simulation models or meteorological datasets is desirable for this role.

Award Scholarship funding is €25,000 per annum and includes Institute registration fees up to a maximum of €6,000 and flat rate stipend of €19,000 per annum for a maximum of 4 years. Students will be registered and based at the Centre for Freshwater and Environmental Science at Dundalk Institute of Technology.

Further Information For further information on this position please contact Dr Joseph Lynch, Mr John Spink or Dr Elodie Ruelle for more information: Joseph.lynch@dkit.ie        John.spink@teagasc.ie Elodie.Ruelle@teagasc.ie

Application Procedure: Applicants are invited to submit their CV and an accompanying Cover Letter to joanne.kearns@dkit.ie no later than July 14th 2023