Controlling soil erosion in a changing climate: evaluating suitable plant species in grassed waterway design

Especially because the UK is expected to get more soil erosion from intensive storms, protecting our soils is a high priority. Crop growers are therefore very interested in finding out which grass species they best use when installing GWWs and how protective these grasses are under a changing climate. This study involves (1) growing a couple of suitable grasses in growth rooms and testing for their resilience to water stress, (2) performing erosion simulations in the lab with these grasses to study their resistance to erosion by intensive storms and (3) monitoring the performance of the most suitable species in GWWs on two test sites on Asparagus fields..



The studentship will be based in the Cranfield Soil and Agrifood Institute (CSAFI) at our main campus in Bedfordshire, with some time at the University of Nottingham. CSAFI has 18 academics covering all aspects of soil science, currently with 20 post-doctoral researchers and 40 PhD students. We work closely with many other universities and research organizations in the UK and internationally. We are looking for an enthusiastic candidate to learn experimental, theoretical and modelling aspects of soil science as part of our growing multi-disciplinary team.