Modelling biological hotspots in soil: how do they develop and why do they matter?

These hotspots can be transient and are the result of complicated interactions amongst physical, chemical and microbial processes. The exact nature of how hotspots emerge as a result of such interactions, still eludes soil scientists.  The project builds upon existing 3D modelling approaches, including Lattice Boltzmann and models of fungal colony growth to identify biophysical interactions that affect the dynamics of hotspots in soil at micrometre-scales, and will upscale these to quantify how this affects evolution of CO2 and contributes to biodiversity under perturbations and global change.



The studentship will be based in the Cranfield Soil and Agrifood Institute (CSAFI) at our main campus in Bedfordshire, with some time at CEH. 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.