PhD PROJECT IN GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE AND BIODIVERSITY RISKS TO MACROFINANCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL SECTORS

Economic sectors worldwide are facing growing risks due to environmental changes which impact biodiversity and socio-economic sectors. Physical and transition risks are often neglected by macrofinancial and industrial sectors. This fully-funded, interdisciplinary PhD within the new Climate+ Biodiversity+ Water Co-Centre will map and evaluate risks to key sectors from environmental changes and identify legal, finance, and policy interventions to support transformative solutions.

Global change drivers and biodiversity declines constitute vast and far-reaching risks to key macrofinancial and industrial sectors globally, with 18% of global GDP under threat from climate change alone (Swiss Re, 2021). In the last four decades, natural hazards such as storms, floods, droughts, heatwaves, and biological invasions, have caused multi-trillion-US$ damages, and these impacts are being exacerbated by climate change across primary activity sectors (Turbelin et al., 2023). If the current trajectory of climate change continues, US$2.5 trillion of discounted cash flows from the global stock of financial assets will be lost (Dietz et al., 2016).

In addition to physical risks, the transition risks, encompassing policy and legal, technology, market, and reputation, are considerable. Despite recent advances, corporate and financial sectors often are not fully accounting for climate, biological invasion, and biodiversity-related risks. This project will employ an interdisciplinary approach that focuses on green data science at the intersection of global change and sustainable finance policy. A comprehensive cross-jurisdictional mapping exercise of climate, invasive species, and other biodiversity-related risks will identify vulnerable links and priority risk areas in the supply chain. Mapping will encompass multiple sectors, including agrifood, energy, construction, and macrofinancial sectors. This will contribute to tailored risk mapping and dashboards, as well as a ‘live’ cross-industry risk indicator dashboard and heatmap, through the following objectives:

Objective 1) Map and evaluate value chain risks from biodiversity loss drivers such as climate change and biological invasions, individually and in combination, while identifying any issues relating to the rights of nature and the just transition for the ecosystems and stakeholders involved;

Objective 2) Highlight areas and stakeholders most vulnerable to physical and transition risks, as well as human rights and rights of nature violations, and identify legal, finance and policy interventions to support transformative solutions;

Objective 3) Develop and harness a suite of quantitative and qualitative risk indicators to enable dynamic risk evaluation. These indicators will be assessed and updated regularly to feed into a risk heatmap which itself will serve as a policy tool.

This is a 3-year, full-time PhD position, funded by the newly established Co-Centre for Climate+ Biodiversity+ Water. The Centre brings together 14 higher education institutions across Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Great Britain. A cohort approach to training will be provided in finance, law, and bioscience by the supervisory team, as well as the wider Co-Centre.

References

Dietz, S., Bowen, A., Dixon, C., and Gradwell, P. 2016. ‘Climate value at risk’ of global financial assets. Nature Climate Change, 6, 676-679.

Swiss Re Group. 2021. World economy set to lose up to 18% GDP from climate change if no action taken, reveals Swiss Re Institute’s stress-test analysis. Available: https://www.swissre.com/media/news-releases/nr-20210422-economics-of-climate-change-risks.html (Accessed 2024, April 4th).

Turbelin, A.J., Cuthbert, R.N., Essl, F., Haubrock, P.J., Ricciardi, A., and Courchamp, F., 2023. Biological invasions are as costly as natural hazards. Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation, 21, 143-150.

Funding Information

COURSE CONTENT

Research Information

PhD Supervisors
Information on the research interests and activities of academics in Biological Sciences can be accessed via the School website and the Find a Supervisor facility (see Apply tab).

Career Prospects

Introduction
Queen’s postgraduates reap exceptional benefits. Unique initiatives, such as Degree Plus and Researcher Plus bolster our commitment to employability, while innovative leadership and executive programmes alongside sterling integration with business experts helps our students gain key leadership positions both nationally and internationally. Career prospects in the biological sciences are exceptionally good. To some extent it depends on the specific topic, of course, but laboratory-based and especially quantitative skills and the proven innovation of a PhD or MPhil are highly sought after. Degrees are very much in demand, both in commercial science and public sector research and development (e.g. drug discovery and development, crop and animal improvements and welfare, sustainable agriculture and resource use, human nutrition and health, animal health, ecological management, food safety and technology, scientific communications, regulation, and many more fields).

Employment after the Course
Graduates have gone on to be professional research scientists, consultants, or hold technical and junior executive positions in commerce and government.

ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS

Graduate
The minimum academic requirement for admission to a research degree programme is normally an Upper Second Class Honours degree in a relevant subject from a UK or ROI HE provider, or an equivalent qualification acceptable to the University. Further information can be obtained by contacting the School.

International Students

For information on international qualification equivalents, please check the specific information for your country.

English Language Requirements

Evidence of an IELTS* score of 6.5, with not less than 5.5 in any component, or an equivalent qualification acceptable to the University is required (*taken within the last 2 years).

International students wishing to apply to Queen’s University Belfast (and for whom English is not their first language), must be able to demonstrate their proficiency in English in order to benefit fully from their course of study or research. Non-EEA nationals must also satisfy UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) immigration requirements for English language for visa purposes.

For more information on English Language requirements for EEA and non-EEA nationals see: www.qub.ac.uk/EnglishLanguageReqs.