Opportunities

Opportunities for PhD projects and postdocs in Ocean and Earth Science at University of Southampton, UK. We typically advise or co-advise 4-5 PhD students and several undergraduate/Masters level projects. If you’re interested in working with us, please browse some of the opportunities below.

PhD projects at the National Oceanography Centre

Projects are advertised throughout the year, but the primary application period is in January each year. If you’re interested in working with us, please plan to apply to the Graduate School at the National Oceanography Centre, and also send an e-mail with your CV and a brief statement of interests, so we know to look for your application. The application deadline is typically early in the year, with interviews running between February and April. See more information at the application page for Ocean and Earth Sciences.

Filled projects

  • Filled, for 2018 start. Located at SAMS in Oban, Scotland - Where AUVs dare: Sub-glacial discharge plumes - with Mark Inall (SAMS), Phil Anderson (SAMS), Eleanor Frajka-Williams, Andras Sobester (Univ Southampton) Frank Nilsen (UNIS, Svalbard), Arild Sundfjord (NPI, Tromso Norway) - Use aerial deployment of micro-AUVs to enable sampling up close at the calving front of a marine terminating glacier in Svalbard. Part of NEXUSS CDT

  • Filled, for 2018 start. Microdrifters for Ocean Currents - with Eleanor Frajka-Williams, Chris Cardwell (NOC), Alberto Naveira Garabato, Liz Bagshaw (Cardiff), Andras Sobester (Univ Southampton engineering) - To design and build small ocean drifters suitable for airdeployment in large numbers. Part of NEXUSS CDT

Postdoctoral opportunities!

All opportunities now closed. Check back later, or see individual fellowship opportunities below.


Upcoming opportunities will include a postdoc on the BLT project and a second postdoc on the TERIFIC project. Stay tuned!


Closed (Nov 2018): TERIFIC. Recruiting for a 2-year postdoc for Lagrangian studies of drifters around Greenland as part of the project TERIFIC with Eleanor Frajka-Williams.


Closed (Aug 2016): FreshWATERS. Recruiting for a 9-month (numerical) and 7-month (engineering) postdoc for the development of a aerial-deployment platform for ocean drifters, as part of the project FreshWATERS with Andras Sobester and Eleanor Frajka-Williams.


Closed (Oct 2016): DynOPO (Southampton postdoc). Recruiting for a 3-year postdoc for the DynOPO project with Alberto Naveira Garabato, Eleanor Frajka-Williams and collaborators at British Antarctic Survey, WHOI and Princeton. The cruise is in March-April, and data will include ADCP velocities and microstructure from the Autosub longranger, microstructure profiles from a Rockland VMP, CTD/LADCP profiles, etc.


Closed (Jul 2016): DynOPO (BAS postdoc). British Antarctic Survey is recruiting for a 22-month moorings postdoc associated with the project DynOPO. See the full advert here


Independent fellowships for Postdocs