About the Project
Freshwater ecosystems are under increasing pressure from pollution, altered flow regimes (through both droughts and floods), land use change and climate driven extremes. Monitoring these systems is essential, but traditional methods such as macroinvertebrate sampling and water chemistry analysis can be labour intensive and difficult to scale. Ecoacoustics—using underwater sound to assess ecological condition—offers an exciting new approach. Recent work has shown that freshwater soundscapes contain rich biological and physical information (Desjonquères et al. 2024), while broader ecological studies highlight the importance of sensitive, scalable indicators for assessing river health (Linke et al. 2018). Many freshwater invertebrates produce voluntary sounds (e.g., stridulation) or movement linked sounds as they interact with substrates, creating acoustic signatures that reflect both specific behaviours and habitat quality. This emerging field has huge potential, but freshwater acoustic monitoring is still in its infancy.
This PhD will pioneer acoustic monitoring for Scottish rivers by developing new methods, building a reference library of freshwater invertebrate sounds and associated behaviours, and testing acoustic indicators of ecological condition across three contrasting catchments: the Dreel Burn (undergoing restoration, Fife), the mixed pressure South Esk (Lothian), and the restored River Peffrey (Highlands). You will work at the intersection of ecoacoustics, freshwater ecology, animal behaviour and machine learning.
In Years 1-2, you will record voluntary and movement linked sounds from key freshwater invertebrates using high speed audio–video synchronisation. These recordings will form the basis of machine learning models capable of detecting acoustic signatures in field recordings. In Years 2 and 3, you will deploy hydrophones across the Dreel Burn, River Peffrey and South Esk, collecting paired acoustic, macroinvertebrate and water chemistry data to test how soundscapes vary with ecological condition and restoration history. We will test the overarching hypothesis that sounds linked to behaviour of aquatic invertebrates can be used to predict the ecological health of rivers.
A 3-6 month CASE placement with Buglife will embed you within the Guardians of Our Rivers programme, where you will work alongside conservation practitioners, community groups and citizen scientists to co-develop volunteer-friendly acoustic monitoring protocols.
You will gain training in acoustic analysis, machine learning, freshwater ecology, restoration assessment, fieldwork, science communication and citizen science engagement. This project is ideal for applicants with interests in ecology, conservation, ecoacoustics, neuroethology, environmental monitoring, or data science. You do not need prior experience in acoustics or machine learning—full training will be provided.
HOW TO APPLY
Application instructions can be found on the EASTBIO website- How to Apply | EastBio Doctoral Training Partnership | Biology
1) Download and complete the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion survey.
2) Download and complete the EASTBIO Application Form.
3) Please complete an application on our online portal: How to apply – Study at St Andrews – University of St Andrews
4) Select the course ‘PhD with internship’
5) Your online application must include the following documents:
– Completed EASTBIO application form
– Academic Qualifications
– English Language Qualification (if applicable)
– 2 References: this must be completed on the EASTBIO Reference Form, also found on the EASTBIO website.
Please download the EASTBIO reference form and send it to your referees. They can either upload it directly to the portal using the automated email they will receive, or they can email it to Rachel at pgrecbiology@st-andrews.ac.uk
CONTACT
Queries on the project can be directed to the project supervisor.
Queries on the application process can be directed to Rachel Horn at pgrecbiology@st-andrews.ac.uk
UKRI eligibility guidance: Terms and Conditions: View Website International/EU: View Website
Funding Notes
This 4 year PhD project is part of a competition funded by EASTBIO BBSRC Doctoral Training Partnership.
This opportunity is open to UK and International students and provides funding to cover stipend at UKRI standard rate and UK level tuition fees. The University of St Andrews will cover the Home-International fee difference.
