sustainability | Scholarship for Nigerians and Africans - Part 2

International PhD Scholarship in ‘Eco’ Homes & Carbon Reduction, UK

Applications are invited for a full-time scholarship available in the School of Built & Natural Environment. The scholarship is tenable for up to 3 years for a PhD (via MPhil route) [subject to satisfactory progress] and is open to international applicants only. UK/EU applicants are not eligible to apply. The scholarship will provide £15000 towards the cost of the International tuition fee over 3 years. Numerous initiatives and rhetorical statements seek to promote energy saving and carbon reduction by improving the environmental performance of urban areas, in particular residential property. While initially a trans-disciplinary desk exercise that draws on, and provide a systematic overview of, a wide range of international comparisons, the evaluation and testing stages of this research will require a range of different types of engagement. These may include ‘Action Research’ and Ethnographic methodologies to identify ‘public’ and institutional attitudes and behaviour, alongside analysis of the policy making and implementation process within various public bodies, its impact on commercial decisions and the wider business environment, and other approaches to market testing and performance measurement. This should include identification and appraisal of various schemes intended to provide a standardised way of classifying buildings, projects or places in terms of their environmental performance or contribution to sustainability, energy or carbon goals.

Scholarship Application Deadline: 13 May 2011

Further Scholarship Information and Application

NSHSS Earth Ethics Doctoral Grant 2011, USA: Enhancing the sustainability of the Earth’s environment, resources, inhabitants, or ecological systems through responsible stewardship.

This scholarship is for $5,000, to encourage and reward study and the creation of new knowledge in Earth Ethics at the doctoral level. This award is intended to facilitate research or assist with the costs associated with study at the doctoral level and may be used for tuition, books, research, or other costs directly related to the completion of the thesis or dissertation. The topic must be approved by the candidate’s department or supervising faculty member before its description may be submitted for the award. The completed thesis or dissertation must remain focused on Earth Ethics. The dissertation or thesis need not be initially prepared in English, but all materials, supporting and primary, must be provided in English. Doctoral students from around the globe are encouraged to apply.

The dissertation should encompass research that provides workable solutions to enhancing the sustainability of the Earth’s environment, resources, inhabitants, or ecological systems through responsible stewardship. Eligibility: National Society of High School Scholars members enrolled in a doctoral program. NSHSS members who have joined in high school are life-time members of the organization.

Scholarship Application Deadline:
April 30, 2011

Further Scholarship Information and Application

PhD Studentship in Innovation in the UK Construction Industry, UK

The School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment at Nottingham Trent University has an ambitious development strategy which allows us to offer an exciting opportunity for a PhD Studentship. The studentships will pay UK/EU fees and provide a maintenance stipend linked to the RCUK rate (£13,590 per annum for 2011/12) for up to three years. Whilst there is an established need to improve the efficiency and sustainability of buildings the adoption of innovative products and processes supporting this need appears to be at a relatively low level. There seems to be very little incentive in the supply chain to encourage innovation without regulation.
Compared with manufacturing industries investment in research and development in the construction industry is relatively small and appears to be restricted largely to the engagement by product manufacturers in product improvement. Whilst there appears to be an increasing range of valuable and impressive innovative products and/or processes which are developed, the level of integration of these products in new buildings seems limited. Many of these products relate to the work usually carried out by specialist firms who have limited access to, or engagement with, the design team for a project.

Scholarship Application Deadline: 15 April 2011

Further Scholarship Information and Application