Doctoral Studentships

Meet the Researchers

At the heart of the FutureForests network are 15 PhD students who are early in their forestry research careers. Over the four years of the project, these doctoral researchers (DRs) will be trained up as the next generation of experts, advancing their knowledge, developing their innovative research, and fostering partnerships which they can take forward into their future careers. 

Shova Akter

DR8 Project Title: Assessing Soil Carbon Dynamics under Elevated CO₂ at BIFoR-FACE

Verena Koppe

PhD Project Title: Soil organic matter dynamics under altered water availability in a dry Scots pine forest

Hongshan Zhang

PhD Project Title: Effects of Nitrogen Deposition on Forest Biodiversity and Microbiome

Marie Bellanger

PhD Project Title: tree carbon allocation to the rhizosphere and related microbial processes as well as changes of biodiversity in forest soils under recurrent drought

Abiodun Oladipo

PhD Project Title: Evaluation of biotic and abiotic stress in oak under atmospheric and elevated CO₂​

Roxanne Schinas

PhD Project Title: Effects of Nitrogen Deposition on Forest Productivity and Nitrogen Dynamics

Alberto Mattia Perronace

PhD Project Title: Tree water and carbon dynamics in a subalpine forest under recurrent drought: does drought history matter?

Aditi Panda

PhD Project Title: Impact of elevated CO2, heatwaves and soil drought on thermal tolerance and C sequestration in plants

Céline Sijlmans

PhD Project Title: Carbon balance under dual droughts: Disentangling the effects of soil and atmospheric moisture on tree sink and source dynamics in European forests

Saniya Peter

PhD Project Title: Drought and soil warming effects on soil biodiversity and organic matter decomposition and soil C fluxes​

Marco Falda

PhD Project Title: Modelling the effect of understory removal of C-fluxes and fire risk in Mediterranean forests

Sofia Berlanda

PhD Project Title: Effects of understory removal on C sequestration, fire risk and soil biodiversity in Mediterranean pine forests​

Yue Hu

PhD Project Title: Physiological and biochemical responses of forest trees to drought and elevated CO₂

Valentina Lara Rivera

PhD Project Title: Simulating the response of European forest to heatwaves

Sahil Narwal

PhD Project Title: Effect of Elevated Air Humidity and Soil Moisture on Functioning and Growth of Hemiboreal Tree Species