Trinity College Dublin

Trinity is Ireland’s leading university and is ranked 75th in the world (QS World University Rankings 2026). Founded in 1592, the University is steeped in history with a reputation for excellence in education, research, and innovation, which has been inspiring generations of thinkers for over 400 years.

Thrive: Trinity College Dublin's Strategic Plan 2025 - 2030

Developing a new generation of dynamic socio-marine ecosystem models

Marine and coastal socio-ecosystems such as Dublin Bay are highly complex systems subject to accelerated climate change. They are characterised by interacting biological, physical and human processes operating across very different spatial and temporal scales. Climate change will alter not only environmental conditions but also habitat configurations, population dynamics, species interactions, food-web structures and human behaviour.

Compoundingly, coastal ecosystems are shaped by strong interactions between benthic and pelagic processes, collectively referred to as bentho–pelagic coupling. These interactions regulate nutrient cycling, carbon transfer, trophic connectivity, and ecosystem productivity, whilst remaining highly 2 sensitive to climate change and anthropogenic pressures.

Dublin Bay provides an ideal natural laboratory due to its history of eutrophication, wastewater inputs, urbanisation, and ongoing environmental recovery and management interventions.

This PhD will investigate how these processes might be represented in an innovative mathematical manner, without assuming that the ecosystem structure itself remains fixed. Thus, it will delve into the question as to how we might conceptualise and mathematically structure marine socio-ecosystem models if the structure of the system itself can change through time and space.

Rather than treating climate change simply as a process that “nudges” an existing ecosystem, we want to investigate modelling frameworks capable of representing emergent, adaptive and potentially reorganising marine socio-ecosystems.

The project will explore new mathematical and computational approaches to represent such systems, drawing on ideas from stochastic processes, four-dimensional (space-time) modelling, complex systems, agent-based modelling and artificial intelligence.

An important component of the PhD will be determining which combinations of approaches are scientifically useful, rather than applying AI or other computational techniques for their own sake.

The project will be supervised by Prof. Karen Wiltshire, and co-supervised by Dr. Erica Terese Krueger (Trinity College Dublin), (Dr.) Michael Mitchell (Trinity College Dublin) and Dr. Sabine Horn (Alfred Wegener Institute).

Application Procedure

• Applicants should submit a full Curriculum Vitae to include the names and contact details of 2 referees (including email addresses), to: Prof. Karen Wiltshire Karen.Wiltshire@tcd.ie

Our Values - putting our words into action

Values matter. They are key to the success of our Strategic Plan. We centre our behavioural values around the importance of belonging. We recognise that the university will thrive by each of us respecting and caring for one another. We know we can achieve much more through working together. We know too that we must take responsibility for our actions and be accountable. We must, and will never stop, imagining. And through being nature positive we connect not just with the environment but with our ambitions for a sustainable future.

At Trinity, we are committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion. Trinity welcomes applications from all individuals, including those applicants with disabilities, those who may have had non-traditional career paths, those who have taken time out for reasons including family or caring responsibilities. We also welcome international applicants including those who have been displaced due to war.

Trinity College Dublin is Ireland’s premier University. We are an EU Sustainable Gender Equality Champion and we hold an Athena Swan Silver award, recognising our ongoing work to advance gender equality both within Trinity and in the Higher Education sector. Trinity is committed to supporting work-life balance and to creating a family-friendly working environment.

In your application, please refer to Professorpositions.com