Doctoral student at Lund University's Department of Physical Geograhy and Ecosystem Science (INES).
Subject Description
Fires constitute a common and inevitable feature in the earth system and play an important role in terrestrial as well as atmospheric systems across the world. With the combined effects of climate change, an increasing human population and associated land use changes, vegetation fire patterns across the globe are changing. Understanding the patterns, drivers and effects of fires is fundamental for preventing fires and reducing harm to ecosystems and societies.
Pyrogeography is an interdisciplinary research field that studies fires across time and space at the intersection between natural and social sciences. Research on vegetation fires, their spatiotemporal patterns, and their links to biophysical as well as political and socio-economic factors is limited, especially in dryland areas such as the Middle East. Recent research has started to look into vegetation fires in the Middle East, and how they relate to e.g. armed conflict, but no overall regional assessment, that takes into account biophysical, socioeconomic and political factors, has been carried out.
Work Duties
The main duties of doctoral students are to devote themselves to their research studies which includes participating in research projects and third cycle courses. The work duties can also include teaching and other departmental duties (no more than 20%).
The aim of this PhD project is to map the overall pyrogeography (e.g. fire regime, hotspots, and anomalies of vegetation fires) across the Middle East and investigate how these patterns relate to biophysical, socioeconomic and political factors, using earth observation and spatial analysis. Furthermore we are interested in mapping the effects of such vegetation fires on e.g. land use and land cover. There will be possibilities to carry out field work in the Middle East region.
More Information and Contact Details
Contact: CMES researcher Lina Eklund