Leverhulme Doctoral Programme for Regenerative Innovation (Regnr8-i): THINk Climate – Transformative responses for Health Inequalities & Climate resilience, a placemaking approach

THINk Climate regenerative innovation involves the interdisciplinary integration of health inequalities, community climate resilience, inclusive decision-making from policy and practice to facilitate and assess collaborative decision-making.

This involves a futuring approaches which will enable communities and service-providers to collaboratively innovate and plan for potential futures where they can better adapt to climate impacts, such as extreme storms and flooding, whilst at the same time improving health outcomes for their communities.

The health risks of climate change impact our communities in a range of ways. Vulnerabilities and risks to climate and health are often place-based, social (including poverty, isolation) and individual (young and old age, and health status). The solutions developed are interdisciplinary and include a range of nature-based outcomes which lead to improved climate change resilience and a reduction in health inequalities.

Aim

The aim of this project is to facilitate and assess a series of innovative decision-making mechanisms to allow local communities the tools to develop capacity, knowledge and skills to improve and enhance resilience to a range of climate shocks and reduce a range of health inequalities.

The Place-based focus is Tayside, Eastern Scotland, still recovering from a series of severe storms in 2023. The area includes communities experiencing deprivation, complex health challenges and families displaced from their homes due to stormwater, river and coastal flooding impacts.

In this project a range of integrated stakeholders (NHS, Local Authorities, Service Providers – already engaged with the supervision team) will work alongside the PhD candidate from the outset alongside communities as they co-create decisions for climate adaptation from a range of nature, science and place-based perspectives. This regenerative approach to outputs will assess the decision-making required for this process and the policy and practice implications that arise from them. 

For informal enquiries about the project, contact Prof Sue Dawson: s.dawson@dundee.ac.uk

APPLICATION PROCESS

Step 1 – Applicants are recommended to make contact as early as possible ahead of the deadline with the lead supervisor and (1) send a copy of your CV and (2) discuss your potential application and any particular needs.

Step 2 – After discussion with the lead supervisor, formal applications can be made via the following form: REGNR8-I Scholarship Application Form 2025_UK Students.docx. Please use this form instead of the register of interest form below.

QUALIFICATIONS

Applicants should have first-class, or an upper second-class (2.1) Honours degree AND a Master’s degree in discipline(s) relevant to their selected topic, unless applying for the Master’s Plus with its alternative requirements (see application form). 

English language requirement: IELTS (Academic) overall score must be at least 6.5 (with not less than 5.5 in reading, listening, speaking and 6.0 in writing). The University of Dundee accepts a variety of equivalent qualifications and alternative ways to demonstrate language proficiency; please see full details of the University’s English language requirements here: www.dundee.ac.uk/guides/english-language-requirements.