World-Leading Scholarship in Mathematics and Earth and Environmental Sciences

Project

Billions of years before animals swam in the seas , Earth’s oceans were alien worlds — rich in iron, mildly acidic warm, and possibly green with methane haze. The continents were smaller, the Sun was weaker , and hydrothermal vents gushed chemicals that may have fed the earliest ecosystems . But how did these ancient oceans circulate and help maintain the early biosphere?

How did nutrients and energy move through waters that were saltier, shallower, and more sluggish than today? And how did the ancient ocean-atmosphere system respond to climate perturbations, such as

Milankovitch cycles that dictate the pace of ice ages on the modern Earth?

This project will explore these questions using a novel combination of mathematical modelling, climate physics, and machine learning to simulate how early oceans might have behaved and supported the proliferation of early life in response to a vastly different climate regime with distinct nutrient sources and sinks.

The student will:

• Develop a reduced-complexity ocean model (or adapt existing ones like MITgcm or cGENIE) to test how parameters such as salinity, basin depth, and solar flux influence global circulation patterns.
• Formulate advection–diffusion equations describing how nutrients and temperature move through the ancient ocean — then train ML emulators to reproduce these processes efficiently and identify key sensitivities.
• Combine spectral analysis and cyclostratigraphy with machine-learning techniques (e.g. pattern recognition and unsupervised clustering) to identify periodic signals hidden in ancient rock sequences that can speak to climatic variability, which may have impacted nutrient supply.
• Compare model predictions with geological proxies (e.g. iron formations, nutrient- sensitive isotopic ratios) to test where habitable conditions may have been best developed and how those environments may have responded to extreme climate perturbations.

By exploring how ocean mixing evolved through time, the project will provide new constraints on early Earth habitability, biogeochemical cycles, and the emergence of life . Why this project is exciting and new:

• It blends fluid dynamics, climate modelling, and geochemistry in a way rarely attempted for Precambrian oceans.
• The machine learning component turns this into a modern data-driven exploration: models can “learn” from past sedimentary records and simulations and make predictions about untested conditions, helping map where early life might have thrived.
• The project connects deep geological time with modern ocean physics — a continuity that fascinates both climate scientists and geologists alike.

The work will have wide appeal: it touches on planetary evolution, astrobiology, and sustainability, since understanding ancient nutrient cycles helps us appreciate how resilient (or fragile) life may be under extreme environmental change. The student will gain skills in numerical modelling, AI-based emulation, data–model comparison, and interdisciplinary communication — making them equally comfortable talking to geologists, mathematicians, or computer scientists .

Value of award (per year)

The scholarship will comprise a full tuition fee award and an annual stipend paid at a rate set by the University of St Andrews. For 2025-2026, the stipend is £19,775 p.a., with an annual uplift published by the University each academic year.

The stipend will be paid pro-rata to part-time students.

The scholarships do not cover any continuation, extension, or resubmission period/fees, Visa fees, Immigration Health Surcharge, IELTS fees, costs for travel to and from the UK or research training grant or another equivalent award for research expenses.

Duration of award

Up to 3.5 years (full-time) or 7.0 years (part-time). Scholarship holders will be expected to have submitted their thesis for examination by the end of that period. The award term excludes the continuation period and any extension periods.

At what stage of my course application can I apply for this scholarship?

Please apply for the scholarship after you have submitted your application for a place at St Andrews.  You do not need to wait until you have received an offer of a place before applying for the scholarship.

Additional criteria

You must have applied for a PhD programme at St Andrews.

Applicants must not already (i) hold a doctoral degree; or (ii) be matriculated for a doctoral degree at the University of St Andrews or another institution.

As part of the scholarship application you will be required to upload a personal statement. This should serve as a cover letter for the research project application as a whole, and should include:

• An outline of your suitability for the project (project criteria can be found in the "Eligibility" and "Project Description" sections above).
• Why the project interests you.
• What you would bring to the project in terms of previous skills and expertise.
• Any ideas that you may have for the realisation of the project.

How to apply

1. Apply for your chosen course at the University St Andrews: Postgraduate research. Select School of Mathematics and Statistics as the academic school. After submitting your course application, you must allow up to three working days to receive login details for the My Application
2. When you have received your login details, apply for the scholarship:
   • Log into My Application and follow the links to Scholarships and Funding
   • Select 2026/7 as the Academic Year and click Refresh list.
   • Find the specific World-Leading St Andrews Doctoral Scholarship that you wish to apply for in the list of scholarships (using the filter box if necessary), click Apply and complete the application

You can also use the catalogue to search and apply for other scholarships for which you are eligible.

Scholarship application form guidance

If you are a current student at St Andrews, you can access Scholarships and Funding through MySaint. However, you should wait until after you have applied for your intended postgraduate programme before doing so, to ensure that the scholarship application is linked to that course.

Terms and conditions

Please read the University of St Andrews scholarships terms and conditions (opens in new tab) 

If you apply to this scholarship, details from your course application may be passed to the selection panel solely for the purpose of merit-based assessment. 

When will I know the outcome?

The outcome of your scholarship application will be available on View or continue my funding applications in the Scholarships and Funding section of My Application within two months of the application deadline.