PhD opportunity: Extreme Night-time Heat and Health in Northern Ireland under Climate Change

Summary

Hot nights are becoming a recognised climate risk with direct consequences for health and emergency care. Consecutive humid nights are linked to higher rates of cardiovascular and stroke admissions and create measurable surges in ambulance and emergency demand.

While these events are increasing across the UK, Northern Ireland has no dedicated analysis of when and where they will emerge, or how they will affect local health services.

This PhD offers the opportunity to address that gap. You will develop the first Northern Ireland Heat Atlas of night-time humid heat, combining climate projections with population and health-service data.

You will design a new Night Heat Retention Index to identify places that fail to cool overnight, detect multi-night humid-heat streaks, and map their frequency for the coming decades.

Crucially, the project will translate these findings into Health and Social Care Trust–level estimates of likely pressure on emergency services, providing evidence that is urgently needed for adaptation planning.

The project is fully desk-based and supported by existing climate datasets. You will gain advanced training in climate data handling, statistical downscaling, GIS, and reproducible coding, alongside opportunities to publish peer-reviewed research.

This is an exciting opportunity for a motivated student to carry out research that is both scientifically novel and of clear value to society.

Apply online

Further details and application: https://www.ulster.ac.uk/doctoralcollege/find-a-phd/14-geography-and-environmental-studies/1789510