About the project or challenge area

In 1940, American naturalist Orlando Park identified what he termed the ‘Nocturnal Problem’. He argued that there were, at that point, minimal studies of nature by night because there was an array of barriers that made its study extremely challenging. In 2019, Kevin J. Gaston postulated that the ‘Nocturnal Problem’ remained largely unaddressed, even eighty years after Park’s original treatise. The persistence of the problem is a major oversight for naturalists and conservationists: more than half of the world’s species are nocturnal by habit, and recent studies have suggested that the implications of climate change might be even more profound for the night-time world than they are for that of the day. What can we do to confront environmental challenges as they pertain to the dark places on our planet?

Why choose this project?

This overarching research project seeks to expand understanding of nocturnal worlds past and present, across disciplines, and in all their rich diversity. Applicants are invited to propose a research project which has night-time and/or darkness at the core, and which poses new questions about nocturnal natures. These could be historical (History, English Literature, History of Art etc), or more clearly aligned with the dark biosciences.

About you

Applicants are invited to propose an idea underneath a broad umbrella concept. Students should possess foundational disciplinary skills relating to the proposed research. 

How to apply

All students can apply using the button below, following the Admissions Statement (PDF, 188kB). Please note that this project requires a research statement - for further guidance, please see Section B of the Research Statement template (Office document, 74kB). 

This project is not funded, for further details please use this link.

Before applying, we recommend getting in touch with the project's supervisor. If you are interested in this project and would like to learn more about the research you will be undertaking, please use the contact details on this page.