PHD Position Advert
Climate change mitigation and adaptation potential of conservation farming practices and biochar application under annual cropping systems in Uganda
Background
Gulu University, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment is currently implementing a six-year project funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) through the Norwegian Programme for Capacity Development in Higher Education and Research for Development (NORHED II).
The project titled “Climate smart agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa” is being implemented by 6 partnering Universities (Norwegian University of Life Science (NMBU), Makerere University, Gulu University, Wondo Genet College, Hawassa University, University of Zambia and University of Juba) and is in its first year of implementation. Other organizations participating in the project include Norwegian Geotechnical Institute in Norway, ICRISAT in Ethiopia, Rural Enterprise development Solution (REDS) in Uganda and Climate farming solutions in Zambia.
The main objective of the project is to generate and share new knowledge and to contribute to capacity building with respect to food security and on-farm profitability in Sub-Saharan Africa through innovative and sustainable climate-smart technologies.
We are searching for a candidate to fill the vacant PhD position within the project. The PhD research will fall within the broad fields of Climate change mitigation and adaptation potential of conservation farming practices and biochar application. Climate change and its effect on crop production is expected to continue and even worsen in near future. The common effects of climate change being experienced by farmers are the unreliable and erratic rainfall patterns often causing drought and floods with negative effects on crop yields.
The contribution of agriculture to climate change has also been highlighted due to unsustainable farming practices such as conventional farming with its associated increased greenhouse gas emissions. Conservation farming and biochar has been gaining momentum among scientific community as an approach that cannot only help in climate change adaption but can contribute to climate change mitigation in sub Saharan Africa by either enhancing soil C storage or by cutting down greenhouse gas emission from crop fields.
In this PhD opening, we seek to recruit a Ugandan to implement cutting edge research on soil C and N dynamic under conservation farming and biochar application. In particular, the candidate will assess the C storage in different soil compartments (C pools) and greenhouse gas emissions under conservation farming and the nexus between the behavior of soil C and N in those systems. The candidate will in addition be required to assess the acceptability of beneficial farming practices among the smallholder farmers in Uganda. DOWNLOAD HERECall_Plan PhD_NORHED II