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Climate Variability, Flood Inundation And The Prevalence Of Sleeping Sickness In The Lake Kyoga Basin, Uganda

Studentship

Climate Variability, Flood Inundation And The Prevalence Of Sleeping Sickness In The Lake Kyoga Basin, Uganda

University of Southampton - Global Environmental Change and Earth Observation (GECEO)

Supervisors: Prof Peter Atkinson (contact), Prof Sue Welburn (Edinburgh), Dr Ellie Biggs, Dr Nicola Wardrop

Summary
Sleeping sickness is a fatal, tsetse-transmitted, parasitic disease which imparts a considerable burden upon impoverished, rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Spatial distributions of tsetse and sleeping sickness are correlated with environmental factors, including temperature and rainfall, and seasonal variation in disease incidence occurs due to variations in precipitation and human-tsetse contact. The spatial extent of riverine tsetse species is thought to expand during the wet season due to its reliance on water for survival. Concurrent with this spatial expansion it is hypothesised that there may be an increase in sleeping sickness transmission. Conversely, during periods of drought, water resources are limited, centralising tsetse populations to concentrated spatial areas which may also increase disease transmission. Evidence is controversial surrounding the issue of links between climate change, flooding and sleeping sickness prevalence. This PhD will undertake a spatial investigation into the relationships between these environmental variables in the Lake Kyoga basin in central Uganda. This region is surrounded by shallow inundation swampland during the rainy seasons, and has become endemic for sleeping sickness in recent years. Time-series records will be statistically analysed to identify any long-term trends in climate variables. Remote sensing analysis will be adopted to perform accurate land cover classifications to identify seasonal flood inundation. The spatiotemporal distribution of sleeping sickness cases will be analysed in relation to these environmental data to provide an understanding of the influence of flooding on disease incidence and the possibility of altered epidemiology as a result of climate change.

The GECEO Research Group
The proposed project lies within the Global Environmental Change and Earth Observation (GECEO) research group. GECEO is a group of seven core academic staff, several further research staff in the GeoData Institute, several post-doctoral researchers and fellows and around 20 PhD students, working in fields related to global environmental change and its environmental and socio-economic impacts. The proposed research would be well supported by these staff capabilities, and by the broad research environment including the specific hardware and software required to undertake the research.

Funding: This is one of a range of topics currently being advertised. The funding will go to the project(s) with the best applicant(s). The studentship is to be funded at RCUK level, currently £13,590 per annum, with an RTSG of £750. The studentship is open to British and EU nationals only. International students can apply to the topic but they must be able to meet the difference between home/EU and International tuition fees themselves.

Academic requirements
Candidates must have or expect to gain a first or strong upper second class degree, in an appropriate discipline, not necessarily geography. Details on how to apply are available from Julie Drewitt, Graduate School, Geography and Environment, University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ, Telephone 023 8059 2216, email J.A.Drewitt@soton.ac.uk. Informal enquiries may be made to Prof. Peter M. Atkinson (email pma@soton.ac.uk). For the latest information on postgraduate opportunities within Geography and Environment, please visit our website at http://www.soton.ac.uk/geography/postgraduate/index.page.

Closing date: 1 March 2012, Interviews will be held in April 2012.