Rosie Clear Hill
PhD: The Impact of Climate on Tropical Forests: A natural experiment within the Eastern Arc Mountains, Tanzania
Location: Rothamsted Research
My PhD with Envision is based at Rothamsted Research and looks at how climate change will affect the phenology and structure of tropical rainforests in the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania. I will use a mixture of existing datasets and fieldwork to answer a range of questions within this topic. The fieldwork will involve measuring a series of tree inventory plots in the mountain range and seeing how they have changed since they were last measured over 10 years ago. I am excited to work with colleagues in the UK and Tanzania throughout my PhD studies.
Before starting at Rothamsted, I studied my undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Oxford where I learnt a huge amount about all areas of the biosciences. I was always most interested in environmental and climate change and this was where I knew I wanted to focus any future research. I worked for two years at the Royal Society of Biology as an Accreditation Officer which was a good way to keep in touch with the scientific world while working out my next steps. In 2021, I started the MSc Environmental Science for Sustainability course at King’s College London which allowed me to learn a range of practical skills and focus my interests further. My dissertation looked at the role dry-stone walls play in the plant communities of agricultural landscapes in Northumberland where I am originally from.