Regional governance for industry and business water conservation

The College of Business and Law at UWE Bristol invites applications for a fully funded PhD studentship with the Sustainable Economies Research Group (SERG).

Reference: 2526-JAN-CBL08.

The expected start date of this studentship is Thursday 1 January 2026.

Closing date for applications is Sunday 12 October 2025.

The College of Business and Law is a host to lively and challenging PhD programmes. Students benefit from modern facilities and a welcoming research environment comprising diverse research groups and centres. The studentship reflects the ongoing commitment of the College to the development of its doctoral programmes.

Doctoral students at the College benefit from comprehensive support and guidance from UWE Bristol's Doctoral Academy, including extensive professional development programmes, research skills training and careers advice.

England faces growing pressure on its water resources, driven by rising demand from households, industry, climate change and new high-consumption sectors such as artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. Currently the West of England water supply is projected to meet only two thirds of demand by 2050. While energy and Net Zero has dominated industry sustainability discussions, water conservation has received little attention despite criticality to climate adaptation and business continuity.

This project will address water conservation in industry in the West of England with a focus on governance for collective action for water conservation, and will investigate various interventions, policy and levers for change. This PhD will engage with an established industry stakeholder group on water use conservation that Sustainable Economies Research Group helped set up in the region. This aligns directly with UWE Bristol's 2030 strategy for sustainable resource management and climate resilience and the RISE agenda for purposeful and impactful research, enterprise and sustainable economic growth.

Proposed research is expected to explore the following areas (not an exhaustive list):

• develop a collective action approach with stakeholders to industry water conservation in the Eest of England to strategically advance water conservation in industry in the region
• identify a series of interventions for key sectors most likely to be effective and devise and run with key stakeholders
• assess the efficacy and effectiveness of the strategy in reducing water use of key sectors using existing data collection platforms and leveraging stakeholders
• assess the potential to apply the approaches to other regions.

For an informal discussion about the project proposal contact Professor Peter Bradley at peter.bradley@uwe.ac.uk.

For an informal discussion about the studentship contact College Director of Doctoral Research, Dr Paweł Capik at pawel.capik@uwe.ac.uk.

The studentship is available from Thursday 1 January 2026 for a period of three years, subject to satisfactory progress, and includes a tax-exempt stipend of £20,780 per annum (25/26 academic year), and full-time home/international fees.

Applicants must have at least a 2.1 degree in economics, sustainability or a cognate discipline, and preferably a Masters degree with average programme mark of no less than 65%, UK grading scale or international equivalent.

A recognised English language qualification is required. IELTS score of 7.0 overall, or equivalent.

Please submit your application online. When prompted use the reference number 2526-JAN-CBL08.

Supporting documentation

Prepare your research proposal - no more than 5 pages all-inclusive; font size 11, 1.5-spacing, 2-inch margins. Indicative contents: research context and rationale, brief literature review, research focus (objectives/research questions), proposed methodology and expected contribution of the project. Development of research proposal should happen in consultation with the potential supervisor. You should contact the potential supervisor with an advanced draft of the proposal to confirm they are willing to support your application.

You will need to upload your research proposal, all your degree certificates and transcripts and your proof of English language proficiency as attachments to your application, so please have these available when you complete the application form.

References

You will need to provide details of two referees as part of your application. At least one referee must be an academic referee from the institution that conferred your highest degree. Your referee will be asked for a reference at the time you submit your application, so please ensure that your nominated referees are willing and able to provide references within 14 days of your application being submitted.

The closing date for applications is Sunday 12 October 2025 at 18:00 GMT.

Interviews will take place online in November. If you have not heard from us by Sunday 30 November 2025, we thank you for your application but on this occasion you have not been successful.