SPRING Award Winners 2024

We are delighted to announce the winners of the 17th SPRING competition.

The SPRING award provides additional funds to research postgraduates to extend the scale and scope of their projects.  Up to £500 is awarded and winners also receive an invitation to present at water@leeds annual Confluence. The competition is open to PGRs working on water-related research from any school or faculty of the University of Leeds. Look out for news of our next competition!

Read more about our winners below, and how they will use their funds.

Matthew Harwood, School of Biology 

PhD project: Using novel technology to monitor and manage invasive species.

My research focuses on using novel technology to monitor and manage invasive species, with a key focus on using remote underwater video (RUV) to study invasive crayfish populations. My main area of interest has been on monitoring populations of invasive signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) and assessing the impact that they can have on native white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) and advise steps to be taken in order to protect these native populations.

The Water@Leeds SPRING award will allow me to conduct an ethographic study on a healthy population of native crayfish through intensive surveys. These surveys would involve the deployment of an RUV and baited-RUV for an hour each at five sites along the river Kent. The total number of native crayfish present at each site will be assessed. Unique behaviours will also be observed and recorded, noting the different interactions that individuals have towards other individuals and their surroundings, both in aggressive and passive nature. Through studying this healthy native population, I can provide a thorough understanding of what an ideal population of native crayfish should look like and the interactions that they have with each other and their environment. 

Gangadhar Narsing Tambre, School of Geography

PhD project: Effects of microplastics and their sorbed environmental pollutants on marine benthic diversity functions

Plastics are the most pervasive marine debris in the global ocean and their first occurrence in the marine environment. Approximately 5 to 13 million metric tonnes of plastics enter the ocean every year, of which only 0.3 million tonnes of floating plastics are observed floating on the ocean surface every year. This suggests that substantial fractions of plastics break down into smaller pieces, so-called microplastics (MPs), and are either transported to remote areas through wave actions or sink to the ocean floor by losing their buoyancy. Many studies show that microplastics sink to the bottom sediments, but there still needs to be more data on microplastics in deep-sea sediments. Hence, we are aiming to quantify the MPs from deep-sea sediments. This study will represent the logical next step in developing our understanding of microplastics as a pollutant. 

I will be using this funding to analyse the MPs' adhered chemical compounds. This analysis will clarify the types of pollutants on the surface of microplastics. Few reports suggest the presence of the heavy metal Lead (Pb) on MPs' surfaces. MPs have been found in the human body, and such toxins, along with pollutants, adhered to MPs, will lead to severe health issues in human life”. 

Hannah Lacy, School of Biology 

PhD project: Spatial prioritisation of common hippopotamus populations.

This award has been supported with funding from Pro Dean International Ian Wood, Faculty of Biological Sciences

The common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) plays a vital ecosystem engineering role in both terrestrial and freshwater African ecosystems. Over the last century, common hippos have experienced substantial population declines across their range, primarily due to habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict, and climate change. Despite their ecological importance, there remains a gap in understanding their spatial ecology in southern Africa. My research aims to address this gap by determining both the current and potential distribution of common hippos across the subregion, with a particular focus on assessing the impacts of increasing anthropogenic pressures. By modelling potential distribution and integrating relevant stakeholders, my research aims to determine the socio-economic feasibility of land planning for common hippos. The ultimate goal is to identify priority sites for conservation actions to sustain remnant common hippo populations.

The SPRING funding will facilitate spatial planning by enabling the assessment of critical areas for conservation attention and fostering collaboration among stakeholders to develop inclusive and realistic conservation plans. This funding will enable the integration of socio-economic factors into the plans, ensuring a comprehensive approach to common hippo conservation in southern Africa. 

Alex Worsfold, School of History 

PhD project: A patchwork of ill-digested schemes: British colonial development, rivers and surface waters in Mandate Palestine

The research I am working on focuses on the hydrological development of Palestine during the British Mandate period (1917-1948), particularly on rivers and wetlands in the country. British, Zionist and Arab Palestinian discourses on how development of the countries natural resources should proceed were varied and nuanced, in some places complimenting each other and in others contradicting.

This water@leeds SPRING funding will assist me in digitising archival records currently made unavailable to me due to the ongoing crisis in the region, which has prevented a research trip to archives in Jerusalem. This sum will aid me in further researching the Kabara wetlands, an area of swamps on the western coast of Palestine near the old Roman city of Caesarea. This understudied area of wetland habitat not only provides a great example of how British and Zionist colonial development policies interacted with seminomadic indigenous land use, but also will provide a novel historical assessment of the ecological state of the region during the beginning of the 20th century, and go about correcting shifting baselines that have come about in respect to the region’s hydrology and ecology.