PhD Opportunity: Justice implications of the UK's net zero carbon policies, University of Leeds, UK

One full scholarship is available in the School of Earth, Environment and Sustainability, starting in October 2026. This scholarship is open to UK applicants and covers tuition fees plus UKRI-level maintenance.

This fully funded PhD place provides an exciting opportunity to pursue postgraduate research on the justice implications of the UK’s net zero carbon policies. The scholarship will be part of the Production and Consumption Transformations (PACT) Centre which is funded by UK Research and Innovation and the UK Government Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). We are interested in projects that examine justice implications of policies that go beyond electrification and the generation of green electricity but that support deeper transformations of production and consumption in the UK, with a focus on demand-reduction policies. The project will investigate justice implications not only across income groups in the UK but also across other socio-economic characteristics and geographies, and it can cover justice implications in other countries which are linked to UK production and consumption through supply chains. One aspect of the project can also be a justice assessment of the policy options that the PACT Centre will put forward to DESNZ.

The project will utilise different secondary datasets, for instance the Living Costs and Food Survey, Understanding Society, the Census, or the UK housing surveys, and apply statistical analysis and/or input-output analysis. Mixed methods projects which combine this analysis with qualitative research or other mixed methods such as multi-criteria analysis, Delphi processes or Q-Methods are also welcome.

As part of this PhD scholarship, there is an option to spend up to six months at DESNZ through a secondment.

Applicants are asked to describe the methods they wish to use in their research proposal.