International Graduate School: How to Apply
Potential Supervisors and Topics for DPhil Research
Lists of potential DPhil supervisors and topics at the School of Geography and the Environment are provided below. For more information on the potential topics please contact the relevant academic member of staff. Please note that research staff from the School's research centres, the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) and Transport Studies Unit (TSU), can also be contacted with regard to supervision but are only able to co-supervise with a main supervisor from the list of academic staff members below.
If you wish to apply to any of the potential research topics you will need to follow our standard application procedures. Please remember to clearly indicate which topic and academic staff member you are applying to study under on your application! For full details on our application procedures and for further enquiries please see our information on how to apply.
In addition, candidates applying for research council funded studentships, as listed on our Fees and Scholarships webpage, should meet the respective Council's requirements for both academic qualifications and residential eligibility (please see the relevant Research Council website for more information).
Potential Supervisors
| Name | College | Research Interests and Potential Topics |
|---|---|---|
 |  Linacre College | How human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts Co-ordinator of the Climate Systems and Policy research cluster; |
 |  St Catherine's College | Quaternary palaeoclimate; geochronology (particularly luminescence-based methods) associated with environmental change, archaeology and palaeoanthrolpology; modelling luminescence processes; observations and modelling of vegetation patterning and critical thresholds in semi-arid systems; critical thresholds in environmental systems. Member of the Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Conservation research cluster; Member of the Landscape Dynamics research cluster; |
 |  St Anne's College | Transport; cities; sustainability; energy; environment; participation Member of the Technological Natures: Materials, Cities, Politics research cluster; |
 | St Catherine's College | The geography of science and technology; poststructuralist social and anthropological theory; materiality; political geography and geopolitics; the politics and economy of oil; Turkey and the Caucasus. Joint co-ordinator of the Technological Natures: Materials, Cities, Politics research cluster; |
 | Linacre College
| Agroecosystems: agroforestry, agriculture and food security, agriculture and conservation; Biodiversity conservation: conservation beyond reserves, community-based conservation, urban conservation; Climate change: climate change and culture, climate change and conservation, past climate change and biodiversity; Conservation and development: community-based conservation, conflict and conservation, integrated conservation and development; Culture and conservation: cultural and spiritual values, religion and conservation, sacred natural sites; Traditional knowledge: agrobiodiversity, biocultural diversity, species and habitat taboos Member of the Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Conservation research cluster; |
 | No College Affiliation | The integrated analysis of the interface between transport, energy and the environment; developing tools for scenario development and policy analysis of ownership and use of lower carbon technologies and policies in transport to mitigate climate change; evidence based policy: unpacking transport solutions in terms of their net environmental (climate change, air pollution, noise) and economic (congestion, energy source depletion, energy security) and wider sustainability (land take by transport biofuels) impacts; mitigation strategies: developing climate change mitigation strategies in the transport and energy sectors, including cost-effectiveness analysis; and awareness raising, feedback and education in personal transport and household energy use Member of the Climate Systems and Policy research cluster; |
 |  Hertford College | Forensic geoscience: including experimental studies on persistence and tenacity of trace evidence together with geochemical appraisals of forensic soil and rock samples; Palaeo-environmental and palaeo-energy conditions as determined from sand-sized sediment analysis utilising scanning electron microscopy; General sedimentology and environmental reconstruction. Member of the Landscape Dynamics research cluster; |
 |  St Peter's College | Economic geography with global finance; corporate governance; finance markets; decision-making; pension funds; international finance; environmental management and regulation Joint co-ordinator of the Transformations: Economy, Society and Place research cluster; |
 |  Christ Church | Processes that link climate, hydrology, and geomorphology. Member of the Climate Systems and Policy research cluster; Member of the Landscape Dynamics research cluster; |
 |  Jesus College | Sub-Saharan Africa, especially topics on issues of forced migration; humanitarianism; gender; militarism; violence and ethnicity; as well as on aspects of political ecology in relation to land tenure; natural resource exploitation; community management of natural resources; forestry; indigenous knowledge; and wildlife conservation Member of the Transformations: Economy, Society and Place research cluster; |
 |  Oriel College | Low carbon energy transitions and policy, particularly inter-disciplinary approaches to energy demand and energy efficiency. Member of the Climate Systems and Policy research cluster; |
 | Jesus College | Conservation - in particular conservation strategy, systematic conservation planning, biodiversity measurement and valuation. Biogeography, ecology and evolutionary ecology - particularly of mammals and plants. Phylogeography and phyloinformatics. Member of the Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Conservation research cluster; |
 | Linacre College | Flood risk analysis and management. Impacts of climate change and socio-economic change on flood risk. Robust flood risk management decisions under uncertainty. Coastal cliff recession prediction and appraisal. Use of probabilistic information in coastal management. Impacts of climate change on infrastructure systems and in cities. Infrastructure systems reliability and interdependence. Sensitivity analysis and model calibration. Decision analysis. Robust decision making under uncertainty. Info-gap theory. Member of the Climate Systems and Policy research cluster; |
 | No College Affiliation
| Behavioural economics; water and development. Member of the Transformations: Economy, Society and Place research cluster; |
 |  St John's College | India, Asia, Youth, Children, Generation, Class, Caste, Gender, Work, Education, Development, Everyday Politics, Bourdieu Member of the Transformations: Economy, Society and Place research cluster; |
 | No College Affiliation
| Conservation governance; especially the role of measurement and categorisation schemes in assembling the institutions and practices of conservation, the agency of species and concepts in conservation networks, and the transformative potential of new media technologies. Member of the Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Conservation research cluster; Member of the Technological Natures: Materials, Cities, Politics research cluster; |
 |  St Cross College | Environmental health controversies, transition and social change in rural China, anthropological theory and ethnography. More specific topics: political ecology with particular interest in pollution and rural China, popular epidemiology and perceptions of risk, questioning the lay-expert divide, grassroots responses to health inequalities (especially in China and the developing world), cross-cultural environmental activism and environmental health activism, controversies in cancer epidemiology and lay cancer epidemiology. Member of the Technological Natures: Materials, Cities, Politics research cluster; Member of the Transformations: Economy, Society and Place research cluster; |
 | Oriel College | Interactions between forest ecosystems, climate change and land-use change, including the utility of forest protection in mitigating climate change. Techniques applied in this research include plant ecophysiology, long term forest monitoring and short-term expeditions, forest micrometerological and flux measurements, manipulative experiments, and satellite remote sensing of intact forests and deforestation. His interests are global, but particularly focus on tropical forests, especially in the Andes and Amazon, and more recently on the woodlands of the Upper Thames. Member of the Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Conservation research cluster; Member of the Climate Systems and Policy research cluster; |
 |  Mansfield College | Cultural geographies of the body, performance and mobility; geographies of affect and emotion; social theory and philosophies of space; urban cultural geographies; cultural geographies of art and creativity. Member of the Technological Natures: Materials, Cities, Politics research cluster; |
 | St John's College | Gender divisions of labour; global migration; diasporic identities; new class divisions and employment change in the UK; meaning of home; urban change; feminist theory; methodologies and oral histories. Joint co-ordinator of the Transformations: Economy, Society and Place research cluster; |
 | Christ Church | Observed climate change; climate change modelling; regional climate modelling; climate change in mountainous regions; climate change and water resources / hydrology. Member of the Climate Systems and Policy research cluster; |
 | Christ Church | Rural society in pre-revolutionary, Soviet and post-Soviet Russia; the Soviet and Russian penal system; the geography of crime and punishment; spatial planning and regional development in the Soviet and post-Soviet period; historical and cultural geography of pre-revolutionary Russia and the USSR. Member of the Transformations: Economy, Society and Place research cluster; |
 | Mansfield College | Geographies of science; geopolitics and political geography; political economy of resources (especially oil and gas); ethnography; indigenous rights and governance; social and political theories, particularly with respect to scientific knowledges; environmental geography; historical and cultural geography; the Polar Regions (especially Canadian Arctic and Greenland) Member of the Technological Natures: Materials, Cities, Politics research cluster; Member of the Transformations: Economy, Society and Place research cluster; |
 | Hertford College | Quaternary environments in the low latitudes, especially Africa; luminescence dating applications; aeolain systems; land degradation and human-environment interactions in drylands and Africa; climate change impacts and adaptation. Member of the Climate Systems and Policy research cluster; Co-ordinator of the Landscape Dynamics research cluster; |
 | No College Affiliation
| Human ecology, adaptation, local and traditional ecological knowledge, biocultural diversity, conservation, coastal and marine environments, space and place, indigenous peoples and the political ecology of resource management. Member of the Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Conservation research cluster; Member of the Climate Systems and Policy research cluster; |
 |  Worcester College | Geomorphology and environmental change (especially in arid and karst environments); building stone deterioration and conservation; weathering and rock breakdown (especially in arid, coastal, karst and other extreme environments); rock breakdown on Mars and other planets. Member of the Landscape Dynamics research cluster; |
 |  Keble College | African climate science; climate change and variability in Africa; rainfall variability and prediction in Africa; mineral aerosol (dust) production and transport in Africa. Member of the Climate Systems and Policy research cluster; Member of the Landscape Dynamics research cluster; |
 | Linacre College | The production and contestation of environmental knowledges/technologies; political theory at the intersection of democratic and scientific institutions and practices, including the constitution of publics and property rights; alternative moral economies - particularly as these relate to food; land-use and bioresources. She is particularly interested in working with students exploring feminist and post-structuralist philosophies and / or transdisciplinary approaches. Joint co-ordinator of the Technological Natures: Materials, Cities, Politics research cluster; |
 |  St Edmund Hall | Island ecology and biogeography; conservation biogeography; diversity theory Joint co-ordinator of the Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Conservation research cluster; |
 |  Brasenose College | Measuring and modelling aeolian processes in deserts with an emphasis on aeolian sediment transport; sand dune dynamics; dynamics of aeolian dust; desert geomorphology; and low latitude environmental change. Research techniques include fieldwork in southern Africa, Middle East, Central Asia and Australia in combination with wind tunnel and computer modelling. Enquiries concerning any aspect of desert geomorphology are welcomed. Member of the Landscape Dynamics research cluster; |
 | St Peter's College | Geographies of finance, economic geography, financial centres and global cities (including Shanghai and Dubai), emerging market economies, corporate governance, environmental finance (including carbon markets), varieties and models of capitalism, geography of advanced business services (including finance, law, management consultancy and accountancy). Member of the Transformations: Economy, Society and Place research cluster; |
New Physical Geography DPhil Research Topics
The School of Geography and the Environment invites applications for the following DPhil research topics in physical geography. Funding may be available for some of these topics.
2012 Physical Geography DPhil Topics
The following doctoral projects in environmental science are offered by the School of Geography and the Environment in 2012 and are potentially eligible for NERC studentship funding. Excellent applicants are suggested to apply as soon as possible so that additional funding sources can be identified. Application procedures are given in detail on our How to Apply webpage.
- Bayesian calibration for flood risk analysis
Supervisor: Prof. Jim Hall. - Identifying controls on aeolian dust emission from dry lake beds in southern Africa
Supervisors: Dr Giles Wiggs, Prof. Richard Washington, Prof. David Thomas - Stressed deserts: modelling tipping points in vegetation and wind erosion in response to increasing environmental pressure
Supervisors: Dr Giles Wiggs and Dr Richard Bailey - Nutrient cycle and transport modelling in estuarine environment
Supervisor: Prof. Paul Whitehead - Enhancing regional palaeoenvironmental records through analysis of Late Quaternary sand ramp accumulation
Supervisors: Prof. David Thomas and Dr Richard Bailey - Deriving a generalised methodology of integrating climate change adaptation into freshwater systematic conservation planning by applying methods to multiple UK and international catchments
Supervisor: Prof. Paul Whitehead - The Saharan Climate System
Supervisor: Prof. Richard Washington - Bayesian estimation of uncertainties in downscaled climate model projections
Supervisors: Prof. Jim Hall and Prof. Myles Allen - The ecosystem functioning of intact and disturbed tropical forests
Supervisor: Prof. Yadvinder Malhi - The response of tropical forests to climate change
Supervisor: Prof. Yadvinder Malhi - Designing agricultural landscapes for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service provision
Supervisor: Dr Shonil Bhagwat
1) Bayesian calibration for flood risk analysis
Supervisor: Prof. Jim Hall
Over the last decade there have been significant advances in the development of Bayesian statistical methodology to address the various sources of uncertainty in computer modelling of floods (see for example Hall, J.W., Manning, L.J. and Hankin, R.S. (2011) Bayesian calibration of a flood inundation model using spatial data, Water Resources Research, 47: W05529, doi:10.1029/2009WR008541). The methodology is attractive because it provides well justified probability bounds on the predictions provided by computer models of flooding. The application referred to above dealt with a flood inundation model calibrated with spatial data. Subsequent developments have dealt with a dynamical model calibrated with time series data. The aim of the proposed doctoral project is to extend this work further to address a broader range of models in order to quantify the uncertainties in the coupled set of processes that lead from rainfall, to runoff and river flooding. The amenability of each of these processes to the Bayesian calibration methodology will be assessed. The existing methodology will be adapted to address the particular challenges of these new classes of models. The methodologies will be integrated to develop a new and rigorous end-to-end analysis of uncertainties in flood risk estimates.
The student undertaking this doctoral project will be required to work intensively on advanced statistical methodologies. A background in statistics, mathematics or a quantitative science subject is therefore essential. Familiarity with hydrology and flood risk analysis is also desirable.
2) Identifying controls on aeolian dust emission from dry lake beds in southern Africa
Supervisors: Dr Giles Wiggs, Professor Richard Washington, and Professor David Thomas
Atmospheric dust is known to be a critical component of Earth System behavior, affecting atmospheric, oceanic, biological, terrestrial and human processes and systems. It has significant impacts on radiation balance and climate modulation, CO2 drawdown affecting ocean fertilization, long-distance nutrient transport and vegetation fertilisation, and human health and land use. However, we know very little about the physical controls on emission of dust from key sources and so the treatment of atmospheric dust in climate models is unsophisticated.
This DPhil topic (allied to a current and well-funded NERC project held at the School of Geography that integrates field, remote sensing, modelling and climate impact aspects of aeolian dust ) aims to significantly improve our understanding of the physical controls on dust emission from the surface of dry lake beds in southern Africa. The successful student will join a team of researchers instrumenting the surface of a number of dry lake beds in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa to measure and analyze the relationships between wind energy, surface hydrology/geomorphology and dust emission and transport. The student will be using state-of-the-art instruments in one of the largest scientific deployments of its kind. A considerable amount of time in both the field and laboratory is envisaged.
The topic would suit a numerate student from a physical geography or environmental science background with good team, fieldwork and laboratory skills. The successful applicant will join the vibrant research environment of the Landscape Dynamics research cluster and all training in analysis techniques and the use of field monitoring equipment will be provided.
3) Stressed deserts: modelling tipping points in vegetation and wind erosion in response to increasing environmental pressure
Supervisors: Dr Giles Wiggs and Dr Richard Bailey
Many of the world's deserts are characterised by stable semi-vegetated dune systems (e.g. southern Africa, the Sahel, Australia). However, the loss of surface vegetation in desert regions through environmental stresses such as fire, grazing, drought or more permanent climatic change leads to enhanced wind erosion and potential for wide-ranging dune re-activation. Linking dynamic vegetation and surface sediment systems is a fundamental challenge in dryland science.
This DPhil topic aims to develop, test and apply a new theoretical model of vegetation patterning that re-produces the characteristic self-organising configurations (e.g. 'spots' and 'labyrinths') of natural desert vegetation under varying degrees of environmental stress. By coupling the model output to a wind erosion model the potential response of the desert landscape to a variety of simulated stresses can be predicted. A key element of the research will be identifying specific vegetation patterns that are characteristic of fragile (threshold) system states that are prone to collapse and so critical in terms of land management intervention.
The topic would suit a strongly numerate student from a physical geography or environmental science background. The successful applicant will spend extended periods in the field and laboratory and will join the vibrant research environment of the Landscape Dynamics Research Cluster. All training in model development and field analysis techniques will be provided.
4) Nutrient cycle and transport modelling in estuarine environment
Supervisors: Professor Paul Whitehead
As part of the NERC Macronutrient Cycles programme there will be integrated projects on the transport and distribution of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Carbon in the three catchments in the UK, namely the Hampshire Avon, the Ribble and the Conwy. In order to translate nutrient fluxes through the catchments and estuaries into the coastal regions, new models that explicitly model the N, P and C cycles in estuaries are required. The studentship will therefore develop models of the nutrient cycles in estuaries, linked to the transport processes so that scenarios of environmental and climate change can be evaluated.
A knowledge of biogeochemical processes together with mathematical / modelling experience is required. The student will interact with colleagues from the University of Southampton who will be leading the estuary research and will link into other aspects of the Macronutrient Cycles programme such as atmospheric deposition and catchment modelling.
5) Enhancing regional palaeoenvironmental records through analysis of Late Quaternary sand ramp accumulation
Supervisors: Professor David Thomas and Dr Richard Bailey
Sand dunes are an important, but controversial, source of palaeoenvironmental data in desert / desert margin areas. OSL dating has markedly improved chronological control of dune accumulation records, but establishing the environmental parameters that have driven sediment deposition events in the past is proving more problematic. One major issue relates to dated dune deposits more likely recording only the end phases of dune accumulation periods, when sediment throughput is reducing, rather than the periods of peak activity.
Most Quaternary dune histories are derived from dunes in extensive sand seas. Dunes accumulated against topographic obstacles (sand ramps / climbing dunes) are common in many sand sea margin locations and may preserve more complete records of aeolian activity phases as sand through flow is less and the potential to trap sand is higher than for dunes in more open contexts. Furthermore, some preserve records of both aeolian phases and intervening more humid conditions, in the form of interdigitated slope wash and fluvial deposits derived from runoff from the topographic obstacle. They may also contain sediment deflated from channel systems and closed depressions, such that the sediment characteristics in the aeolian component may range from silt ('loess') to coarse sand. Thus the topic may offer the opportunity to address a range of OSL application issues as well as contributing to regional palaeoenvironmental analysis.
To date, topographic dunes/sand ramps have been relatively little studied in palaeoenvironmental research. This project will analyse sand ramp/topographic dunes in Namibian and/or /SW Kalahari contexts, where sand sea dunes are already heavily investigated but where significant palaeoenvironmental uncertainties exist. The study offers scope to:
- map the distribution of and characteristics of sand ramps/topodunes using imagery and reference to previous limited studies, identifying a small number of features for detailed field investigation;
- in the field, drill and sample the features for palaeoenvironmental analysis, investigating sedimentological diversity and applying OSL dating to construct chronologies of accumulation;
- integrate existing sand sea palaeoenvironmental records with the records obtained from sand ramps, aiming to developed an enhanced understanding of regional aeolian activity in the Late Quaternary and its palaeoclimatic context;
- further develop existing models of sand transport and dune accumulation, as an interpretive tool in Quaternary contexts;
- establish the contribution sand ramp analyses may make to improved late Quaternary climate reconstructions in drylands.
6) Deriving a generalised methodology of integrating climate change adaptation into freshwater systematic conservation planning by applying methods to multiple UK and international catchments
Supervisors: Professor Paul Whitehead
Systematic conservation planning aims to efficiently use limited resources to achieve conservation goals. It uses specific protocols to identify priority networks of areas requiring protection. However, there is a substantial gap in conservation planning within freshwater systems, whereby the effects of climate change and predictive uncertainty have not been thoroughly incorporated. Therefore, this studentship will derive a generalised methodology of integrating climate change adaptation into freshwater systematic conservation planning, by applying methods to multiple UK and international catchments. Specific focus will be given to mapping spatial components, connectivity and environmental flow requirements to provide strategies for ecosystem-based adaptation.
Applicants should hold an MSc, or 5 years equivalent work experience in the field of freshwater biodiversity, conservation and management. Experience with spatial mapping software is essential, e.g. ArcGIS. Specifically, a detailed knowledge of freshwater connectivity is desirable. The project will require significant international collaborations, and experience in this area would be highly beneficial. Professor Paul Whitehead will be the main supervisor for the project.
7) The Saharan Climate System
Supervisor: Professor Richard Washington
The Saharan climate system features numerous extremes, including the deepest boundary layers on the planet as well as the largest dust loadings. It is also a very data sparse region. Fennec is a large-scale NERC consortium grant led from Oxford which aims to uncover the unusual dynamics of the region. The project features multi-platform observational campaigns in the central Sahara include satellites, ground based sites and the FAAM BAe146 aircraft. This data will be used to evaluate and ultimately improve the representation of this area, and its influences on a wider scale, in numerical weather prediction and climate models.
This studentship aims to bring together observation and models over the Sahara with a particular emphasis on the unusual dynamics and dust loadings. The studentship forms part of a team of researchers including two postdocs and two doctoral students.
8) Bayesian estimation of uncertainties in downscaled climate model projections
Supervisors: Professor Jim Hall and Professor Myles Allen
There is a major gap between the information provided by climate model projections and the information needed by decision makers responsible for adapting to climate change. Of particular concern is the proper representation of uncertainty in downscaled climate model projections.
The UKCP09 climate scenarios for the UK made use of a ~300 member ensemble of the Hadley Centre's HadCM3 GCM coupled with 25km resolution regional climate model (RCM) outputs. A probabilistic representation of uncertainty was provided from an innovative Bayesian methodology (Murphy, et al. 2007). Though ground-breaking in methodological terms, the UKCP09 scenarios suffer from a number of deficiencies. In particular (i) the experimental design limited the number of observational constraints that could be employed to estimate uncertainties and (ii) the use of only 11 RCM runs to downscale the climate projections limited the credibility for the analysis of extreme or spatially correlated events. The large ensemble of RCM outputs available from the weatherathome experiment provides the potential to circumvent these limitations of UKCP09 and thus provide improved projections and associated uncertainty estimates.
The proposed research will seek to adapt the probabilistic framework proposed by Murphy, et al. (2007), significantly improving upon its implementation and results by making use of the large ensemble of GCM and RCM outputs available from climateprediction.net and weatherathome.
Particular foci of attention will be:
- Augmenting the number of observational constraints used in the Bayesian calibration procedure, in order to constrain better the predictive uncertainties.
- Improved methodology for initialisation of the ocean model in order to better constrain uncertainties, in particular in the near term.
- Development of methodology to use Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms in concert with an emulator of the climateprediction.net ensemble.
- Use of the weatherathome ensemble to generate improved regional scale and transient probabilistic outputs, including a large weighted 'event set' for use in climate impacts and adaptation studies.
The project will require understanding of climate physics and modelling as well as development of statistical methodology, so would suit a student from a physics or statistics background.
Reference: Murphy, J.M., et al (2007) A methodology for probabilistic predictions of regional climate change from perturbed physics ensembles. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 365(1857): 1993-2028.
9) The ecosystem functioning of intact and disturbed tropical forests
Supervisor: Professor Yadvinder Malhi
The studentship will explore the ecosystem functioning of tropical forests, and the response of this functioning to disturbances such as drought, fire and logging. The work will be based around collection of field data from some of our network in sites in Amazonia, Africa and Borneo (with Africa and Borneo a particular focus), and will involve field studies, lab analyses of plant traits, and development and application of ecosystem models. There will be opportunities for travel and extended periods of work in tropical forest regions. Candidate students should have a quantitative science background in either physical, biological or environmental sciences.
10) The response of tropical forests to climate change
Supervisor: Professor Yadvinder Malhi
This studentship will focus on development of models to explore the sensitivity of tropical forests (in Amazonia and tropical Africa) to global atmospheric change. The work will involved improvement and development of an ecosystem model, closely informed by ongoing collection of field data from our network of tropical forest sites. The studentship will also explore the application of individual trait-based models, and will have the occasional opportunity for short fieldwork sessions.
11) Designing agricultural landscapes for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service provision
Supervisors: Dr Shonil Bhagwat
Feeding 9 billion people by 2050, whilst limiting the ecological cost of agricultural expansion, is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. In many developing countries, the expansion of export-oriented agriculture has started to have an adverse effect on natural ecosystems. Designing such farms so as to optimise yields, biodiversity and ecosystem services has been identified as a potential solution to minimising the ecological costs of agricultural expansion. However, there is currently very little information on design principles: what spatial configuration and temporal rotation provides most optimum solution for maximising yield and ecosystem service benefits?
This project will conduct controlled experiments in an expanding agricultural frontier to examine spatial configurations that benefit biodiversity and provide supporting ecosystem services such as pollination and pest control whilst enhancing yields.