Developing Your Dissertation Ideas
If you are seeking to deliver an impactful dissertation topic, with direct relevance to environmental policy makers or, simply looking for inspiration for your final year project, you can search for ideas below.
You can search the research questions that have been directly submitted to us, or browse other collections of research ideas from partner organisation such as Natural Resources Wales and Climate Cymru.
If you do find a question of relevance and decide to address it through your dissertation, we would really like to know about it. Please fill out the form that can be found here.
[Enter keyword and press ‘search’ or the return key]
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What is the long-term trend of soil fertility and base-status in montane habitats and what are the drivers of change?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
Upland soils once supported Neolithic agriculture but would struggle to grow crops today. Land management, climate change and acid rain all affect the evolution of upland soils but is poorly documented. The use of lime on upland pasture and ffridd may have been widespread in historic time but is now rare. A review of upland soil development and likely changes under future landscape options is required to enable an understanding of this resource.
Keywords (discipline, other): Mountains, moorland, and heath
Land use and soil
Ecosystem resilience
Website/URL links: https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/state-of-natural-resources-report-sonarr-for-wales-2020/evidence-needs-table/?lang=en
Looking for collaborators: n/a External Partner: Y Organisation: Natural Resources Wales
Contact Details
Name: n/a n/a Email Address: Phone: NA
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What is the most effective method of monitoring lamprey population size and spawning success?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
Outdated or absent data and associated analyses hinders the assessment of the current extent, condition and trends of our freshwater ecosystems.
Keywords (discipline, other): Freshwater
Biodiversity
Website/URL links: https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/state-of-natural-resources-report-sonarr-for-wales-2020/evidence-needs-table/?lang=en
Looking for collaborators: n/a External Partner: Y Organisation: Natural Resources Wales
Contact Details
Name: n/a n/a Email Address: Phone: NA
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What is the potential for carbon sequestration in traditional agroforestry systems?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
Traditional agroforestry systems such as wood pasture and orchards offer the potential to sequester carbon while maintaining food production on the same piece of land. There has been little research into what potential of these habitats is sequester carbon.
Keywords (discipline, other): Enclosed farmland
Woodland
Climate change
Website/URL links: https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/state-of-natural-resources-report-sonarr-for-wales-2020/evidence-needs-table/?lang=en
Looking for collaborators: n/a External Partner: Y Organisation: Natural Resources Wales
Contact Details
Name: n/a n/a Email Address: Phone: NA
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What is the potential for noise disturbance of marine mammals in Wales?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
Important evidence to balance priorities for provisioning ecosystem services through renewable energy resources with maintaining and enhancing biodiversity, specifically mobile species. To inform our advice to developers.
Keywords (discipline, other): Marine
Energy
Ecosystem resilience
Biodiversity
Climate change
Website/URL links: https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/state-of-natural-resources-report-sonarr-for-wales-2020/evidence-needs-table/?lang=en
Looking for collaborators: n/a External Partner: Y Organisation: Natural Resources Wales
Contact Details
Name: n/a n/a Email Address: Phone: NA
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What is the potential to increase carbon stocks within grassland soils?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
Grassland covers a very large area of Wales. It provides the potential to be able to store significant quantities of carbon if the soils frequently hold less than their maximum level of carbon.
Keywords (discipline, other): Enclosed farmland
Land use and soil
Climate change
Website/URL links: https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/state-of-natural-resources-report-sonarr-for-wales-2020/evidence-needs-table/?lang=en
Looking for collaborators: n/a External Partner: Y Organisation: Natural Resources Wales
Contact Details
Name: n/a n/a Email Address: Phone: NA
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What is the predicted impact of flooding and sea level rise on agricultural soils?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
To help inform future sustainable land use and management pratices
Keywords (discipline, other): Land use and soil
Mountains, moorland, and heath
Urban
Semi-natural grassland
Enclosed farmland
Climate change
Website/URL links: https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/state-of-natural-resources-report-sonarr-for-wales-2020/evidence-needs-table/?lang=en
Looking for collaborators: n/a External Partner: Y Organisation: Natural Resources Wales
Contact Details
Name: n/a n/a Email Address: Phone: NA
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What is the presence and extent of genetic materials in soils for potential future biomedical resources and disease control?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
Plant and animal diseases are predicted to change due to climate change. To assess the full extent of the provisioning service provided by soils.
Keywords (discipline, other): Land use and soil
Woodland
Mountains, moorland, and heath
Coastal margins
Semi-natural grassland
Enclosed farmland
Website/URL links: https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/state-of-natural-resources-report-sonarr-for-wales-2020/evidence-needs-table/?lang=en
Looking for collaborators: n/a External Partner: Y Organisation: Natural Resources Wales
Contact Details
Name: n/a n/a Email Address: Phone: NA
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What is the presence, extent and concentrations of plastic and microplastics in soils? How does this affect the ecosystem services provided by soils?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
To assess the impact on soil ecosystem services and well-being
Keywords (discipline, other): Land use and soil
Enclosed farmland
Waste
Biodiversity
Website/URL links: https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/state-of-natural-resources-report-sonarr-for-wales-2020/evidence-needs-table/?lang=en
Looking for collaborators: n/a External Partner: Y Organisation: Natural Resources Wales
Contact Details
Name: n/a n/a Email Address: Phone: NA
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What is the proportion and condition of Plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites (PAWs) that have been restored, or are under restoration, throughout Wales?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
A commitment to PAWS restoration is contained within Welsh Government’s Woodlands for Wales strategy, but information on the proportion and condition of PAWS under restoration is sparse, particularly outside the Welsh Government Woodland Estate. This evidence would help inform future assessments of resilience and support policy and operational management decisions.
Keywords (discipline, other): Woodland
Ecosystem resilience
Biodiversity
Website/URL links: https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/state-of-natural-resources-report-sonarr-for-wales-2020/evidence-needs-table/?lang=en
Looking for collaborators: n/a External Partner: Y Organisation: Natural Resources Wales
Contact Details
Name: n/a n/a Email Address: Phone: NA
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What is the public perception of value of coastal habitats, particularly for dunes and shingle as coastal defence structures and social confidence in the utility of nature-based solutions?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
Inform policy, land management decisions and communication to aid community understanding of coastal management.
Keywords (discipline, other): Coastal margins
Climate change
Website/URL links: https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/state-of-natural-resources-report-sonarr-for-wales-2020/evidence-needs-table/?lang=en
Looking for collaborators: n/a External Partner: Y Organisation: Natural Resources Wales
Contact Details
Name: n/a n/a Email Address: Phone: NA
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