We’re looking for two researchers to join exciting and innovative projects that will help shape the future of our work in Charnwood Forest. Do you know someone who might be interested?
Working with partners across Leicestershire and the UK, we’ve secured funding from the Collaboratory Research Hub for two research projects: a PhD and a Research Placement.
The PhD project is titled: Seasons of Wellbeing: Improving the Health and Wellbeing of the Beaumont Leys Community Through the Great Outdoors of Bradgate Park
The mental and physical health benefits of exposure to natural environments are well documented. However, it is unclear what prevents people, particularly those from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, from visiting and benefiting from nearby green spaces. Furthermore, a detailed understanding of the interaction between psychological and physiological responses to nature exposure, and how this may vary with seasonality remains absent. This project explores these questions with residents of Beaumont Leys, a large and diverse Leicester ward where health outcomes are poorer than the city average and where demand for affordable, non-clinical forms of mental health support is high. Just a short distance away, Bradgate Park offers open spaces, woodland and historic landscapes. This site was recently designated a National Nature Reserve because of its internationally significant geology, and yet little is known about whether and how residents use it, what barriers influence access and how seasonal changes shape experience.
This project is led by Dr Tess Osborne at the University of Leicester, alongside Dr Mark Charlton at De Montfort University, Dr Danny Longman at Loughborough University, and Dr Jack Matthews at the Geopark. The deadline to apply is November 30th. More information on the project, including how to apply, can be found on the Collaboratory website. Please also read the general eligibility criteria. The successful researcher would be primarily based at the University of Leicester.
The Research Placement is titled: Establishing Community Custodians of Local Fossil Heritage at Charnwood Forest Geopark
Leicestershire is home to nationally significant fossil sites recording as diverse periods in Earth History as reef communities from the time of the dinosaurs to some of the earliest fossil remains of animals themselves, more than 8 times older than T. rex. These more ancient fossils are of international significance and found within Charnwood Forest Geopark. Yet, how much do local communities actually know about these sites and the extraordinary organisms preserved within them? This project seeks to establish a baseline of public knowledge about these fossil sites in particular and national palaeontological heritage more generally.
This project is led by Dr Marc Reichow at the University of Leicester, alongside Dr Frankie Dunn at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Dr Jack Matthews at Charnwood Forest Geopark, and Dr Josh Wolstenholme at Loughborough University. The project is part time, at 14 hrs a week, carried out over a period of 12 weeks. The researcher will receive a tax-free bursary of £1,300. The deadline to apply is November 30th. More information on the project, including how to apply, can be found on the Collaboratory website. Please also read the general eligibility criteria – in particular note the requirement for applicants to be a primary resident of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland, or one of the following postcode areas: DE, B, CV, NN, PE, S, DN.
The Geopark is grateful to all the academics who have led and supported the projects we are involved in, and we look forward to working with the new researchers as they start their work in April 2026.