Naomi Vaughan

This PhD project at the University of East Anglia, supervised by Professor Naomi Vaughan, investigates the impact of wildfire disturbance on the permanence and carbon sequestration potential of forest-based carbon projects. Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is a critical component of global climate strategies, especially for achieving net zero emissions and offsetting hard-to-decarbonize sectors such as aviation, agriculture, and heavy industry. Forest expansion through afforestation and reforestation is a major focus of carbon projects and national climate plans, but their effectiveness is challenged by land competition, biodiversity concerns, and disturbances like wildfires, windstorms, pests, and disease. Forest carbon projects typically use buffer pools—additional land area—as insurance against such losses, but the specific risk posed by wildfires remains under-studied. The project aims to close this knowledge gap by compiling a comprehensive global database of ongoing and planned carbon project boundaries, building on existing datasets from partners like BeZero Carbon Ltd. It will evaluate the effects of wildfire on these projects since 2000 using the Global Fire Atlas, assess the net benefit of carbon projects by accounting for ecosystem recovery after fire, and use climate projections to predict future exposure to wildfire risk at different global warming levels. The research will also develop prototype estimates of buffer pool sizes needed to insure against future fire risk, tailored to different regions. The ideal candidate will have a strong quantitative background, experience in geospatial analysis (GIS), and programming skills in R or Python. The position is open to full-time or part-time study, with a start date of 1 October 2026. Applicants must meet the academic and English language requirements and demonstrate relevant skills and experience. This project offers the opportunity to contribute to a critical area of climate science and policy, working with leading experts and datasets to address a pressing global challenge.