Ocean and Earth Sciences

Join the University of Southampton, a global top 100* research-intensive university.

The National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOCS), one of the world’s largest centres devoted to research and teaching in Earth and marine science, attracts experts from around the world. The combination of direct access to ships and ocean technology, and a strong research emphasis, provides many opportunities for fieldwork and scientific cruises not traditionally found in university environments.

We offer postgraduate training at PhD level. You’ll carry out research of the highest quality, leading to publications in top journals. We are a large, world-ranking and interdisciplinary community.

Our research generally focuses on one of these areas:

Geology and geophysics

Marine biology and ecology

Palaeoceanogreaphy and palaeoclimate

Marine biochemistry

Geochemistry

Physical oceanography

*QS World University Rankings 2025.