I was wondering if anyone could offer some advice in pursuing a PhD in Climate or Earth Science. More specifically, I was wondering (a) what sort of topics in climate research would be likely to ensure a better chance of job security (post-Phd in consutancy or Post Doc in academia), (b) which universities would be more willing to offer financial support to student from LEDC's like India or Africa and (c) what age do most student begin working towards a PhD.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks very much !

Hi, I can't really comment on the specifics regarding climate change careers or funding, but many universities offer research in the climate change field eg:

http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cabot/research/

http://www.exeter.ac.uk/research/inspiring/keythemes/science/climate/

Students can begin at any age, but most typical in sciences is probably 21 to 28. In my lab group, the oldest PhD student started at age 33.

findaphd.com will show funding available to international students

Im old (37) and in my first year, but it's mostly irrelevant in the grand scheme IMHO. Your outputs will be the most important variable in your success. Most uni's run international student funding, so look around. I'll plug my own Uni they have a pretty big Environment department:

http://www.york.ac.uk/environment/postgraduate/mphil-phd/

Also, strategically speaking, you may want to look at a somewhat interdisciplinary vein of study if you are trying to set up good work prospects in industry / academia in the future. By that I mean throwing some social science into the mix (usually Economics or Politics), which is a good foundation for development oriented work, more specifically sustainable development, which is very "sexy" right now and attracts piles of funding...anything sustainability related to the climate really.

P.S. The process for me to go from "being interested" to "being on campus" took about one year (searching, sorting, applying all the while putting together a decent proposal.) so get cracking ;)