Student Hub ( ESO )

Project remit: Are you interested in completing a summer project linking quantitative skills with a question about environmental science?

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) recognises that there is a shortage of individuals with quantitative skills coming into environmental science. The REPs are aimed at addressing this shortage by offering funding for summer placements, which focus on encouraging undergraduate students who are studying quantitative disciplines to consider a career in environmental research.

Projects could be available with:
Professor Eric Holub - Ecological genetics of plant-microbe interactions
Dr Hendrik Schäfer - Microbial sulfur cycling in oceans and soils
Dr Patrick Schäfer - Mutualistic symbioses
Dr Rosemary Collier - Insect biology
Dr Yin Chen - Methylated amine metabolism in marine organisms
Dr Kevin Purdy - Microbial ecology

Professor Elizabeth Wellington - Understanding the ecological roles for specific bacterial activities, including antibiotic production
Dr Gary Bending - Microbial diversity in soils, mycorrhizas
Professor Charles Sheppard - Marine environmental research
Dr Robin Allaby - Plant evolution research
Claudia Blindauer 
Christie-Oleza, Joseph;
Professor Laura Green - Epidemiology of infectious and non infectious diseases in livestock

Eligibility of students

Selected students must meet all of the following criteria. They must:

· Have at least a grade C in Mathematics at A level (or equivalent in Scotland).

· Be studying for a degree in a quantitative discipline (eg mathematics, statistics, computing, engineering, physics).

· Be undertaking the placement in a different department to their undergraduate degree.

· Be in the middle of their first degree studies (or integrated Masters).

· Be expected to obtain a first or upper second class UK honours degree.

· Be eligible for subsequent NERC PhD funding (UK, EU or right to remain in the UK).

Responsibilities of the awarding organisation

The awarding organisation is responsible for administering all aspects of the award, including:

· Selecting a suitable undergraduate student - see eligibility criteria.

· Identifying a suitable project which falls within the NERC remit.

· Ensuring that appropriate supervisory arrangements are in place.

· Ensuring that any necessary ethical committee approvals, animal licences and requirements of regulatory authorities are in place before the work begins and are maintained during the duration of the work.

· The identification, protection and exploitation of any intellectual property rights arising from the work.

· Ensuring that all facilities, agreements about access and collaborations necessary for the work are obtained before the work commences and can be ensured through the period of the work.

· Ensuring that all costs awarded by NERC for the REP are used and accounted for appropriately.

· Ensuring that details and assessment of the project are reported to NERC, as directed in the allocation letter or subsequent correspondence.

Research projects

Proposed projects must:

· Have a clearly defined objective.

· Be within the remit of NERC.

· Be suitable for a student to sensibly complete within the timescale of the award.

· Include more that purely a computer/modelling component; ie some element of fieldwork, data collection, activity to give an understanding of the wider context, etc.

· Give scope for thought and initiative on the part of the student and should not use the student as a general assistant.

· Be based at the UK organisation.

Placement details, funding and reporting

· Each REP should be for a minimum of eight weeks (and a maximum of ten weeks) during the 2013 summer vacation. The value of each REP is £2,500 to cover the minimum stipend of £200 per week to the student and a contribution towards research expenses during the placement.

· Organisations could choose to support three REPs (at a minimum of eight weeks each) but within the overall funding limit of £5,000. Any other funds should be found from other sources (for example, the department) and in all cases students should receive a minimum stipend of £200 per week.

· The student and organisation will be required to submit a brief report on the outcome of the placement to NERC by 31 October 2013.