Undergraduate – Research Placements & Opportunities
Research Experience Placements
Now closed - Applications for REP Projects 2020
The next round for applications will be announced next year around March. Below a list of projects advertised for 2020.
REP Projects 2020
Machine learning analysis of micro-scale industrial energy systems
Project Description: View the machine learning project description (PDF)
Supervisor: Gbemi Oluleye
Department/Institution: Centre for Environmental Policy/Imperial College London
Phytophthora communities in UK nurseries: understanding the role of traits, biotic interactions and nursery management in pathogen invasions
Project description: View the Phytophthora project description (PDF)
Supervisor: Louise Barwell
Department/Institution: UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology/Biodiversity (Population Ecology Group)
Investigating shoreline changes using freely available archives of satellite image data
Project description: View the shoreline changes project description (PDF)
Supervisor: Matt Piggott
Department/Institution: Earth Science and Engineering/Imperial College London
Do habitat and distributional traits predict which European mosquito species vector important viruses?
Project description: View the European mosquito project description (PDF)
Supervisor: Bethan Purse
Department/Institution: UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology/Biodiversity Science Area
Previous Projects
These are some of the projects students worked on in previous years:
| Project Title | Department/Organisation |
|---|---|
| EcoBuilder: an ecosystem dynamics game | Life Sciences |
| Tackling xenobiotic reistance in agriculture: implications for carbon emissions | Institute of Zoology |
| Risk analysis of nanomaterials in the environment | Materials |
| Machine learning analysis of energy storage data | Dyson School of Design |
| Is the geomagnetic field dipolar at high-latitudes | Earth Sciene & Engineering |
| Low-cost wireless sensor networks for river flow monitoring | Civil & Environmental Engineering |
| Techno-economic analysis of biorefineries fuelled by sugar beet pulp | Chemical Engineering |
| Where are the missing grasses? | Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew |
| Developing a Bayesian framework for modelling repetitive element evolution | Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew |
| Biogas conversion in oxygen separation membranes | Earth Science & Engineering |
| Plate reconstructions in the South Atlantic | Earth Science & Engineering |
| Probabilistic assessment of tsunami hazard to the UK | Earth Science & Engineering |
| Uncertainty quantification and parameter estimation in environmental fluid dynamics | Earth Science & Engineering |
| An investigation of the characteristics of visits to National Trails | Natural England |
REP Eligibility Criteria
Student eligibility
Students are subject to eligibility criteria to be able to apply for NERC REPs. Selected students must meet all of the following criteria to be eligible for a REP. The students must:
- Be studying for an undergraduate degree in a quantitative discipline outside of NERC's scientific remit (eg mathematics, statistics, computing, engineering, physics).
- Be applying for a placement in a different department to their undergraduate degree.
- Be undertaking their first undergraduate 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 (ie UK, EU or right to remain in the UK).
Research project criteria
Proposed REP student projects are also subject to suitability criteria. Proposed projects must:
- Have a clearly defined objective.
- Be within the science remit of NERC.
- Be suitable for a student feasibly to complete within the timescale of the award.
- Include more than 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 an eligible UK research organisation.