"On-the-ground" first-hand experience through fieldwork
An important aspect for some of our SSCP DTP students' PhD is engagement in fieldwork. Where possible, students are encouraged to explore opportunities out of the lab or office to gain knowledge, data, and hands-on experience to support their research. Fieldwork is conducted in many areas of the UK as well as around the world. Currently, excursions have taken our students to Costa Rica, Chile, Cornwall, India, Rwanda, South East Canada, Malaysian Borneo, South Georgia, the Pyrenees, Greece, Germany, Cyprus, the USA and Antarctica just to name a few.
Hear from some of our students who have completed fieldwork by clicking on the links below. We encourage our students to write an informative reflection post after they return from fieldwork so that others can learn from and share in their experiences.
Blog: George Burton, PhD student - A day in the life: a fieldworker’s voyage into the highlands of Guinea - Climate & Environment at Imperial
News piece: Nick Dunn, PhD student - Fieldwork in Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory
Blog: Jack Anderson, PhD student - Fieldwork at the highly-active Volcán de Colima in Mexico
Blog: Philip Chapman, PhD student - Fieldwork in Borneo, South East Asia
Fieldwork Photos
Jenna Lawson (Cohort 4) on fieldwork in Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, researching why the spider monkey is only found within a very limited distribution. The information gathered will be used by Jenna to design management strategies to increase their population size and distribution.
Ophelie Meuriot (Cohort 6): Six weeks onboard Royal Research Ship Discovery collecting data in the Atlantic Ocean. The trip took her to Punta Arenas, Chile.
Nick Dunn (Cohort 5) in Diego Garcia taking water samples for investigation into fish and elasmobranchs around the atoll using environmental DNA. Further info on this field trip available on this link.
Credit to Dan Bayley @DTIBayleyfor the Fiji photo (underwater) and David Curnick @DavidCurnick with the water sampling photo.
Fieldwork Photos
Alex Hughes (Cohort 2) investigating potential boulder sampling localities Ojai Valley, California
Aoife Cantwell-Jones (Cohort 7) investigating how bumblebees and their interactions with plants are affected by climatic variation.
Robert Allen (Cohort 3) instilling a temporary seismic land-station in the southern islands of the Lesser Antilles
Fieldwork Photos
Mark Boyd (Cohort 8) on fieldwork in Colorado, USA, looking for evidence of lightning strikes to understand the effects of environmental and climatic processes.
George Burton (cohort 8 pictured on the right) on fieldwork in the Fouta Djallon highlands of Guinea, West Africa.
Cally Ham (Cohort 2) putting GPS collars on badgers in Cornwall
Any questions?
For any queries related to our SSCP DTP studentships, please contact our Doctoral Training Coordinator, Christiane Morgan (c.morgan@imperial.ac.uk)
Climate & Environment at Imperial blog
Student blogs- Negotiating for nature: the biodiversity conference and key themes
- What I learned about teamwork in the Grantham Expedition Team
- Powering Africa: new model compares options for off-grid solar in 43 countries
- Biodiversity credits: key principles and UK strengths
- Carbon capture technology is key to deliver on the UAE Consensus
- Cycling: the untapped potential for improving our health (and the climate)