Student Resources

Guidelines and Handbooks
  • London NERC DTP – Brief Guide for Students 2016
  • NERC Specific DTP Guidance and Frequently Asked Questions
  • Research Council Training Grant Guide
  • UCL Academic Manual
  • UCL Doctoral School Codes of Practice
    • Useful links
  • London NERC DTP Moodle
  • UCL Doctoral School
  • Student Funding Office
  • Intellectual Property Information and Resources
  • Research Fish
  • NERC DTP Postgraduate Student Network (LinkedIn)
  • Twitter Follow-List for DTP Students
    • PhD Survival Guide
  • A PhD Survival Guide (2012)
  • – some brief advice for PhD students
  • The Thesis Whisperer
  • – a blog dedicated to helping research students everywhere
  • PhD Life
  • – a blog about the PhD experience
  • What I learned during my PhD
  • – a blog post by palaeontologist Jon Tennant about what he learned during his PhD
  • Advice to get you ready for your next conference
  • – a blog post by ecologist Jeremy Fox about preparing for a conference
  • How to give a science flash talk
  • – a article on SciDev.Net about how to give a great short science talk.
    • Tools and datasets
  • NERC Reserach facilities
  • – a list of all NERC-funded research facilities that are available to PhD students.
  • R Studio
  • – a very highly rated development environment for R, a programming language for statistical computing and graphics.
  • R for fledglings
  • – a short introduction to R and its utility in natural resource management
  • Data Camp – Beginner Statistics
  • – a free online course providing a hands-on introduction to statistics with R
  • Code Academy
  • – free online courses for several major coding languages including HTML, CSS, JQuery and JavaScript
  • iRecord App
  • – record any species on the go
  • Co$ting Nature
  • – a web-based tool for natural capital accounting and analysing the ecosystem services provided by natural environments
  • Water World
  • – a testbed for the development and implementation of land- and water-related policies for sites and regions globally
  • National Biodiversity Network’s Gateway
  • – a repository of biodiversity data from the UK.
  • MPAtlas
  • – a map of the World’s Marine Protected Areas.
  • Brevy
  • – add to a growing repository of summaries of published papers.
    • Training and Internships
  • NERC Research centre training programme
  • – a programme of training courses open to all NERC students.
  • NERC Advanced Training Short Courses
  • – individual training courses hosted across the UK, open to all NERC students.
  • UCL Information Services Division Digital Skills Development Courses
  • UKRI Policy Internships
  • – 3 months working at a policy organisation, annual competition
  • BES POST Fellowship
  • – 3 months working at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology.
  • Environment YES
  • – a team of 4 or 5 members work together to devise a business plan for a company based on hypothetical science.
    • Public Engagement
    Get Involved
  • UCL Brightclub
  • – training in public engagement through science comedy.
  • Famelab
  • – science communication competition.
  • PubhD London
  • – science talks in the pub.
  • The Brilliant Club
  • – tutor brilliant school children aged between 10 and 16.
  • I’m a Scientist
  • – online science engagement and outreach activities with children and young people.
  • London SciComm Socials
  • – fun, friendly meet-ups for everyone interested in science communication. .
  • STEMNetwork Ambassadors
  • – activities and events with young people to improve learning and enjoyment of STEM
  • NERC Public Engagement Training
  • Three minute thesis
  • – a competition that celebrates exciting research conducted by PhD students, and tests their ability to communicate concisesly.
  • Science Live
  • – connecting event organisers, volunteers and speakers to put on live science events, brought to you by the British Science Association.
  • List of Science Festivals in the UK (2017)
  • – a useful list of science festivals, which always need volunteers!

    • There may be opportunities to get involved in public engagement activities directly through the DTP, particularly at summer science events (e.g. Royal Society Summer Science, Cheltenham Science Festival, Einstein’s Garden) – please contact the NERC DTP Innovation Officer, Claire Asher for more details.

    Organise Your Own Event
  • UCL Beacon Bursaries
  • – grants of up to £2000, available to UCL staff and students.
  • Train and Engage
  • – grants of up to £1000, available to UCL staff and students after undertaking the training course.
  • Royal Society of Biology Regional Grant Scheme
  • – grants of £200 – £500, two rounds of applications per year in September and March.
  • Biochemical Society Science Outreach Grants
  • – grants of up to £1000, two rounds of applications per year in September and April.
    • Popular Writing

    Tips and Tools

  • The Association of British Science Writers
  • – expert advice, events and training
  • The Open Notebook
  • – expert advice and interviews, pitch database
  • The Writer: Readability Checker
  • – check how readable your writing is
  • EurekAlert
  • – press releases

    • Contribute

  • The Natural Environment Blog
  • – all DTP PhD students are welcome to contribute to our DTP blog
  • Sci Snack
  • – writing improvement for young and early career researchers
  • The Conversation
  • – students and academics can contribute
  • Bioweb.ie
  • – a place for enthusiasts of environmental, zoological and botanical-related fields to promote their work and themselves

    • Images

    Every good blog post needs images, but it can be hard to find copyright-free images. Here are some great places to start your search!

  • Wikimedia commons
  • – a great source of CC images of almost anything you can think of
  • Flickr commons
  • – make sure you search only the commons for copyright-free images
  • morgueFile
  • – free stock photography
  • Kalyan Varma
  • – beautiful creative commons wildlife photography
  • Phylopic
  • – free silhouette images of animals, plants and other lifeforms
  • NASA Image and Video Library
  • – free images and videos released by NASA
  • Wildscreen Exchange
  • – a global hub for conservation images and media

    • RSS NERC Research News

    • NERC invests £12 million to improve climate change predictions October 8, 2018
      Today, NERC announces it is investing in a new large-scale strategic research programme - Reducing Uncertainties in Climate Models due to Clouds.
    • Natural capital reports September 18, 2018
      Four new reports on natural capital have been published which will enable governments and businesses to take an evidence-based approach to valuing the UK's natural assets.
    • AO: EEF Initiative 2018 September 13, 2018
      NERC is inviting proposals for research projects costing up to £100,000 (100% full economic cost), and up to 12 months' duration under the Environmental Evidence for the Future initiative.
    • Call for ideas for strategic research August 27, 2018
      This is your last chance to submit ideas for this year's strategic programme areas. The cut-off date for submission is 6 September 2018.
    • 2019 Annual science meeting August 9, 2018
      All researchers directly involved in the Changing Arctic Ocean (CAO) programme, either through research grant awards or CAO programme management, are invited to the annual science meeting on 15-16 January 2019 with additional meetings and workshops on 17 January 2019 at the Novotel Birmingham Centre.

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