… brought to you by Earth System Science (ESS) and Cambridge Climate, Life and Earth (C-CLEAR) DTP students. This is a series of blogs written by PhD students involved in the NERC Doctoral Training Partnerships at Cambridge. They have a diverse range of expertise and research areas, with students from the British Antarctic Survey and the University of Cambridge in the following departments: Archaeology, Chemistry, DAMTP, Earth Sciences, Genetics, Geography, Plant Sciences and Zoology.
By Mairenn Attwood, PhD student in the department of Zoology.
It’s an hour after sunrise, and an African cuckoo chick has just hatched. But it hasn’t hatched in an African cuckoo nest: instead of building their own nests, cuckoo parents lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. This chick has hatched in the nest of a fork-tailed drongo, and is sharing the space … Continue reading
By Ellie Wilding, PhD student in the Department of Plant Sciences
If I say the word “Savanna”, I am sure you – like I did – think of vast, Lion King-esque African plains, bursting at the seams with lions and elephants, Timone and Pumba. Over the course of this summer field season, I have been deep in the long grass, look at the soil of … Continue reading
By Brett Wilson, PhD student in the Department of Plant Sciences
During my early student life I never thought I would work in Central Asia, to be honest I knew very little about this region and its people; I would have even struggled to point to many of the countries on a map. It was one of the few regions not discussed in Geography classes, … Continue reading
By Tom Jameson, PhD student in the Department of Zoology
Guuranda, the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia, is a landscape of gently rolling hills, vast fields of grain stubble and dusty sheep. As you approach the coast remnant patches of native shrub give way to sand dunes and mangroves, white sand beaches and an azure sea. At the very tip of the Peninsula lies … Continue reading
By Karla Boxall, PhD Student in Polar Studies at the Scott Polar Research Institute
COP, or Conference of the Parties, is the UN-organised Climate Change conference that all countries attend with the purpose of tackling climate change. COP 26, held in Glasgow, was of particular importance under the Paris Agreement agreed upon at COP 21 in 2015. The Paris Agreement was monumental in that it … Continue reading
By Kate Howlett, PhD student in the Department of Zoology
In the third year of my PhD in zoology, I took some time out to work as a Postgraduate Fellow at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST). This placement is offered as part of the UKRI Policy Internship Scheme, available to PhD students funded by UKRI Research Councils, and POST is just … Continue reading
By Carrie Soderman, PhD student in Earth Sciences
From February to April this year, in the midst of lockdown and halfway through the third year of my PhD, I took 3 months away from geochemistry to work with the Environmental Audit Committee, a House of Commons Select Committee. This opportunity was part of an amazing policy internship scheme run by UKRI, who oversee the funding … Continue reading
By Emily Tilby, PhD student in the Department of Archaeology
One of the things that encouraged me to apply for a PhD with the ESS (now C-CLEAR) NERC DTP in Cambridge was the option to take part in various training and development opportunities throughout my PhD, one of these being the UKRI policy internships scheme. I attended the policy workshop run by CSaP as part … Continue reading
By Kate Howlett, PhD student at the Museum of Zoology
Wildlife, children and happiness. Not three words you usually think of as being in the same sentence, I’d wager. But this is, broadly speaking, my PhD project in a nutshell. Not your average project funded by an Earth Science DTP, but here I am, two years in, and no one’s called me out yet. I’m … Continue reading
By Steve Pugh, PhD Student in the Department of Earth Sciences
It sounds exciting doesn’t it. Deep Earth Explorer conjures up images of caves, abseiling and the like. It’s actually a pseudonym I have taken on, alongside my colleagues, in designing a museum exhibit about our research. As a PhD student in the Department of Earth Sciences, … Continue reading