Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/L002531/1
SPITFIRE - the Southampton Partnership for Innovative Training of Future Investigators Researching the Environment
Training Grant Award
- Lead Supervisor:
- Professor A Cundy, University of Southampton, Sch of Ocean and Earth Science
- Grant held at:
- University of Southampton, Sch of Ocean and Earth Science
- Science Area:
- Atmospheric
- Earth
- Freshwater
- Marine
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Marine
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Pollution and Waste
- Science Topics:
- None
- Abstract:
- A knowledge-based economy can only maintain its position in a global society if it is at the forefront of scientific and technical expertise. Marine, Earth and environmental science has long-played a major role in the UK economy and will continue to drive wealth and knowledge generation in the future. Making informed responses and finding solutions to challenges as varied as climate change, natural hazards, biodiversity loss, energy generation and the search for strategic mineral resources relies on developing a supply of highly-qualified and well-educated young scientists and technologists. Hence, training the next generation of leaders in these fields is arguably the most important function of an environmental research organisation. To meet this requirement we propose to the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), a multidisciplinary Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) to fund the training and development of 30 PhD students per year for five years: The Southampton Partnership for Innovative Training of Future Investigators Researching the Environment "SPITFIRE" - this name reflects the production of the famous aircraft within sight of the hub of our proposed partnership. SPITFIRE is distinctive because: 1) It brings together ~550 PhD supervisors from 10 leading science and engineering groups within the University of Southampton (UoS) and nine major UK research organisations based in the south of England, the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), Marine Biological Association (MBA), Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (SAHFOS), Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), Natural History Museum (NHM), & HR Wallingford (HRW), with over 30 Industrial partners, ~35 premier international universities and research centres, and 7 Science Policy and Development partners. 2) We will build on the foundation of the Graduate School of the National Oceanography Centre Southampton (GSNOCS) - a long-standing, successful, collaboration between co-located scientists of the UoS and NERC's National Oceanography Centre (NOC). Starting from this model, with its track record of excellence in graduate research, training and development, SPITFIRE will be an innovative, deliberately broad and multidisciplinary partnership. Students will be trained to tackle challenges across NERC's headline priorities (Environmental Hazards, Environmental Change, and Natural Resource Management) and emerge equipped to lead the search for solutions to major societal problems. Our aims are: (1) To produce effective scientists for the 21st century by skilling them to exploit and develop new technologies that are revolutionizing environmental research and are revealing hitherto unknown connections in the environment that provide quantitative estimates of risk and better inform decision making (e.g., autonomous vehicles and sensors, analysis of data sets so large and complex that they overwhelm traditional approaches). (2) To broaden individual horizons, build a cohesive student community and enable students to experience research in world-class national and international scientific institutions. (3) To provide industrial/commercial internship and Science Policy placement opportunities with our Industrial, CASE and Policy partners that will enhance entrepreneurship, business, policy development and public engagement with science skills thus benefitting the research and career prospects of our students. We will combine with proposed PhD partnerships led by the Universities of Bristol and Oxford to form the Wessex Doctoral Training Network that will include an Annual Student Congress, world-class short courses and summer schools, creating a vibrant wider community of scientists and providing further opportunities for peer-to-peer learning, employer engagement, and the development of future research leaders.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/L002531/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Doctoral Training
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- DTP 2013
This training grant award has a total value of £7,107,479
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - DSA | Total - Other Costs | Total - Fees | Total - Student Stipend | Total - RTSG |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £3,458 | £358,791 | £1,315,769 | £4,593,463 | £836,001 |
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