Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/X009262/1
3D and 4D imaging - key skills for the Earth, Environmental & Planetary Sciences
Training Grant Award
- Lead Supervisor:
- Dr K Dobson, University of Strathclyde, Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Grant held at:
- University of Strathclyde, Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Science Area:
- Atmospheric
- Earth
- Freshwater
- Marine
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Earth
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Pollution and Waste
- Science Topics:
- Earth & environmental
- Soil science
- Earth Engineering
- Earth Resources
- Hydrological Processes
- Abstract:
- Improving our understanding the natural world, especially how it has evolved, how it continues to evolve, and how it will respond to human impacts and climate change are key goals across all earth & environmental researchers. Across the NERC research portfolio, understanding how something has changed is often just as important as knowing how much it has changed. Over the last decade, the development of very powerful 3D & 4D imaging tomographic techniques that allow us to see inside our samples without destroying them. This capability has proved transformative for materials characterisation and understanding materials evolution across materials science & engineering, and has driven major UKRI capital investment into both local & central analytical facilities like the EPSRC-National X-ray Tomography Facility, and an upgrade to the Diamond Light Source (DLS). These 3D and 4D methods are just as powerful for understanding the internal structures of rocks, soils, ice, plants, and how these evolve. However, despite the expansion of the national infrastructure improving accessibility for all, a skills & knowledge gap has meant 3D & 4D imaging remains underexploited across the earth, environmental & planetary science communities. This training programme aims to increase the high level skills in these techniques and in the analysis, interpretation & application of the data collected by them. Research applications range from agriculture and soil carbon to planetary formation, from volcanology to environmental remediation, from managing the energy transition to understanding the evolution of early life. The course aims to give all NERC researchers the skills and expertise to exploit these techniques fully. The 5 day course covers a unique combination of the underpinning theory, data acquisition (with practical experience in the UK's largest imaging suite), experimental design & optimisation (with training in cutting-edge in situ apparatus), image processing, data analysis & interpretation, and application of these data for advanced modelling. All the course materials are tailored to the materials, processes & challenges faced by the NERC community. Having gained the key skills from concept to output, students get to reinforce and develop what they have learned by applying it to their own data. To drive widening access to both skills & analytical capability we offer all students the chance to collect a 3D data set to support their own research, and the skills to secure future access to local & national facilities. Students are also given a set of advanced tutorials to support ongoing learning. We know (community consultation) that the skills gap is a barrier to new users gaining analytical facility access, so we also all unsuccessful applicants a consultation to support their skills development & future engagement with suitable imaging facilities. Alongside developing key cross-disciplinary data management, numeracy, and statistical analysis, the course will see all students able to plan & deliver tomography-based experimental programmes, secure access to the key UKRI infrastructure needed to complete these programmes, and use cutting-edge image based quantitative analysis and image-based modelling to help understand the natural world. By delivering skills in project design, data management, computing & statistical analysis the course will see all students able to plan and complete tomography-based experimental programmes, secure the required access to the key UKRI infrastructure to complete them, and use cutting-edge image based quantitative analysis & image-based modelling to help understand the natural world. This will enable research innovation for the community, generate impact and improved engagement with end users, and deliver graduates with key skills identified by over 100 leading UK based employers, both within and beyond the earth and environmental sectors.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/X009262/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Doctoral Training
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Advanced Training
This training grant award has a total value of £48,009
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Other Costs |
|---|
| £48,009 |
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