Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/L002493/1
Central England NERC Training Alliance (CENTA)
Training Grant Award
- Lead Supervisor:
- Dr S Greene, University of Birmingham, Sch of Geography, Earth & Env Sciences
- Grant held at:
- University of Birmingham, Sch of Geography, Earth & Env Sciences
- 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:
- None
- Abstract:
- CENTA is a geographically and scientifically coherent consortium offering a wide range of excellent NERC science embedded in a vibrant multidisciplinary environment. The Universities (Birmingham, Leicester, Loughborough, Open and Warwick) and Institutes (British Geological Survey and Centre for Ecology and Hydrology) have a strong track record of producing PhD graduates fit for further research or other relevant employment. We will advance PhD training significantly by offering broad and holistic educational opportunities in the environmental sciences, including innovative approaches to cohort training, supported by the Open University's Virtual Research Environment learning platform. Where we offer leading national capability, we will offer training to other NERC consortia in addition to CENTA students. We are match-funding this bid for 20 studentships annually. CENTA defines its four areas of science excellence as follows: 1) Anthropogenic impacts and environmental sustainability. Key areas of strength include pollutants in the atmosphere and terrestrial hydrosphere, hydrogeology, hydroecology, atmospheric chemistry, nanoparticles in the environment and remotely sensed observations of the climate system. 2) Evolution of organisms and ecosystems. Key areas of strength include modern and ancient ecosystems, responses to environmental change, vertebrates, exceptional preservation, micropalaeontology. 3) Dynamic Earth. Key areas of strength include magma dynamics, tectonics, Earth surface processes, rates and timescales of geological processes, palaeoenvironments and palaeoclimates, all underpinned by cross-cutting excellence in geochemistry. 4) Organisms, 'omics and biogeochemical cycling. Key areas of strength include microbial processes in global biogeochemical cycles and genomic approaches to aquatic ecotoxicology. CENTA institutions are matching the funding that they are requesting from NERC including a cash input of around #1.2 M per year permitting a 75% increase in the number of students in the programme as well as fully-costed training provision. The financial model ring-fences the key costs of administration and research student expenses to protect the smooth running of the consortium. The match-funding arrangement allows the individual priorities of institutions to be expressed without harming the collective CENTA ethos or the focus on student excellence during recruitment. In the new training portfolio, there will be a step-change in the experiences offered to PhD students with support for supervisors engaged in this enhanced training agenda and drawing on its extensive existing postgraduate training as well as many new bespoke offerings. Through, shared training in a cohort with diverse backgrounds we will facilitate peer-topeer learning. Sixty days of front-loaded formal skills training per student will be balanced between our science excellence, Vitae's Researcher Development Framework and the NERC-led "Most Wanted" reports. Hence students' skills and insight will be rapidly developed making them fully aware of the range of approaches that they can choose to implement in their research. All students will also be given an opportunity to develop an extended placement, either in a different research laboratory, or in a different arena (e.g. industry, government, media). CENTA is well-placed to provide a multidisciplinary training and research environment in environmental science, combining NERC led research with a wide range of activity funded by other research councils, the EU and industry, having in-house expertise in environmental social science and departmental affiliations in the physical, bio- and geo-sciences as well as engineering.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/L002493/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Doctoral Training
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- DTP 2013
This training grant award has a total value of £5,715,541
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - DSA | Total - Other Costs | Total - Fees | Total - Student Stipend | Total - RTSG |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £9,267 | £362,760 | £1,077,976 | £3,605,538 | £660,000 |
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