Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/P020674/1
NERC Numerical Earth Science Modelling short course
Training Grant Award
- Lead Supervisor:
- Professor J van Hunen, Durham University, Earth Sciences
- Grant held at:
- Durham University, Earth Sciences
- Science Area:
- Earth
- Overall Classification:
- Earth
- ENRIs:
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Pollution and Waste
- Science Topics:
- Earth Resources
- Geohazards
- Hydrological Processes
- Mantle & Core Processes
- Volcanic Processes
- Abstract:
- Context and rationale This is a follow-up application of three previous NERC advanced training short course grants (NE/M006670/1, NE/N000617/1, NE/N01880X/1) entitled "NERC Numerical Earth Science Modelling (NNESMO) short course". These courses have been run at the end of March each year, and all previous courses have been filled to capacity with a long reserve list, showing a clear demand for this type of training. Almost every Earth Science discipline today uses numerical modelling as a research tool. Commercial or off-the-shelf software packages are often used, but such software may be a 'black box', giving limited scientific of computational understanding. This lack of deeper understanding increases the chance of errors and reduces the insight gained from the modelling. Based on an informal survey, knowledge and experience in numerical modelling amongst starting PhD students appears to be quite low and variable. This contrasts sharply with the numerical modelling skills required or desirable for many PhD projects. Modelling was also identified as the number-1 most wanted skill in the LWEC (Living With Environmental Change) 2012 report on skills gaps in the Environment Sector. Training content and format To bridge this gap in modelling skills, we propose to offer two 5-day residential short courses on numerical modelling principles and techniques for beginning and more advanced postgraduate students, to be held in March of 2018 and 2019. The main objective of this course is to help postgraduate students develop essential and fundamental numerical modelling skills, which can be applied during their PhD project and beyond. The course is divided into three parts: 1) A revision session on basic programming using bespoke online self-study materials. 2) A 3-day plenary session covering fundamental modelling concepts. 3) A one-day parallel session applying newly learned techniques to a topic of choice. Topics include: a. Groundwater flow and contaminant transport in porous media b. Landslides and avalanches c. Earthquakes d. Erosion, sedimentation, and landscape evolution e. Convection and diffusion of heat and chemicals f. Volcanic eruptions The Earth Science department is an ideal choice for running such course. It already runs an undergraduate modelling course for beginners with excellent student evaluation scores. Durham also has staff with state-of-the-art modelling expertise in all of the above-mentioned environmental research fields, and they will teach on this course. Furthermore, the University has all the required software, infrastructure, facilities, and equipment to run such a course for at least 30 participants. Learning outcomes The main objective of this course is to provide postgraduate students with the basic knowledge and confidence to enable them to go on to build and adapt their own numerical models for their research and to enable them to develop into active modellers, not just users of models. The proposed modelling course has the potential to prepare the next generation of UK Earth scientists for a research environment in which numerical modelling is a central and important component. Such a course is, to our knowledge, unique in the UK, and would attract postgraduate students from across the UK, as demonstrated by the high demand for the course in previous years.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/P020674/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Doctoral Training
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Advanced Training
This training grant award has a total value of £65,230
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Other Costs |
|---|
| £65,230 |
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