Research students outside of the Geoffrey Pope building.

Biosciences welcomes new PhD and Master’s students

The University of Exeter welcomed new postgraduate research students from the UK and abroad this September, who will be completing twenty-nine PhD and twenty-seven Master’s programmes at the Department of Biosciences. These students are spread between the Streatham and Penryn campuses, and will be conducting cutting-edge research with support of leading academics.

This research is expected to contribute to advancing knowledge in a range of fields, from the effects of NanoDrugs on aquatic life, to defining the lifestyle of an obligate aerobic pathogen. Their projects are being funded from several sources including national and international research grants, scholarships, charities, government agencies and non-governmental organisations.

A key concern for many students undertaking postgraduate study is funding. Tansy Billingham, a new PhD student in Dr. Alan Brown and Dr. Clive Butler’s laboratory, obtained funding under the BBSRC SWDTP scheme. She said, “The process to obtain funding was very competitive but my supervisors were so supportive and helped me to prepare. We had to present the plan for our research to a panel and out of 12 candidates, 4 got funded. The SWDTP scheme is a fantastic opportunity, and I would encourage someone considering a PhD to go for it”.

Several students indicated that one of the reasons they selected the University of Exeter was because of its reputation as a leader in innovative and impactful research. Others relished the opportunity to utilise state-of-the-art facilities located on the University’s beautiful campuses. “It's exciting to be given a research project and after a little training, be able to go about it independently. Being ‘let loose’ on the spinning disc microscope has been the highlight so far” was just one of the positive comments received from new student James Marks, new MRes student in Dr. James Wakefield’s laboratory.

Tom Jenkins, a new PhD student studying population genetics said, “I chose Exeter mainly because the PhD title completely matched my interests and ambitions. I want to take the PhD and continue in the field to become an expert in the field of population genetics. One of my aims through the PhD is to feed my research into policy and management”.

Katherine Maltby, studying fisheries ecology and climate change, is excited to be conducting her research in Exeter. “I'm looking forward to working with local fishing communities and finding out what climate change means to them, which I can then use to hopefully produce research that has a useful, 'real world' output”, she stated. “It's also a pretty cool place to undertake fisheries research given the amount of fishing ports in the region!”

For more information on the students and their projects visit our PGR students webpage.

Date: 5 November 2014

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