Undergraduate Vacation Scholarships
Ever wanted to find out what research is really like? Vacation Scholarships provide paid opportunities for undergraduates to work on their own research project in animal behaviour during the summer. They are a great way to get some laboratory and field experience, and can help you decide on your future career path.
You will be guided and supervised by Centre members in the design of your experiments, collection of data, analysis, and possibly even writing up your study for publication in a journal! However, the research will be done by you, and you will be encouraged to think independently about the direction of your project.
Current Projects for Summer 2011
Evolution of Aerobatics
Flies are a very diverse, interesting group of animals. A key to their success is an ability to fly fast, to hover, and change direction many times a second. True flies are characterised by having hind wings modified into gyroscopic balancing organs, the halteres. Although the function of halteres in one or two species has been the focus of research, a systematic survey of halteres in different fly families has not been made. Is there a progression in shape and complement of sense organs in the halteres that correlates with evolutionary radiation in flies? Is there a correlation between aerobatic ability and haltere size or complexity? This project involves collecting flies from different habitats, and then examining, photographing and recording halteres using microscopy.
Contact: Peter Simmons, p.j.simmons@ncl.ac.uk
Do brains of hungry chickens show signs of depression?
Chickens bred for meat (broilers) grow at an amazing rate. However, this has effects on their reproductive system. So in order to have a next generation of broilers, a proportion of the birds (the broiler breeders) are severely food restricted to keep them reproductively healthy. But how do these birds feel about being chronically hungry? In this project in collaboration with the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, you will be looking at the brains of food restricted and well-fed broiler chickens to look for markers indicating whether the chickens were in a depressive-like state or not. The project involves sectioning brains, staining them, and counting cells under a microscope.
Supervisor: Tom Smulders, tom.smulders@ncl.ac.uk
The evolution of bitter taste and toxicity
Bitter taste receptors are found across a wide range of animals, from insects to humans. They have evolved in order to detect toxins, which can lead to illness and even death in extreme cases. Being able to detect toxins prior to ingestion allow animals to taste-reject food on the basis of its toxicity, and also learn to regulate their toxin intake. This project will use Drosophilia to test how taste rejection behaviour and ability to eat toxins might co-evolve. Although Drosophila might seem a bit small and dull for behavioural work (e.g. compared to meerkats!), they have the benefits of being easy to keep, known receptor types, and also have fast generation times allowing us to ‘evolve’ different traits throughout the project.
Contact: Dr Candy Rowe, candy.rowe@ncl.ac.uk (project with Jeri Wright)
Praying mantids: do they taste the difference?
Praying mantids are verocious predators, and incredible to watch stalking and hunting prey. Although there’s been a lot of work done on their visual system, we know very little about how they use taste when deciding what to eat. This project will investigate how they detect bitter tasting chemicals, and how bitter-tasting toxins might help save the lives of the prey they’re hunting. You will conduct behavioural experiments using live mantids and insect prey to ask questions about the evolution of prey defences, and particularly the evolution of aposematism and mimicry.
Contact: Dr Candy Rowe, candy.rowe@ncl.ac.uk
Seabird foraging behaviour
Breeding seabirds are very conspicuous as most species are colonial. As such, gathering information from the nest site is relatively easy e.g. reproductive success. However, their behaviour while at sea is much more challenging to study. Using technology, we are gradually finding out more about the behaviour of these animals whilst they are away from their island colonies. Over the past few years we have been studying the seabirds that breed on the Farne Islands particularly the Arctic terns, Kittiwakes, Atlantic Shags and Puffins. We have a wide range of potential projects that can be undertaken including;
- using GPS to study the at-sea spatial movements of kittiwakes
- monitoring the nest attendance of puffins
- investigating the effects of tourist disturbance on reproductive success of seabirds
These are just a few examples and projects can be modified to encompass the interests of the students
Contact: Richard Bevan, r.m.bevan@ncl.ac.uk
Spatial movements of wild goats
The Cheviot Hills, and College Valley in particular, are home to a population of wild goats and they are seen as both an asset to the area and as a pest species. Crucial to the management of the goats is knowing where the animals roam and what they do; especially where and what they eat. While it is possible to monitor some of the animals when they are in open areas, they can be very difficult to follow even during the day; during the night it is impossible to know where they go. This project would use GPS technology and visual observations to record the daily movements and behaviour of these animals during the summer. An application will also be made to the Sir James Knott Trust College Valley Bursary Scheme to support the work
Contact: Richard Bevan, r.m.bevan@ncl.ac.uk
How to Apply
Email one of the above project supervisors to check your eligibility for the scheme, and that places are still available. They will then discuss the schemes with you and help you develop your own research project in these areas. The deadlines for these schemes are early in the New Year, and you need to fill in an application form that outlines the aims of the project and the methods you will use. So you need to start the process as soon as possible, and ideally contact a supervisor before Christmas.
For more details of the schemes and application procedures, see the following pages (please note that the deadlines are all in early 2011):
- Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour Undergraduate Project Scholarships Open to all undergraduates - £150 per week (+£40pw research expenses) for between 1-8 weeks - Deadline 1st March 2011
- Nuffield Undergraduate Bursaries in Science Scheme for students in their second year - £180 per week for between 6-8 weeks - Deadline 9th February 2011
- Universities Federation for Animal Welfare Student Scholarship Open to all undergraduates - £170 per week (+£30 pw research expenses) for up to six weeks - Deadline 28th February 2011
- University of Newcastle Vacation Scholarships Students should preferably be in their second year - £180 per week for projects lasting between 6 and 8 weeks – Deadline early March 2011 (TBC)
- Wellcome Trust Biomedical Vacation Scholarships- Open to second-year students - £180 per week for up to eight weeks work. Deadline 11th February 2011.
