Biology Research Projects
Lorna's thoughts on...
Her favourite thing about their research programme
The freedom, there is little explicit direction on what to do. The MPhil programme means I have a lot more individual ownership over my project.
The Postgraduate Community at Newcastle
The community is diverse and friendly, the group I have joined ranges in MPhil students, PhD students, post-docs, research assistants, academics etc and they have all been really helpful in supporting me while I settle in. They are always happy to answer my 100 questions too.
Advice she would give to a prospective student
Any skill set you are worried you “aren’t good enough” at, you can be taught. It’s easy to teach skills, but you can’t teach someone to be interested and passionate about a subject. As long as you have that, you’ll be okay.
Newcastle is a great city - everything is in walkable distance.
Lizzie's thoughts on...
Choosing Newcastle
I was awarded an IAPETUS2 DTP Studentship and the PhD was hosted at Newcastle University
Skills she has gained throughout her research programme
The main skills I have gained through my research programme is stakeholder communication. I have a CASE partner, The Woodland Trust, and work alongside them to communicate my research to a variety of audiences such as woodland site managers, the conservation team and policy team. Newcastle University have also provided workshops on stakeholder engagement and outreach which have further supported my stakeholder communication skills. I would like to continue working in UK Woodland conservation after my PhD and the stakeholder engagement and communication skills I have gained through my PhD will be vital to achieving that aspiration.
One thing she wished she had known before starting
You have a lot of control over the direction of your PhD and you can choose to take the research in a direction that you're really passionate about and that interests you. For example, I really wanted to learn more about plant decomposition so designed a whole chapter of my PhD around it
I love how interdisciplinary and dynamic my research programme is.