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Call out for project proposals

Are you a start-up, SME or third sector organisation looking for PhD student support?

The ECCI NERC Consultancy Programme connects businesses, start-ups/SMEs and third sector organisations with a NERC-funded PhD student, to undertake meaningful research projects connected to climate change.

With a focus on geosciences, the students' areas of expertise typically include: mapping and modelling, extreme weather events, ecology and epidemiology, climate risk and adaptation, hydrogen storage, land use and agriculture, global food systems and behaviour change.

All internships are fully funded, with no cost to the host, and run from November 2024 - May 2025. Placements may be conducted in parts remotely. The placement duration is 10 days over a maximum 10 weeks.

Past host organisations span a broad range of sectors and include AstroAgency, ClimateXChange, Peatland Land Managers Association, PropEco, Planetary AI, Wave Energy Scotland, Royal Botanical Gardens Kew, Scottish Carbon Capture & Storage and Seawater Solutions. All past host organisations agree that the placements added value to their business and almost all would host another PhD student in the future.

The programme is part of the Edinburgh Earth, Ecology and Environment Doctoral Training Partnership (E4 DTP), led by the School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh. Funded by NERC, NERC E4 DTP brings together 28 partners and more than 200 supervisors. Collectively, their research expertise spans the full spectrum of earth and environmental sciences.

Successful 2023/24 programme

A total of 10 internships were successfully delivered in 2023/24, matching PhD candidates with a range of industry partners in NERC priotiy areas.

Feedback was very positive, with all PhD participants confirming that the internship will be useful for their future career and reporting that they learned new skills (including technical skills like developing code, gaining more insights into their specific field of research as well as transferable skills like communication, project management, networking and stakeholder engagement).

“I had a really positive experience. I was able to apply skills I already had to a policy-oriented environment which I had little experience of before.” - PhD candidate
“The 10-day placement was a really helpful experience, giving me an insight into how the methods and concepts from my PhD can be applied within a commercial setting. Meeting and interacting with people outside of academia is also always refreshing!” - PhD candidate
“The programme provided a way for us as a company to progress some early-stage R&D in an efficient and effective manner. The process was light touch and appropriate for this level of work. Our PhD student was excellent. I would not hesitate to use this programme again.” - Host organisation

Submit project proposals

Could your organisation benefit from PhD student support and expertise, at no cost?

  • All internships are fully funded, with no cost to the business, and run from November 2024 - May 2025.
  • Placements may be conducted in parts remotely.
  • The placement duration is 10 days over maximum 10 weeks.

Complete the simple online application by Tuesday 5 November.