The NERC Research Experience Placement (REP) scheme is intended to encourage students to consider a career in the environmental sciences through funding to support paid summer placements for undergraduate students. Students will carry out research projects within the environmental sciences and should express an interest in pursuing an environmental sciences career.
We particularly welcome applications from student groups that are typically underrepresented within the Higher Education pathways. These could include (but are not limited to) students from ethnic minorities, those with a disability or from low-income backgrounds.
CENTA has received funding from NERC to host Research Experience Placements in summer 2024. These include projects at a number of our partner institutions which are open to all eligible undergraduates, and Research Experience Placements for undergraduate students from Minority Ethnic backgrounds who are home-fee eligible.
- Applications to our Research Experience Placements for undergraduate students from Minority Ethnic backgrounds who are home-fee eligible are now open.
- Applications to specific Research Experience Placement projects at our partner institutions, for any undergraduate students meeting the general eligibility criteria, are now open. We will be adding further projects to this webpage over the next week so please keep checking back..
What do I need to know about the Research Experience Placement (REP) Scheme?
- CENTA is normally able to offer approximately 5 – 8 Research Experience Placements each year across our CENTA partner institutions. Please note not all our partner institutions are able to host placements and those partners which do host placements may vary from year to year. (*** The number of placements we are able to offer will also vary each year dependent on the allocation we receive from NERC).
- Projects are advertised internally in those of our partner institutions who are hosting placements, as well as on this webpage. We expect that applications will be open from late April 2024, with closing dates later in May or in early June.
- The interview and selection process will be undertaken by the host institution, who will notify the successful candidate and put in place the arrangements for the placement. Please check with the host institution for timescales and deadlines.
- Successful candidates will commence their REPs after the end of the undergraduate summer term 2024.
- Duration of the placements will be 6 weeks.
- Placements may be carried out on a full-time or part-time basis.
- It is a requirement that all successful candidates complete an online report at the end of their placement.
- Students will be paid the appropriate National Minimum Wage rate (for those 22 and under) or National Living Wage rate (for those 23 and over) and where necessary receive a contribution towards research and training expenses of up to £500 during the placement. There are no further funds available for relocation or living expenses.
General Eligibility of participating undergraduate students
Students are subject to eligibility criteria to be able to apply for NERC REPs and must be:
- Undertaking their first undergraduate degree studies (or integrated Masters).
- Note: students in their final year who have graduated and no longer have student status at the time of the placement start are not eligible.
- Eligible for subsequent NERC PhD funding (see the relevant text in the UKRI Terms and Conditions for Training Grants and associated guidance for further information).
Read about one of our previous REP placements
Two undergraduate students who undertook a placement with the National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) have written about their experiences in this blog post for the NCEO. Read about the work they carried out on testing spectrometers for the Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Monitoring Network, what it was like to work for the NCEO and the other opportunities they were able to experience.
Research Experience Placements at our Partner Institutions
We have the following placement projects available at our partner institutions. Please click on the arrow next to each placement to view full details.
Loughborough University: The ecological recovery of macroinvertebrate communities in agricultural sediment ponds to sedimentation events and desilting activities
Loughborough University have an exciting project available examining the response of aquatic macroinvertebrate communities to sedimentation events and desilting activities in agricultural sediment ponds. This project will involve fieldwork in Herefordshire and laboratory work in Loughborough. The project will contribute to wider research being conducted by the research group on the ecological and conservation value of sediment ponds, which to date have seen an absence of ecological studies.
For the full details on this project please view the project description.
To apply for this placement you will need to:
- Complete the REP placement application form 2024.
- Submit a CV alongside your application, CVs should not be longer than 2 pages.
- Complete the REP EDI survey, entering the receipt number into your application form.
Your application should be emailed to [email protected] by 23:59, Tuesday 21st May 2024. If you have any questions about this project please contact the supervisors listed in the project description.
All applicants must meet our general eligibility criteria for undergraduate students.
NCEO: Atmospheric spectroscopy: Using spectral simulations to investigate uncertainties in multispectrum non-linear least-squares fitting
The NCEO will host one REP placement, for which this is one of two possible projects.
This project will investigate uncertainties in spectroscopic line parameters needed for the remote sensing of atmospheric trace gases. An accurate knowledge of molecular spectroscopy is a fundamental requirement to interpret measurements of the Earth’s atmosphere that taken by a large number of satellite instruments.
For the full details on this project please view the project description.
To apply for this placement you will need to:
- Complete the REP placement application form 2024.
- Submit a CV alongside your application, CVs should not be longer than 2 pages.
- Complete the REP EDI survey, entering the receipt number into your application form.
Your application should be emailed to [email protected] by 23:59, Tuesday 21st May 2024. If you have any questions about this project please contact the supervisors listed in the project description.
All applicants must meet our general eligibility criteria for undergraduate students.
NCEO: Developing an environmental Digital Twin demonstrator for outreach applications
The NCEO will host one REP placement, for which this is one of two possible projects.
This project focuses on the development of an environmental Digital Twin demonstrator to be used in science communication and outreach activities. A Digital Twin is a digital copy of a physical system that can be used to explore ‘what-if’ scenarios and plan interventions, leading to better decision making.
For the full details on this project please view the project description.
To apply for this placement you will need to:
- Complete the REP placement application form 2024.
- Submit a CV alongside your application, CVs should not be longer than 2 pages.
- Complete the REP EDI survey, entering the receipt number into your application form.
Your application should be emailed to [email protected] by 23:59, Tuesday 21st May 2024. If you have any questions about this project please contact the supervisors listed in the project description.
All applicants must meet our general eligibility criteria for undergraduate students.
UKCEH Edinburgh: Long-term trends of air pollution in the UK
Are you passionate about environmental science and would you like to understand more about the air we breathe? Join our summer project to analyse long-term air pollution trends in the UK using high-resolution data. This opportunity includes fieldwork at the well-established Auchencorth Moss site, where you will learn to maintain and collect data from atmospheric analysers. You will gain hands-on experience and help to improve the air quality in the UK. Apply now and make a difference in environmental science.
Please note that this project is based at the UKCEH’s Edinburgh site.
For the full details on this project please view the project description.
To apply for this placement you will need to:
- Complete the REP placement application form 2024.
- Submit a CV alongside your application, CVs should not be longer than 2 pages.
- Complete the REP EDI survey, entering the receipt number into your application form.
Your application should be emailed to [email protected] by 23:59, Tuesday 21st May 2024. If you have any questions about this project please contact the supervisors listed in the project description.
All applicants must meet our general eligibility criteria for undergraduate students.
University of Birmingham: Biodiversity consequences of wildfire mitigation strategies
The University of Birmingham will host one REP placement, for which this is one of three possible projects.
For the full details on this project please view the project description.
To apply for this placement you will need to:
- Complete the REP placement application form 2024.
- Submit a CV alongside your application, CVs should not be longer than 2 pages.
- Complete the REP EDI survey, entering the receipt number into your application form.
Your application should be emailed to [email protected] by 23:59, Tuesday 21st May 2024. If you have any questions about this project please contact the supervisors listed in the project description.
All applicants must meet our general eligibility criteria for undergraduate students.
University of Birmingham: The eco-evolutionary implications of a symbiotic lifestyle
The University of Birmingham will host one REP placement, for which this is one of three possible projects.
This project will compile data from literature and online databases of museum collections and take a comparative approach to explore the ecological and evolutionary implications of a symbiosis life style. We will focus on an ecological diverse group of organisms, the shallow marine bivalves. You will receive training for highly transferable skills of processing geographic information and statistical analyses.
For the full details on this project please view the project description.
To apply for this placement you will need to:
- Complete the REP placement application form 2024.
- Submit a CV alongside your application, CVs should not be longer than 2 pages.
- Complete the REP EDI survey, entering the receipt number into your application form.
Your application should be emailed to [email protected] by 23:59, Tuesday 21st May 2024. If you have any questions about this project please contact the supervisors listed in the project description.
All applicants must meet our general eligibility criteria for undergraduate students.
University of Birmingham: The construction of deep time: an interdisciplinary investigation
The University of Birmingham will host one REP placement, for which this is one of three possible projects.
For the full details on this project please view the project description.
To apply for this placement you will need to:
- Complete the REP placement application form 2024.
- Submit a CV alongside your application, CVs should not be longer than 2 pages.
- Complete the REP EDI survey, entering the receipt number into your application form.
Your application should be emailed to [email protected] by 23:59, Tuesday 21st May 2024. If you have any questions about this project please contact the supervisors listed in the project description.
All applicants must meet our general eligibility criteria for undergraduate students.
University of Leicester: Pollution-induced epigenetic changes in environmentally important invertebrates
The University of Leicester will host one REP placement, for which this is one of two possible projects.
For the full details on this project please view the project description.
To apply for this placement you will need to:
- Complete the REP placement application form 2024.
- Submit a CV alongside your application, CVs should not be longer than 2 pages.
- Complete the REP EDI survey, entering the receipt number into your application form.
Your application should be emailed to [email protected] by 23:59, Tuesday 21st May 2024. If you have any questions about this project please contact the supervisors listed in the project description.
All applicants must meet our general eligibility criteria for undergraduate students.
University of Leicester: Creating biodiverse forest for the future
The University of Leicester will host one REP placement, for which this is one of two possible projects.
For the full details on this project please view the project description.
To apply for this placement you will need to:
- Complete the REP placement application form 2024.
- Submit a CV alongside your application, CVs should not be longer than 2 pages.
- Complete the REP EDI survey, entering the receipt number into your application form.
Your application should be emailed to [email protected] by 23:59, Tuesday 21st May 2024. If you have any questions about this project please contact the supervisors listed in the project description.
All applicants must meet our general eligibility criteria for undergraduate students.
Research Experience Placements for home-fee eligible undergraduate students from Minority Ethnic backgrounds
In order to address a historical imbalance, it is our ambition to offer up to two Research Experience Placements to Home-fee eligible applicants from Minority Ethnic backgrounds who meet the general eligibility requirements for participating undergraduate students. (International students are not eligible to apply, but may apply to one of our standard placements).
Eligibility of participating undergraduate students:
Students are subject to eligibility criteria to be able to apply for NERC REPs and must be:
- undertaking their first undergraduate degree studies (or integrated Masters)
- Note: Students in their final year who have graduated and no longer have student status at the time of the placement start are not eligible.
- eligible for subsequent NERC PhD funding (see the relevant text in the UKRI Terms and Conditions for Training Grants and associated guidance for further information)
In addition, in order to be eligible to apply to these CENTA-wide placements, Minority Ethnic applicants must be classed as a home student, as follows:
- Be a UK National (meeting residency requirements), or;
- Have settled status, or;
- Have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements), or;
- Have indefinite leave to remain or enter, or;
- be an Irish National*
*Irish Nationals eligibility is derived from the UK Ireland Common Travel Area Agreement:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/common-travel-area-guidance/common-travel-area-guidance
If a candidate does not meet the criteria above, they would be classed as an International student.
The full eligibility criteria can be found in Annex B of this document from UKRI: https://www.ukri.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/UKRI-020424-TrainingGrantTermsConditionsGuidanceApril2024.pdf
Application process
Students wishing to apply for one of these placements should apply directly to CENTA. If successful we will then work with you to identify a suitable placement at one of our CENTA host institutions (University of Birmingham, University of Leicester, University of Warwick, Cranfield University, Loughborough University or the Open University).
To apply via this route you will need to:
- Complete the REP Student Application Form 2024 – home-fee eligible undergraduate students from Minority Ethnic backgrounds.
- Submit a CV alongside your application, CVs should not be longer than 2 pages.
- Complete the REP EDI survey, entering the receipt number into your application form.
Your application should be emailed to [email protected] by 23:59 on Monday 13th May 2024.
Interviews will take place during the week commencing 20th May 2024.
Please note all applicants, provided you meet the criteria for eligibility for participating undergraduate students listed previously, are also eligible to apply directly for a placement via our standard route.
Previous projects – summer 2023
Below you can find details of the projects advertised at our partner institutions for summer 2023. Please note that applications to these projects are now closed.
UKCEH / University of Birmingham: Birmingham summer ammonia pollution monitoring in urban environments
Want to make a difference and learn from atmospheric ammonia experts? At the Birmingham Air Quality Supersite, we’re monitoring urban ammonia concentrations to assess its impact over air quality, yet there are several uncertainties surrounding urban ammonia sources. We’re offering a place for an enthusiastic undergraduate student where you’ll get exceptional research experience and work together with experts in atmospheric science. Come help us unravel urban ammonia emissions!
For the full details on this project please view the project description.
The project is run jointly by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and the University of Birmingham and will be based at the University of Birmingham.
University of Leicester: 2D and 3-D imaging of melt-bombs formed during asteroid impacts and volcanic eruptions
The University of Leicester have an exciting summer research internship for someone with computer graphic experience, proficient in Blender and Python. Your project will be to work with a team of volcanologists in generating 3D- images of volcanic bombs in Blender that can then be investigated, using Python. The output will be a series of 2D cut-throughs of the images shapes, that can then be compared to 2D scans of real volcanic bombs. There will be an opportunity for you to join one of the team members in doing fieldwork and collecting samples. And you’ll be contributing to funded NERC research along the way. The internship can be timed to start any time after 16th June, and will run for approximately 6 weeks.
For the full details on this project please view the project description.
Loughborough University: Investigating the signature of chemical erosion at Moor House, North Pennines
Loughborough University have an exciting project examining the characteristics of chemical erosion features in two rivers of the North Penines.
For the full details on this project please view the project description.
Loughborough University: The microplastic footprint of aquaculture on the Isle of Skye
Opportunity to gain field and laboratory experience, engage with science in the community, and contribute to research-led policy. Loughborough University have a unique summer research internship for someone with an interest in better understanding society’s impact on the environment. This project will extend the scope of a Loughborough-led community science project to explore how litter has changed on the Isle of Skye over the past 50 years. Fieldwork on Skye followed by laboratory work in Loughborough will collect and analyse environmental samples for microplastic particles. Informed by local knowledges, this project will investigate the contribution of the aquaculture industry to microplastic pollution in coastal waters around Skye and consider its findings in the context of legislation and policy..
For the full details on this project please view the project description.
NCEO / University of Leicester: A laboratory study of nitrous oxide
This is one of two exciting projects from the National Centre for Earth Observation, based at the University of Leicester. The project is available at the NCEO’a new Space Park Leicester site.
For the full details on this project please view the project description.
NCEO / University of Leicester: Developing the UK Observational Network to Monitor Progress Towards Net Zero
This is one of two exciting projects from the National Centre for Earth Observation, based at the University of Leicester. The project is available at the NCEO’a new Space Park Leicester site.
For the full details on this project please view the project description.
Loughborough University: Unlocking the herbarium treasure-chest using Darwin’s ‘beloved Drosera’.
For the full details on this project please view the project description.
Loughborough University: Evaluating the success of reed beds in reducing nutrient loading from treated sewage effluent at Rutland Water Nature Reserve.
For the full details on this project please view the project description.
University of Birmingham: Modelling volcanic carbon emissions
For the full details on this project please view the project description.