Ref: 1296294

Duration - 3 years

Funding: The scholarship covers UCL tuition fees and provides a stipend of £15,590 per annum tax free. Travel expenses and research equipment will be provided to the successful candidate

Funding Body EPSRC

Vacancy Information

This is an open call for a PhD student with a novel and exciting project to develop new methods in extreme citizen science, or which addresses a particularly novel or unusual problem.

UCL's Extreme Citizen Science (ExCiteS) group is an interdisciplinary research team that aims to challenge how we do science. Existing Citizen Science practices use educated citizens to participate in scientific data collection but not in formulating research questions or in analysis of results. We believe that the greatest future impact of science are likely to be gained when almost everyone is empowered to participate in research and use scientific tools to address local issues and share the knowledge globally. Extreme Citizen Science is science by citizens, regardless of their level of literacy or education. We develop tools and methodologies to facilitate anyone to collect, visualise and analyse appropriate data to raise awareness, and subsequently develop strategies, to address problems they have identified.

For more information please visit http://www.ucl.ac.uk/excites.

Studentship Description

We seek research proposals that align with and complement our aims and objectives. Applications should formulate a clear research idea that contributes or extends ExCiteS activities, and which is theoretically sophisticated and methodologically novel. Your proposal should explain what your contribution will be, what methods you will use, an estimation of costs needed beyond the studentship (travel, equipment etc), and a timeline of key activities.

Person Specification
Applicants should possess an honours degree (1st Class or 2:1 minimum), and a Masters degree in any discipline considered relevant. Currently our group consists of several PhD students and researchers from a multiplicity of backgrounds and skills. Relevant non-academic experience is an asset but not a requirement. You will also need to demonstrate experience in project management and long term planning, and be able to work within the diverse, multidisciplinary group that ExCiteS is. Language skills beyond English are desirable.

Eligibility
Applications are invited from UK and EU citizenship holders. Non-EU citizens are welcome to apply as well but unfortunately we are unable to cover the difference in tuition fee costs for them.

Start Date
Between February and October 2013, at time that is suitable to the candidate.

Application Procedure
Applicants should send a cover letter, 4 page research proposal, examples of academic writing (e.g. Masters dissertation), outputs from past work, 2 reference letters and CV to Gail Austen-Price (g.austen-price@ucl.ac.uk). The cover letter should include a personal statement explaining your interest in citizen science, why you are interested in our project and how you would see your work integrated into ExCiteS vision and activities. You are welcome to contact Gail, Muki Haklay, Jerome Lewis or other ExCiteS members with queries about your proposal or for an informal conversation.

Closing Date: 26 January 2013

Find a phd and jobs ac subject areas
Electrical and Electronic, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, Information Science, Geography, Geology, Ecology, Environmental Science, Civil and Structural Engineering, Earth Sciences, Ecotoxicology, Climatology, Soil science.

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