The NC-UK internship 2025 is now CLOSED.
We are excited to be recruiting two interns to join our NC-UK Internship programme!
Through this programme, you'll delve deep into the scientific research sector, gaining invaluable insights and skills that will shape your academic, professional, and personal growth.
Our science makes a real difference, enabling people and the environment to prosper, and enriching society. We are the custodians of a wealth of environmental data, collected by UKCEH and its predecessors over the course of more than 60 years.
If you are passionate about environmental science, the NC-UK Intern Programme is the perfect opportunity to gain hands-on experience and collaborate with our team of NC-UK research scientists.
Internship dates are not flexible. You must be available to work from Monday 7 July to Friday 15 of August 2025. Both of the roles are based at our Lancaster site. Hybrid working will not be considered.
- You will be receive c. £2,847 (before deductions) in total for the 6-week programme.
- Accommodation is NOT provided by UKCEH. Successful applicants are responsible for finding and for covering accommodation and living costs for the duration of the internship.
Eligibility
Interns must be excellent communicators, numerate and passionate about the environment. Depending on the project, skill sets may differ, however all applicants must:
- Have the right to live and work in the UK for the duration of the placement.
- Be able to work full time (37 hours per week) at the appropriate site for the duration of the internship.
- Be in undergraduate or postgraduate (including PhD) education at university.
- Studying a relevant degree.
- Comfortable working independently with strong communication and interpersonal skills.
- Act a strong team player, comfortable both giving and receiving feedback openly.
Successful applicants must also agree to the following:
- Provide a one-page report to their supervisor describing the visit and its accomplishments, plus a short testimonial within 30 days of completion of the visit.
- Agree to appear in publicity and promotion materials for UKCEH.
- Agree to produce and present a poster or give a presentation at a NC-UK event.
- Acknowledge the support of NC-UK funds in any publications or presentations arising from the visit.
You will carry out work for UKCEH under a contract of services agreement via Hays PLC (Company Number 02150950). You will be paid weekly by Hays PLC by submitting a timesheet to your UKCEH Line Manager.
Please note: Unfortunately, we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role and this does not qualify for endorsement to support a Global Talent Visa application.
The Projects
Remember to specify in your cover letter which project(s) you’re interested in:
Project 1 - Eighty years of the Long-Term Cumbrian Lakes Monitoring Programme – what can it teach us about our changing lakes?
UKCEH Supervisors: Stephen Thackeray, Heidrun Feuchtmayr, Eleanor Mackay, Heather Moorhouse
Project overview:
The aim of this project is to generate a journal article which summarises the history of the UKCEH Long-term lakes monitoring programme, methods used, and a summary of key trends in the data over time. Whilst this was done closer to the programme’s inception and more recently in the blog by Thackeray and Mackay (The state of lakes in the Windermere catchment – a long-term view | UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology), we are missing a cohesive and contemporary summary of this flagship monitoring scheme. We would like to produce a journal article which could be cited by the wider science community and generate other blogs/media outputs to showcase the importance of these lake records in understanding long-term lake ecosystem change.
Key tasks:
- Summarising trends/changes in key variables from UKCEH’s long-term lakes monitoring programme.
- Generating exciting and easy-to-interpret data visualisations of these key trends.
- Generating re-usable and easy to run code that can be used by the Lakes Ecosystem Group to update these summaries in the future i.e. as more monitoring data is generated.
- Writing a journal article which summarises the history, methods and the key trends of the long-term lakes monitoring programme.
Expected outcomes:
- The candidate will generate data visualisations which summarise important variables and key trends over time from the long-term lakes monitoring programme. These outputs will be high quality and used by the Lake Ecosystems Group for further dissemination via journal articles, blogs, scientific presentations etc.
- The candidate will produce a draft manuscript which summarises the history, methods and the key trends of the long-term lakes monitoring programme. The hope is that this will be submitted and published in an appropriate journal.
- The candidate will gain experience in data wrangling of long-term records and generating re-useable R scripts.
The ideal candidate will have the following skills:
- Adept in using coding software such as R – specifically producing summary statistics for large datasets and generating good quality data visualisations.
- Experience of scientific writing and undertaking literature reviews.
- Interested in freshwater ecology/science and long-term monitoring.
If this work is completed rapidly, we will have other tasks available which may include:
- Looking at other datasets such as mesocosm experiments and/or investigating the viability of archived fish scales using microscopy.
- Development of a new NC-UK training video - Create a script and production of a new video to complement the five existing training videos, demonstrating how to access and utilise the data alongside Josh Hall (NC-UK PMO).
- Development of a Field Trip film – Writing the script and production of a short film (5-8m) documenting monitoring activities and data access processes in the Lakes region. Similar to the HJ fieldtrip videos
Project 2 - Smarter ways to monitor nature: developing integrated and adaptive monitoring networks to address complex environmental challenges
UKCEH Supervisors: Thomas Mondain-Monval, Peter Henrys
Project overview:
Through the development of the Integrated Environmental Monitoring Network (IEMN), integrated monitoring is at the heart of the National Capability for UK challenges (NC-UK) programme, and, within a fixed envelope of resource, this can only be achieved through a critical appraisal of different design options. Any design should account for the many varying objectives of environmental monitoring programmes, along with the environmental and logistical challenges they face, such as the wealth of environmental parameters that are recorded, the frequency of data collection and the cost of sampling.
The intern will apply mathematical models to UKCEH datasets to explore different design options for integrated monitoring and assess the feasibility of an optimised environmental monitoring network which accounts for these multiple, sometimes conflicting, objectives and challenges. Furthermore, they will explore the possibility of adaptive monitoring methods, which allow the frequency and location of sampling events to change over time in order to capture extreme events or highly variable ecological parameters.
They will do this by applying mathematical theory to real-world data as collected by UKCEH environmental monitoring programmes. Initially focussing on several environmental parameters from a single monitoring scheme (such as the Countryside Survey), they will assess the various methods of designing an optimised monitoring network, which is adaptable over time, as more data are collected and as the questions asked of the data change over time. These methods can then be tested on other environmental parameters from the same scheme and other, related, monitoring schemes. Including data from multiple environmental monitoring schemes also allows the investigation of co-locating sampling events in location and time.
Key tasks:
- Explore the application of multi criteria decision making methods to environmental monitoring schemes with a view to design optimisation.
- Apply methods of optimising sampling locations and frequency for monitoring multiple environmental variables based on previously collected data.
- Create a walkthrough demonstration using UKCEH datasets outlining the process of designing an optimised sampling network from start to finish.
- Analyse UKCEH environmental monitoring data to predict future sampling needs, locations and frequencies.
Expected outcomes:
For UKCEH:
- A deeper understanding of methods for designing environmental monitoring schemes brought about by the exploration of approaches undertaken.
- An applied example of an adaptive method of environmental monitoring across multiple ecological monitoring programmes.
For the intern:
- Insight into the development and design of environmental monitoring schemes.
- The opportunity to contribute to future Environmental monitoring in the UK through the design of UKCEH monitoring schemes.
The ideal candidate will have the following skills:
- Undertaking a Masters or PhD in mathematics, statistics, operational research, quantitative ecology, related field or equivalent experience
- An interest in applying mathematical models to ecological datasets
- An interest in environmental monitoring for furthering our understanding of global climatic and land use change, and the effects these have on UK and global biodiversity change
- Ability to apply mathematical models to ecological datasets
- Experience in fitting complex models to datasets (e.g. hierarchical mixed models, Generalised Additive Models, and/or Bayesian models…)
- Advanced knowledge of coding in a programming language (e.g. R, Python…)
Desirable:
- Experience in fitting models to ecological datasets
- Experience with multi criteria decision making methods
- Experience with batch computing
Ready to apply?
We need three things from you:
- A letter of support from your supervisor, tutor, director of studies or equivalent confirming that they are content for you to undertake the proposed summer internship.
- A covering letter outlining your motivation for joining the programme and specifying the project(s) you're interested in, along with reasons for your choice.
- A brief CV indicating your educational background, professional experience, and any publications you may have.
Please visit our careers page on the UKCEH website, to submit your application ensuring that:
- You meet the eligibility requirements for the role.
- You have thoroughly reviewed the job description, paying close attention to the specific requirements for the position.
- Remember to specify in your cover letter which project(s) you are interested in
- You can submit all of the correct documentation. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
Closing date for applications: Friday, 14 March 2025.
Interviews will take place between Monday 31 March and Friday 11 April 2025.