Laboratory staff are an integral part of the teaching team in the department when it comes to teaching lab classes and leading field trips.
We take part in all the physical geography and environmental science field trips organised by the department (most recently the trips to the Lake District, Minsmere, and the Cairngorms), teaching field skills and providing training in the use of field equipment.
In the laboratory, staff co-lead delivery of teaching with academic staff, and take students through from basic lab skills in their first year to more complex project work and dissertations later in the degree program. We seek to build skills over the course of the three year program, however our aim is to try and make all our taught activities as close to those you would experience in a professional laboratory right from the very beginning.
As well as normal laboratory classes there are also some limited opportunities to work with us. At any one time we will have two Laboratory Assistants who do 5 hours per week in the labs. These posts will be advertised to our undergraduate students when the positions become open and are open to applications from first years and second years. These positions are a great opportunity to gain further lab experience, and we treat our Lab Assistants as full members of staff with opportunities for training and conference attendance (particularly the HETS conference which runs every two years).
We also frequently offer summer placements on projects done in collaboration with academic staff. These projects are also paid and run for a period of time between 5-10 weeks with one or two working days per week. These are generally advertised after the Christmas vacation.