Request for industry-based student projects

University of Birmingham seeking opportunities for geology students to assist with industry projects

FOLLOWING the recent successful Extractive Industry Geology (EIG) conference at the University of Birmingham, the university’s Geology Department is keen to strengthen its network with applied geology practitioners and, as such, has widened its scope for annual student projects to include projects that are industry based.

Earth science students at the University of Birmingham are required to complete a dissertation during their third (normally final) year of study. For students on the Geology programme, this has traditionally involved 5–6 weeks of independent field mapping over the summer (approximately 20 square kilometres), followed by an interpretation/write-up.

This year the Geology Department is keen to provide a greater diversity of dissertations by including more applied, industry-based projects. These could include mapping at small scales within current or former quarry workings, or mapping within areas with future economic potential.

Projects could be entirely economically based, or could also include some traditional mapping techniques (thus, a full 5–6 weeks of industry-based work is not required). For example, face mapping within an operational quarry could be combined with traditional mapping external to the site, for the purposes of analyzing the potential for future extension and any associated geotechnical/hydrogeological issues. There could also be potential to include subsurface investigations, such as drilling or geophysics.

Students complete their independent projects as part of their degree programmes, so will not expect to be paid during their time working. The next cohort of students will begin their projects in May/June 2017, although they will decide on where they would like to map prior to Christmas and will begin planning in early spring. The Geology Department would, therefore, be very interested to hear about any potential projects that could be offered on this timescale.

For further information or to offer a project, contact Dr Paul Anderson at the University of Birmingham via email at: p.e.anderson@bham.ac.uk