Research Archives - Durham University

A short overview of the UARCTIC Network and the opportunities it offers for Arctic researchers

6th August 2020

Cover shot – A view of Nuuk, October 2017 What is the UARCTIC? When I started studying the Arctic Region and its indigenous peoples, I had little knowledge about its features and peculiarities. After moving to Rovaniemi at the end of 2016, I started to acquire a better understanding of the European Arctic, but I did…

Departments Postgraduate Research

SCI Scholarship, my PhD and me

By Burhan Ahmed Hussein

1st July 2020

During the first six months of my PhD in Soft Matter and Functional Interfaces Centre of Doctoral Training (SOFI CDT), I and 20 other PhD students (Cohort 5 of SOFI) had the opportunity to act as “consultants” as part of our training of understanding soft matter science within an industrial and multidisciplinary context.

Careers Postgraduate Research Student experience

“What will you do after your PhD?”

By Rachel Mowbray

8th June 2020

This well-intended question is a persistent source of anxiety for PhD students (myself included). You can feel subjected to a disproportionate level of career-related questioning. The end of a PhD can feel like an ominous T-junction: do you take the academic route, or the non-academic route? I’ve found this binary approach…

Postgraduate Research

Understanding Quantum Physics shouldn't be so darn hard!

By Laur Nita

4th February 2020

I came to Durham University to pursue a PhD in Quantum Physics and Computing. The purpose of this blog is to show that Quantum Physics (and computation!!) doesn’t really have to be as hard as what Scientist are publishing! Let’s just have a look at a famous experiment called the Hong–Ou–Mandel optical effect and try…

Departments Postgraduate Research Student experience

Observing distant galaxies

By Jack Birkin

8th January 2020

Cover shot – The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope – with myself barely visible in front. Photo credit: Ugnė Dudzevičiūtė. As a PhD student in astrophysics, an exciting possibility is being sent to a telescope in some exotic, faraway location for observing – making sure the telescope operates properly and…

Departments Research Student experience

A week in Arolla, Switzerland – third year BSc Geography Fieldtrip

By Charlotte Landry-Jennings

13th December 2019

Studying Geography at Durham is the best way to make your friends envy you! The integration of fieldwork into our course provides for amazing trips abroad that not many other degrees can boast about. In my third year studying BSc Geography, I jumped at the opportunity to continue to develop my research skills while in the Swiss…

Departments International Postgraduate Research

A PhD Student Abroad

By Matt Walker

29th October 2019

During the Spring semester of 2019, I left Durham to participate in a three-month research and training visit to the United States as part of the Overseas Institutional Visit scheme for PhD students funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Workshop in Experimental Economics My visit began at the Graduate…

Postgraduate Research Sport Student experience

A Day in the life of a Durham Uni Hockey Player, Coach and Postgraduate Research Student

By Natalie Konerth

29th October 2019

I have just submitted my Masters at Durham, where I had the pleasure of spending the last year and a half as an athlete, coach, and student. A native of Maryland in the United States, I was drawn to Durham for its top-notch academics, as well as its elite hockey program. In addition to playing on Durham University Hockey…

Departments Postgraduate Research

Blitz Beach

By Emma Marsh

11th October 2019

Crosby beach is not your typical seaside experience, instead of sand and shells, this strip of beach is covered in bricks, tiles and the rubble of people’s lives. Liverpool was hit badly in the Blitz, with many parts of the city centre and surrounding housing areas levelled by hundreds of bombs. After the war, a decision…

Departments Research Student experience

A Day in the Life of an Earth Science Student

By Erin Thompson

9th May 2019

Being an MSci Earth Science student, no two days are the same! After 3 years of attending lectures and practicals, with roughly 17 hours of teaching a week, this year is completely different. I am conducting my own Research Project on a volcano in Iran called Mount Damavand, and the other modules I am doing mainly consist of…

Research