Envision brings together a powerful group of UK researchers with industry and NGO partners to provide a new generation of environmental scientists with the skills, knowledge and experience they need to take on the challenges of a changing world.

Funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Lancaster University is leading the initiative which brings together the Universities of Nottingham and Bangor, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the British Geological Survey and Rothamsted Research. The initiative also involves large multinationals, a large number of SMEs and international research centres.

Students will benefit from: broad research themes, access to leading world experts, close ties with business, relevant work experience and leadership training. Envision will recruit 12 PhD students per year for the next five years – starting from October 2014.

The Envision DTP provides students with:

• A world-class multidisciplinary research training environment that includes supervisors working at the cutting-edge and world-class research platforms, which will deliver excellent scientific and transferable skills training using a multidisciplinary cohort development programme that develops professional and leadership skills.
• Broad research themes with access to a critical mass of established researchers across a broad, but coherent, range of disciplines with a track record of research and postgraduate excellence.
• Close ties with business and Research Institutes through our 41 CASE partners, core and co-located Research Institute partners and co-located businesses and embedded teams of KE professionals within the Lancaster Environment Centre and the North Wales Marine/Coastal Science Group Maritime Cluster, Bangor.
• The opportunity to gain employment experience either though a 40 credit industrial placement, a CASE project or through working in one of the three Research Institutes.
• Multiple research organisations that complement each other and offer the potential for new science and collaborations, exposing students to different research cultures, a wide variety of supervisors, a depth of research excellence and training resources (including facilities and equipment) and a wider cohort of peers.

As a student undertaking an ENVISION based PhD project, there are a number of additional administrative requirements that you will need to be aware of. An induction session at the start of Michaelmas term will cover these.

CASE studentships are when a student works collaboratively with an external organisation. It is expected that students will spend between three and 18 months with the partner and the student receives an additional payment on their stipend.

To enhance their employability all ENVISION students not undertaking a CASE project will be offered the possibility of an internship to acquire career-enhancing skills. Placements will vary in nature, from working in a large industry research laboratory, with a small charity, or a policy placement. There will be flexibility in terms of when, and how (e.g. a block or one day per week) students will carry out their placement or internship.

Our international partners the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), The Centre for Tropical Agriculture Research and Education (CATIE), International Centre for Agro-forestry Research (ICRAF) and UoN’s international campuses will provide an opportunity for our students to carry out their placement in an overseas research centre, allowing them to experience research in another culture and helping them to develop international linkages.

The partnership will also deliver placements within businesses outside the UK by using existing programmes, in particular the INTERREG IVB funded KARIM network (LU) which facilitates international internships with SMEs across NW Europe.