How would you like to be able to say this at the end of your summer holidays? “It was a time of flooding experience, information accumulation and eternal friendship with present and future scientists.” It’s what Boris Jovanovic from Serbia & Montenegro was able to say having completed the CoBiD-UREKA International Summer Research Programme.
If you are about to complete the penultimate year of an undergraduate science degree (BSc), are eager to extend yourself intellectually, and have your sights set on a career in organismal biology, then read on.
Dublin’s Natural History Museum is beckoning high calibre science students who can work independently to spend ten weeks within its auspicious Victorian ambiance. Here’s the deal. You get access to some of the 3 million plus scientific specimens – a secret stash you might say, kept exclusively for research purposes.
CoBiD (Collections-based Biology in Dublin) links Dublin's Natural History Museum and the UCD School of Biology and Environmental Sciences. It is the only dedicated collections-based undergraduate teaching programme in the world, teaching transferable research skills applicable to any area of specimen-based biology.
UREKA, which stands for Undergraduate Research Experience & Knowledge Award and the CoBiD summer school programme is funded by the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) as part of the UREKA programme. “The central aim of our programme is to give students intensive early-stage research experience. Such experience can often make or break a research career, if only by giving students the opportunity to find out what research is really like”, says Julia Sigwart, Director of CoBiD.
CoBiD-UREKA offers diverse research projects ranging from systematic biology to ecology and population genetics. Participating students work side-by-side with curators and senior scientists and get involved in all aspects of collections-based research, including dissemination of scientific results through oral presentation and publication. One of last year’s participants, Paulo Pulgarin from Colombia, along with his mentor, is publishing a paper based on his summer research in a scientific journal specialising in bird research.
“Last year we attracted applications from 28 countries world-wide. The eight students that were accepted into the programme came from Ireland, USA, Canada, Colombia, Serbia and South Africa”, says Julia Sigwart. The kind of students that will be attracted to UREKA will be highly motivated undergraduates with clear research interests who are capable of working independently. “I view my 10 week UREKA project as a personal success and a memorable and progressive summer experience”, said Irish participant, Des Brabazon.
There are fifteen projects lined up for CoBiD-UREKA 2006. This year you could get the opportunity to study the bizarre long-snouted fossil crocodile Steneosaurus, one of the largest crocodiles that ever lived, and CT-scan its braincase to provide new information about internal cranial anatomy. Or you might get to examine the impact of low atmospheric oxygen on plants that are thought to have persisted almost unchanged morphologically through time.
This year’s programme will run from June 12 – August 18. There are twelve places available and the deadline for applications is March 12, 2006. Funding will be provided for successful candidates.
Further Information
Contact:
Julia Sigwart (julia.sigwart@ucd.ie)
