The Hydro-JULES Internship Programme 2025
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Hydro-JULES Interns Complete Six-Week Research Placement at UKCEH
UKCEH recently hosted a group of early career researchers as part of the Hydro-JULES internship programme, a six-week placement designed to build skills in hydrological science and environmental data analysis.
Delivered in partnership with the University of Reading, NCAS, Coventry
University, and the British Geological Survey (BGS), this year’s internship offered hands-on experience across a range of water-related research topics, including:
- Flood dynamics in East African wetlands
- Rainfall estimation using commercial microwave links
- Groundwater drought modelling across UK basins
- Climate variability impacts on near-natural river flows
- UK water resource management simulations
In addition to their research, interns participated in field trips to Cholsey Marsh to measure river flow and visited the Wallingford meteorological site to learn about long-term climate monitoring. They also took part in personal development days focused on science communication and career planning, helping them build confidence and clarity in their future pathways.
The programme culminated in a series of final presentations, where interns shared their findings and reflected on their experiences. PowerPoints and audio recordings are available below
The Projects
Project 1 - Understanding Flood Dynamics in East African Wetlands: Insights from Observational and Model Comparisons.
Supervisors - Elizabeth Cooper (UKCEH), Sarah L Dance (NCEO / U.Reading), Sonja Folwell (UKCEH), and Visweshwaran Ramesh (NCEO / U.Reading)
Intern: Jake Thomas Perrett, Imperial College London
Watch Jake's presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRyCO1RQYlM
Project 2 - Understanding Precipitation Estimates from Commercial Microwave Links
Supervisors - Steven Cole (UKCEH), Robert Moore (UKCEH), John Wallbank (UKCEH), David Dufton (NCAS)
Intern: Heron Ng, U. Reading
Watch Heron's presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxQo-hT08tw
Project 3 - Understanding the impacts of climate variability on global near-natural river flows
Supervisors: Wilson Chan (UKCEH), Amulya Chevuturi (UKCEH), Eugene Magee (UKCEH), Rachael Armitage (UKCEH) and Bastien Dieppois (Coventry University)
Intern: Emma Ford, U. Oxford
Watch Emma's presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb11HGp9FtU
Project 4 - Modelling water resource management over the UK
Supervisors: Helen Baron (UKCEH), Virginie Keller (UKCEH)
Advisor: Amber Reynolds (UKCEH)
Intern: Ilaria Mocciaro, U. Bristol
Watch Ilaria's presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5LI0vToJsc
Project 5 - Simulation of basin-scale groundwater drought behaviour using the British Groundwater Model
Supervisors: Marco Bianchi (BGS) , Andrew Hughes (BGS)
Location: This role will be based at the BGS offices in Keyworth.
Intern: James Thomas, U. Exeter
Watch James' presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK9-yB7GS5Y
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Hydro-JULES Internship Project Presentations - August 2024
Last year’s interns undertook a wide range of research projects that showcased the diversity of environmental science within UKCEH. With backgrounds in various academic fields, our five interns spent six weeks deeply engaged in their projects. They had opportunities to conduct fieldwork, create content for short films, and collaborate with experts in their research areas, develop their skills and grow their confidence.
Hydro-JULES Internship Presentations - August 2023
Our two Hydro-JULES interns completed their placements with us on 18 August 2024 by presenting their work to members of the Hydro-JULES project team.
Danny Cooper mentored by Brenda D’Acunha and Ross Morrison presented his work on ‘quantifying water productivity and carbon intensity of food and bioenergy production systems' and Felipe Feleni, mentored by Amulya Chevuturi, Doran Khamis, Gianni Vesuviano, and Matt Fry, presented his work ‘Exploring the drivers of variability in flood events across the UK’ first.'.
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Waterborne: Nick (left) and Doran launch the boat into the river Thames at Wallingford
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Watching the river flow: Nick, Felipe and Doran monitor data transmitted from the ARC boat.
I really found it useful seeing the working of the workplace with project hours etc and very much enjoyed seeing how data science and statistics is applied to different fields.
- Daniel Cooper, UEA
The project was interesting and provided an opportunity to chat with people that I knew from my PhD, as well an opportunity to meet another research environment. Doran and Amula have been great supervisors on all matters, from technical knowledge to help with my integration with the workgroup and workplace. My advisors Gianni and Matt, have also been involved in the project and have supported me with technical knowledge when needed.
- Felipe Fileni, U. Newcastle
Congratulations to both Felipe and Danny for all the work they managed to achieve in their short time at UKCEH and for their excellent presentations.
For enquiries, please contact us at hydrojules@ceh.ac.uk.