The UKCEH Hydro-JULES Researcher Exchange Programme offers opportunities to academics including PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, senior scientists as well as industry practitioners in conducting collaborative research or educational activities.
Background
The UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology is an independent, not-for-profit research institute for terrestrial and freshwater science. UKCEH coordinates internationally leading research and expertise in environmental sciences providing infrastructure, training and leadership to the UK hydrological community. The Hydro-JULES programme has built a three-dimensional, open source, community model of the terrestrial water cycle to support and enable collaborative work across the research and academic communities in hydrology and land-surface science. The Hydro-JULES programme is continuing with a comprehensive programme of work aimed at building advanced modelling infrastructure to understand floods and water scarcity in the UK and overseas..
Supporting collaborations
The UKCEH Hydro-JULES Researcher Exchange Programme will support collaborations that will share knowledge, advance existing research, stimulate new research areas, allow collective response to scientific initiatives, raise the international profile of UKCEH and enable new relationships to be built in the following environmental research fields:
- quantification of hydro-meteorological risks
- using high-resolution climate predictions for hydrological applications
- calculate the impacts of environmental change on evaporation, transpiration, and soil moisture
- modelling flood inundation over large areas
- representing anthropogenic interventions in the water cycle, and
- application of new techniques including Earth observation and data assimilation
The Researcher Exchange Programme is open to PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, senior scientists as well as industry led practitioners interested in conducting collaborative research or educational activities.
Funding will be for the successful applicants exclusive use and can be spent to support their research or the costs associated with the visit (subsistence, accommodation, catering, airfare, visa costs etc.).
How to apply
As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete an application form and to provide:
- A short curriculum vitae indicating educational and professional experience, and publications.
- Supporting evidence in the form of a letter from the applicant’s home institution indicating that they: fully understand the nature of the scheme; realise where appropriate that no funds are available as a contribution to salary, research costs, apparatus, or bench fees; and that they welcome the proposed visit.
The applicant must agree to the Terms and Conditions. This agreement is confirmation that if the proposal is successful, under the conditions of the UKCEH Hydro-JULES Researcher Exchange Programme, they agree to:
- provide a one-page report to the Project Manager describing the visit and its accomplishments within 30 days of completion of the visit
- appear in publicity and promotion materials for UKCEH
- acknowledge the support of Hydro-JULES funds in any publications or presentations arising from the visit
- participate in a Knowledge-Sharing Seminar, where they will have the opportunity to present a specific topic chosen from their respective field of expertise
The assessment of each proposal is based on the following criteria:
- How important are the research questions, or gaps in knowledge, that would be addressed?
- How valuable is the new or developing collaboration expected to be to Hydro-JULES / UKCEH?
- Is the level of innovation likely to lead to significant new understanding?
- How convincing and coherent is the strategy proposed?
- Has the applicant clearly set out and justified that any proposed international travel is necessary to achieve the outcomes, with particular reference to the environmental impacts, the amount of time allocated to achieve the outcomes, and the link(s) to the HJ Strategy
- How likely is the proposed research to deliver the stated benefits?
- What are the expected deliverables?
- Is the applicant’s stated time commitment to the work appropriate and sufficient?
- Does the proposal demonstrate value for money in terms of the resources requested?
The assessment panel is chaired by the HJ Programme Director Prof. Simon Dadson who is supported by the HJ Steering Committee. The decision to support an application will be made within 4 weeks of the application.
Successful applicants should be removed from their usual obligations in their home institution and have the necessary availability to freely devote themselves to their research project and participate in the programmes activities.
Completed application forms and supporting documents are to be returned to hydrojules@ceh.ac.uk
If you have any questions about the Visiting Scientist program at the or need help with the application form, please contact hydojules@ceh.ac.uk