Historical phenological baselines for UK birds

We will undertake a training needs analysis with the student soon after they start. This will help us understand their basic skills and any gaps that need to be addressed. We know the student will require skills development in three key areas: (1) working with the egg collection at Tring, (2) AI/CV approaches and their application to extracting data from collections’ records, and (3) the management and analysis of ecological data. Our supervisory team covers all these major training areas – collections, AI/CV and data management/ analyses. Primary supervision will be provided through regular meetings, etc with the student, and they will manage more specialised supervisory input from the wider team as required. We have a workplan that sets out these elements and will ensure the student finishes on time.

At this stage, we see student development being primarily delivered through the supervisory group and the wider teams of which they are part. This will provide the student with the disciplinary skills needed for the various components of the planned research, but also access to a rich community of researchers to learn from in a range of other ways e.g. communication, paper writing, etc. We plan to explore opportunities in more detail after the student starts as part of the assessment of their training needs. We recognise that the student might benefit from access to more formal PGR training, but this will need to be tailored to the needs of the student. For example, if the student has a background in computer/data science, courses in ecology might be helpful; or vice versa if they have a background in the biological sciences. Again, we will assess these needs after the student starts.