We provide specialist support to students conducting their dissertation research.
For those doing laboratory or field-based dissertations we are a key point of contact. We are here to advise students at all stages of their project, from site selection and writing risk assessments, helping to refine research questions, to doing fieldwork and processing samples.
We offer one to one training for all students wishing to collect data using our equipment, and assume no prior knowledge, supporting students until they feel happy to work independently or with occasional help from us. It is our view that this bespoke contact with students leads to rapid learning and development, and a dissertation will often be one of the most formative and important experiences that students have during their time in the department.
We are here all year round – both in term time and otherwise – and are always happy to arrange a meeting to offer advice.
Each year we award up to two Laboratory Prizes and two Fieldwork Prizes. These are not based on the final dissertation grade, and we often take into account other aspects of time in the laboratory over the course of the degree program. They are for those who show exceptional skill, professionalism, and commitment to laboratory and fieldwork and are recorded on your final degree transcript.