Central England NERC Training Alliance (CENTA)

CENTA stands for Central England NERC Training Alliance, a consortium of Universities, research institutes and non-academic partners for example that are working together to provide excellence in doctoral research training within the remit of the Natural Environment Research Council.

The CENTA group comprises five other universities in addition to Loughborough (University of Birmingham, the Open University, University of Leicester, University of Warwick, and Cranfield University) and two partner organisations (British Geological Survey and Centre for Ecology and Hydrology).

We also work in close partnership with several UK and international businesses, NGOs, museums and charitable organisations (such as the National Trust, Natural England, Natural History Museum, Halliburton, Jacobs and the Lighthill Risk Network), who are involved at a variety of levels. Our partners are actively involved in CENTA management, delivering the training programme, providing placement opportunities and offering CASE partnerships for our doctoral researchers.

CENTA will host studentships across the full range of NERC science with particular focus on three key science themes:

  1. Climate and environmental sustainability
  2. Organisms and ecosystems
  3. Dynamic Earth

Studentships

CENTA offers studentships through two main pathways.

Project-based studentships: Please search through the list below of projects available at Loughborough, and note the information in ‘how to apply’ below.

CENTA Science Opportunity Scholarships (CSOS): In order to address a historical imbalance, it is our ambition to offer up to 3 fully-funded scholarships to Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) Home-award-eligible applicants who meet the academic requirements. Please see the link for how to apply for this scholarship opportunity, noting the application is to CENTA directly and not to the University.

How to apply:

  1. First read the full project overview by clicking on the project title below.
  2. Complete the CENTA studentship application form in Word format (see centa.ac.uk/apply/).
  3. All applications should be made through the online application portal. Under programme name, select the appropriate School. During the online application process, upload the CENTA studentship application form as a supporting document.
  4. The deadline for applications is Wednesday January 10th 2024 at 23:59 GMT.

 Current Opportunities

Title Flagship CASE Reference Primary Supervisor

Going underground: Above-below ground interactions for nature recovery in coastal sand dune wetlands

    CENTA24-LU1

Jon Millett

Landscape Recovery following Extreme Events: Morphodynamic timescales in the face of a changing climate

    CENTA2024-LU2

Edwin Baynes

Ripping yarns: Environmental histories of fashion in lake sediment archives from the industrial revolution to the present day

    CENTA2024-LU3 Dave Ryves

BEST N2: Managing the Nitrogen Cycle and Tackling Fixed Nitrogen Pollution Using BEST ANAMMOX for Enhanced N2 Production

    CENTA24-LU8 Ahsan Islam

The Aquatic eDetective: Intelligent source term estimation of water pollution using autonomous surface vehicles

   

CENTA24-LU9

Cunjia Liu

Stranger Things: Internet of Things (IoT) for microclimate monitoring within forests

Yes

Yes

CENTA24-LU10

Amal Hajjaj-Ep-Zemni

Mobilisation of plant images and data to address the taxonomic impediment of the Syzygium, the world’s largest tree genus

Yes

 

CENTA24-UKCEH3-LU11

Haibin Cai