Join Us

What to do if you want to join our group:

This page gives you some information on how to join us. Please read the information carefully and provide all the necessary information if you decide to write to me directly. Please note that most British universities do not have funded graduate programs. This means that you will have to find funding for any kind of degree before you come to St Andrews. Being accepted into the program does NOT mean that funding is provided. An exception are specific PhD studentships advertised on our webpage. However, most of these are only open to UK citizens.

The following webpage gives you information on postgraduate studies in St Andrews including application procedures, some funding opportunities and what costs to expect if you come here: Admissions, Postgraduate Study

Postdocs

If there are any postdoc positions available they will be advertised on the SMRU website. Currently I do not expect to have such a position available before 2007. I am open to any project ideas that people may want to bring into the lab by applying for their own funding. I am happy to help with fellowship applications if the project fits into our lab. Within the UK such applications could be to the Royal Society or the Research Councils. Within the EU there is the Marie-Curie program of the European Union. Others may be available from other countries, but you need to find them yourself. If you wanted to apply for a fellowship, please contact me beforehand with a project proposal (a first draft of 2 pages would be sufficient in the first instance). Please indicate what organization you want to apply to as well.

PhD's

PhD's in the UK last for 3 years. There is little course work and you are expected to start your research project within the first few months after your arrival. It is therefore crucial to contact any potential supervisor before you apply to the program. If there are specific PhD positions available they will be advertised on the School of Biology website. Positions will be advertised sometime between March and October each year. Please note that the British funding system discriminates against foreigners. If you are not British, you are usually not eligible for the standard PhD positions advertised on the webpage (there are exceptions, so do check).

The alternative is to apply for your own funds. This is possible from some countries like Mexico or Germany. However, you will have to find these funding opportunities yourself. Once you have found one, I am happy to help with an application. For this, you would have to write me an email with your full CV, your research interests, ideally with a project idea (this should be at least one page long with a clear question), and some information on what is needed for the application to the funding agency (send me a URL for the agency and info on deadlines!). If you are in the US, the Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) of the National Science Foundation is the only opportunity I know of.

Masters degrees

St Andrews has two different types of Masters degrees. One is called a Masters of Research and consists of 8 months of course work plus a 3 months thesis project. There are several such courses offered. More information on these can be found by visiting the School of Biology Post Graduate web pages. These courses do not really allow you to join a specific research group, but you will work within a lab for your 3 months project. I have supervised some such projects but our lab does not necessarily have space for MRes projects each year the course is run.

The other opportunity is a Master of Philosophy (or MPhil) degree which mainly consists of a one year research project. If the student does not have sufficient background in the field of study, there may be an additional year of course work. If you want to do an MPhil in our lab, please write to me with a full CV, your research interests for the project (this should be at least one page long) and your ideas of how this can be funded. There are no funding opportunities for this degree within the UK. Some other countries have funding programs that can be used for a MPhil (the Fulbright program in the US, for example).

Internships

We do not have an internship program as such. However, we do need field assistants each year for our field work in Scotland (projects abroad are usually not available). Our field season lasts from June to August each year. Field assistants are rarely fully paid. We try to cover your rent while in St Andrews, but you will need your own travel funds and money for food if you want to help. Since field work requires some initial training we only accept assistants who can spend at least two months with us. Please make sure that you are ready to make this commitment before you volunteer since leaving early has serious consequences for the project.

The work that is expected of you includes collecting behavioural data on bottlenose dolphins and/or harbour and grey seals in the field. This requires some background in animal behaviour (at least one full undergraduate course on this topic is required). The other half of your time will be spent analyzing or transcribing data. We will also need your help in daily maintenance activities like boat and equipment care. Since our boat times depend on the tides we often work very early (as early as 4:00 am) or late (as late as 9:00 pm). However, we rarely work for more than 12 hours per day.

Typically, we have some weather issues and you will only spend around half of your time here on the water (however, this can be less if the weather is bad). The boats we work from are small (6m) and we can have substantial swells in the bay. This means that sea sickness can be an issue. If you do not have any small boat experience, it would be a very good idea to go on a few test trips in rough seas before you make a commitment as a field assistant. Sea sickness can be very unpleasant and can easily stop you from working. Please indicate explicitly what experience you have with small boat work when you apply.
We usually only decide on field assistants in April each year. If you email me your details, I will put your email in our files and get back to you in mid-April. Please provide a full CV that indicates your experience in:

• any kind of field work
• animal behaviour
• boat experience
• drivers licenses
• first aid

* Please note that field assistants cannot do their own projects. Therefore, you will not be able to use your time with us to do your own degree project at another university! Since we have a lot of St Andrews students in our program, I am not able to help with degree projects for other universities.