Analytical & Environmental Sciences

Course study environment

Work is usually laboratory-based but we also offer data analysis projects. The Division has excellent facilities for molecular biology, cell culture, confocal microscopy, radioisotope, NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, DNA sequencing and oligonucleotide synthesis. Students receive techniques and research methods training from academic and appropriately-trained technical staff. Central facilities available to staff & students within the division include state-of-the-art library and IT facilities, with an extensive collection of books, journals and electronic databases available to all students. Each PhD student is provided with deskspace and computer access. The Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine has strict procedures in place to ensure adherence to good laboratory practice, overseen by the Faculty Safety Manager. In accordance with College policy and procedures, risk assessments are undertaken by the supervisors and the students prior to the commencement of the project. These assessments (and the associated working procedures) are kept under review and modified as necessary. Students are encouraged to attend the Division's seminar programme featuring internationally-renowned academics from UK and overseas institutions, as well as relevant seminars in the other research divisions at King's. The interdisciplinary nature of the division enables postgraduates to benefit not only from the exchange of information that takes place in the regular laboratory meetings (postgraduate students give seminars within these fora) but also from the cross-fertilisation of ideas provided by the five groups. In addition, staff and students within the Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine interact with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), Dental Institute and the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery. Every year, all postgraduate students participate in a one-day research symposium which provides the forum for them to present posters or oral communications. The symposium is attended by staff, students and representatives from Research Councils, charities and industry. Students are also encouraged to present their work at national and international conferences and the Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine has a travel bursary scheme available to support such activity.

Postgraduate training

At entry, all new research students in the Division are inducted into King's Graduate School, and attend courses that provide training on risk assessment, radiation protection, genetic hazards, research on human subjects and the legal basis of animal experimentation. Students are also trained on the nature and ethics of research, organisation of study and experimentation, presentation skills, and approaches to the use of computing, statistics facilities, library and information retrieval. Students acquire further training in transferable skills through the Researcher Development Programme (RDP), which is mandatory for continued registration as a PhD student. King's has implemented a new software package Skills Forge - incorporating a learning needs analysis, a personal development log and an online booking system. In their final year of study, all PhD students are required to attend further courses dealing with thesis preparation, interview skills, and careers. The specialist training demanded for individual research projects is provided by the appropriate academic and/or technical staff within the appropriate research laboratories, either in the College or externally.