My experience of a summer school

Kirsten Dutton is a 4th Year PhD student in the Geosciences group at Newcastle University. Her thesis title is: ‘From sediment to rock: the role of microbes in the early lithification of sabkha sediments’. In today's post, she shares her experience of attending a summer school and why such experiences can aid a PhD. Follow Kirsten on Twitter: @KirstenDutton 

Academia really can take you to some wonderful places, whether it be through conferences, fieldwork or summer schools/courses. I’ve been lucky enough to do fieldwork in Abu Dhabi (very hot!), go to conferences in many places like Edinburgh (lots of whisky) and the Dolomites (lots of coffee and pasta) and most recently to Singapore for a Summer School.

 I attended a summer school at SCELSE (Singapore Centre for Environment, Life Sciences, Engineering) at Nanyang Technological University, learning about many aspects of microbiology and biofilms. It was one of the most intense, but incredibly valuable and even fun parts of my academic career. I learnt so much about everything from biofilms in waste water treatment to using microbes to help coral reefs recover (and the surrounding debate). Some of what I learnt is directly relevant to my current research topic, some showed me how I could develop further multidisciplinary research, or which specialists would be good to establish collaborations with and some of the material was completely new to me (medical biofilms, pictures of which are not for the faint of heart... there is a reason this geologist like rocks).

In terms of the intensity, it was very much like the first year of my degree, full time 5-6 days a week with massive amounts of new information. My undergrad was in geology and while I’ve sidestepped into the realms of biogeochemistry and geomicrobiology, my understanding has been limited to their relevance to my topic. I applied to this specific course because it gave me an invaluable opportunity to learn some of the fundamentals of microbiology and see how biofilms are used in research. I kept up with more than I thought I would and my understanding improved every day. By the second week I was even asking questions and properly participating in discussions. It was interesting to be back in a more formal learning environment after the independence of PhD research, I really enjoyed it.

It didn’t hurt that it took me all the way to Singapore. I’ve been very lucky to travel a lot throughout my life and during my PhD but I’ve never been further East than the Middle East until this trip. It was exciting to experience new cultures, try new foods and meet people from all over the world. Singapore is a very multicultural place and I got to explore Chinatown, Little India, the brand new shiny malls of downtown, the Gardens by the Bay, Henderson Waves and even went for some drinks at the top of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel which has some seriously epic views of the city.

 There are summer schools for many areas of research, not just sciences and they aren’t limited to PhD students, they are often open to Post-docs and Masters students too. They are often run by professional societies, universities and other institutions and are opportunities that should definitely be seized given the chance. I was lucky enough to be on a fully funded one. Some would need to be half or fully funded by your research grant.

I would highly encourage you to go on a summer school if you can find one which fits within or around the purview of your work. Talk to your fellow students and staff in your department to see what they’ve attended and the experiences they’ve had. They’ll also have some tips on how to write a good application for them. They are invaluable, you learn lots and meet people who could possibly be future collaborators, and get to see new places.