The "Aberdeen Catchment Science" advanced summer school for PhD students and Post Docs was held for the fifth time in August at the Northern Rivers Institute.
The 5-day shortcourse was organised by Professors Jeff McDonnell (6th Century Chair), Chris Soulsby, Doerthe Tetzlaff and Dr Josie Geris. The organisers were assisted by internationally-leading instructors Professor Keith Beven from the University of Lancaster (the World’s most highly cited hydrologist) and Dr Rick Hooper, the Director of CUAHSI (Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science) in the US. This high-level course aimed to be a “masterclass” for a selective group of international students interested in a hands-on catchment science curriculum, focusing on northern catchments, runoff processes and combined hydrometric, isotope/chemical tracer and modelling techniques in catchment hydrology. Four days of lectures and exercises on data analysis and modelling were supported by a day long field trip to the River Dee and the experimental catchment of the Girnock Burn near Ballater.
30 students from 11 countries attended the workshop. The course was enormously successful, receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback from students:
“A very comprehensive course with teaching from leaders in their field, good field relevance and practical experience”
“A perfect combination of lectures, discussions, exercises and field experiences”
“I loved how engaged and encouraging the instructors were!”
“I would definitely recommend this course because of the high quality of the teachers giving lectures and answering questions”
“Before coming to Aberdeen I was considering to leave my PhD. Now, after the course, I look forward to go back to it and do exciting things!”
More details can be found at: http://www.usask.ca/watershed/teaching/aberdeen.php.