Research Internships

Are you keen to earn credit points towards your Science electives? Have you considered enrolling in one of our Research Internship subjects?

Every session, Science Academics offer Research Internships for credit. Not only will you get great Research experience, but you can gain credit towards your degree at the same time!

If you are in your second or third year and are working at a credit level or better, then you are eligible to apply for a Research Internship which will give you the opportunity to gain experience “at the bench” or “in the field” working alongside active researchers in the Faculty.

Pre-requisites

The prerequisites for SCIE292 are 24 credit points of Science Schedule subjects, completed at a Credit level or better, and completion of 48 credit points.

The prerequisites for SCIE392 are 24 credit points of 200-level Science Schedule subjects, completed at a Credit level or better, and completion of 96 credit points.

Requirements of an Internship

The basic components of an Internship are as follows:

(70%) SCIE292 students commit to completing 100 hours of laboratory and/or field work. SCIE392 students commit to completing 120 hours of laboratory and/or field work.
(10%) Completion of OH&S induction and risk assessment for work to be conducted.
(5%) Analytical reports for a series of 6 research presentations (research seminars, posters, or published papers)
(15%) End-of-project paper critically reflecting on outcomes in relation to research objectives set at start of internship

How to organise an Internship

Organise the internship yourself

Identify an Academic Staff member whose research interests appeal to you. You can find their research interests in the grey pages of your Science Students’ Guide or click here to view the Students' Guide online.
Contact the staff member to see if he / she would be interested in supervising an internship for you.
Once you have identified a supervisor and a project, visit the Faculty of Science Office (Building 41, Room 258) to enrol in the subject. The Faculty Officer will confirm your eligibility to enrol in the subject and request that you complete an Academic Approval Form, which will need to be signed off by the Associate Dean.
Download the Research Internship Student Information document (PDF 32KB) and prepare a plan for your Internship with your supervisor.
Complete the Internship form (2 page attachment), get it signed off by your supervisor(s) and the Head of your Academic Unit and return it to the Faculty of Science Office (Building 41, Room 258). This form should be submitted to the Faculty Office by the end of Week 3.

Apply for an advertised topic

You will be sent a SOLS message a few weeks before session start to let you know that the following session's topics have been posted on this site. Internships are available every session.
Review the topics and if you see one that appeals to you, lodge an application with the Faculty Officer.
Your application must include the names of two academic referees who can be contacted to discuss your suitability for the project and up to three topics in order of preference. Applications will be due approximately 2 weeks before session start.
You will be advised whether or not you have been offered a place in an Internship approximately 1 week before session start and will have 3 days to accept or decline your offer.
You will then need to visit the Faculty of Science Office (Building 41, Room 258) to enrol in the subject. You will need to complete an Academic Approval Form and get it signed off by the Associate Dean.
As soon as you accept your offer you should download the Research Internship Student Information document (PDF 32KB) and prepare a plan for your Internship with your supervisor.
Complete the Internship form (2 page attachment), get it signed off by your supervisor(s) and the Head of your Academic Unit and return it to the Faculty of Science Office (Building 41, Room 258). This form should be submitted to the Faculty Office by the end of Week 3.

Spring Session 2009 Topics

Holocene delta development around Lake Illawarra

This project will involve a combination of field work and laboratory analysis aimed at defining the history of delta progradation at Mullet Creek in northwestern Lake Illawarra. The field component will involve collecting drill cores from selected areas on the delta using a truck-mounted drill rig and vibracoring equipment or an impact hammer system. The cores will be returned to the university where they will be logged, samples will be collected for grain size analysis and fossils will be collected and analysed by amino acid racemisation for age determinations. Age constrained cross-sections will be constructed, in conjunction with previous work, to identify stages of delta progradation.

Academic supervisor: Associate Professor Brian Jones

Direct supervisor for drilling: Brent Peterson

Drought, land degradation, and the beginnings of Central Australian ecological research in the 1960s

The project of which this internship is part has been funded by the NT Archives Service. This project examines government reactions to the 1960s NT drought. The appointment of a Northern Territory Administration botanist in the 1960s reflects not only the development of the pastoral industry and of industry administration, but also developments in Australian arid zone ecology. Arguably, proposals put forward by the botanist in the 1960s influence pastoral land administration to this day. They certainly played a key role in debates over pastoral land management and the future of the industry during the 1960s drought.

The aims of this project are t identify and compile key documents which illustrate the work and influence of the Northern Territory Administration botanist during the 1960s drought in Central Australia. To document and describe the research undertaken by the botanist concerning land degradation and the pastoral industry. To document and analyse the influence of this research on official responses to the drought and its impact. Data Source (to be provided): Archival Animal Industry Branch (AIB) and other Northern Territory Administration archival documents. The expected output from students is database (probably using NVivo software) of relevant documents and a report that addresses aims two and three above. The expected output from the project is; student report, report to NT Archives Service, and possible jointly authored paper for the Journal of Northern Territory History.

Supervisor: Dr. Nicholas Gill

If you have any questions regarding the Research Internships program, please contact the Faculty Officer on (02) 4221 3481.

Climate change effect on arid Australia during the past 100,000 years

In this project, you will be using the isotopes of uranium in sediments deposited at various ages over the past 100,000 years to investigate how climate change has affected the erosion of soils and the evolution of streams in arid Australia. You will be studying ancient sediments deposited in streams of the Strzelecki Desert (far north of South Australia). (Any previous experience in a chemistry lab would be a plus).

Supervisor: Dr Tony Dosseto

How long can we sustain our soil resources?

Soils are a valuable resource as they feed humanity! How fast soils are produced is relatively well known, but this is not the case for how fast they are produced. Knowing both is crucial to understand how we can sustain soil resources. In this project, you will be using the isotopes of uranium measured in soils to understand how much time soil grains reside in a soil profile, which will help us to understand for how long we can sustain soil resources at the current rate of soil erosion. Sites on the eastern coast of Australia and in the Riverine Plain will be studied. (Any previous experience in a chemistry lab would be a plus).

Supervisor: Dr Tony Dosseto

Experimental studies of aging and the determination of lifespan

All animals age and different species have very distinctive maximum lifespans, but we still do not understand what causes aging and determines individual longevity. There have been two main animal models used by scientists to examine the mechanisms of aging; these are (i) laboratory rodents and (ii) invertebrates such as the fruitfly (Drosophila melanogaster) or the nematode (Caenorhabditis elegans). The rodents have the advantage of being able to measure aging in individual animals but the disadvantage of long lifespan (3-4 years) for experiments. The invertebrates have the experimental advantage of short lifespans but are too small (<1 mg) to measure aging in individuals. Over the last couple of years we have developed a new insect model to examine aging and the mechanisms determining lifespan. This is the blowfly (Calliphora stygia) which combines the advantages of both of the above models: it has the advantage of a short adult lifespan and is big enough to measure the biochemistry and physiology of individuals.

We are carrying out a series of experiments examining the role of diet composition and environmental temperature in determining the longevity of this insect. The project will involve assisting in these experiments.

The temperature part of the project involves quantifying the longevity of flies at temperatures ranging from 10oC to 35oC. Within this experiment there are a series of cross-over experiments where caged populations of adult flies raised for the first part of their life at a one temperature are swapped with a group raised at another temperature. In invertebrates environmental temperature determines body temperature which in turn determines metabolic rate. We are interested in examining the connection between metabolism and aging. The diet part of the experiments involves manipulating the amounts of sugar and yeast in the food and examining the influence of food composition on longevity. In both groups, daily food consumption is measured and we are interested if males and females show the same responses.

Assisting with this research project will give insight into many different aspects of how research into aging is done and how research results are obtained and analysed.

Academic Supervisor: Professor Tony Hulbert, Biological Sciences

Direct Supervisor: Ms Megan Kelly, PhD student, Biological Sciences

Last reviewed: 17 July, 2009