The CDT’s bespoke Training Academy programme is funded by industry sponsors via a £40k annual subscription. This affords industry sponsors the following benefits:-
- Access to around 130 PhD projects (of which around 23% are specific to the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) and around 60% incorporate generic learnings for the UKCS) for the price of the sponsorship of a single 3 year PhD studentship
- Opportunity to provide operational and fieldwork experience to ensure potential recruits have a rounded awareness of the practical conditions faced by companies operating in the sector
- Opportunity to influence the direction of research topics and encourage innovation to meet newly emerging challenges
- Extended access throughout the studentships to a pool of talent for recruitment purposes
- Oil & Gas Authority award of points in 29th and 30th Licensing Rounds
Dialogue with industry is constantly undertaken and contributions to the CDT training courses in whatever form (expertise, projects, data, venues and course funding) are welcomed.
The partnership is wedded to quality assurance, governance and holding a two-way dialogue with industry to ensure the NERC CDT meets all of its objectives. The Industry Advisory Board comprises members from each of the core industry sponsors and the Chair of that Board sits on the NERC CDT Management Board. Industry experts are also members of the PhD Awards Committee and the Training Academy Committee so that the CDT management team remains best informed and flexible to respond quickly to research trends, industry wishes and environmental needs.
GeoLogica and Nautilus, leading providers of training to the oil and gas sector worldwide, are associate industry partners and provide access to a portfolio of optional courses for students to select in years two and three of their PhD studies. Another recognised global industry training provider, PetroSkills, also opened its portfolio of online courses to CDT students in June 2020. Long-standing industry training provider, AGR Tracs, also runs some of its courses specifically for CDT cohorts.
Other companies, such as Halliburton, PGS and Schlumberger provide in-kind support to students’ research projects by giving access to proprietary software and/or datasets.
In short, this CDT model has provided an important, new opportunity for a once-in-a-generation game-change in academic training and research in the natural resources of oil and gas, and their place in the energy transition to net zero agenda. Never before has NERC invested so heavily in this area. The collaborative partnership between industry and academia produced successful and fruitful dialogue with industry that has placed the student experience at its heart and has strived to serve the best interests of the UK as we face the energy and environmental challenges that are with us now and which will grow in the future.