Teaching and Student Projects
The facility contributes to a number of teaching programs at undergraduate and postgraduate level, provides equipment and training for field courses, as well as supporting numerous PhD projects.
We are very pleased to play an active role in the University's taught courses. Airborne sensor technologies, platforms and datasets provide a very interesting and engaging subject with applications across a broad range of disciplines, with exciting potential career prospects in a diverse and rapidly growing field. Including an airborne sensing or data component in your course can be a great way to enhance the student experience.
Current contributions to taught courses include:
Undergraduate:
- Current issues in ecological and environmental sciences
- Introduction to Ecological and Environmental Sciences
- Frontiers in Earth Science
- Ecological Measurement
- Physical Geography Fieldwork: Iceland
Postgraduate:
- Principles and Practices of remote sensing (GIS & EO)
- Passive Earth Observation (GIS & EO)
- SENSE field skills training
- Research Practice and Project Planning (GIS & EO)
Please do contact us if you think we could contribute towards your program.
We are also very active in supporting dissertation work at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. We possess a range of existing datasets with exciting potential for new analyses, as well the ability to capture new data specific to your project.
Typically for undergraduate and MSc dissertations we can offer:
- Access to existing eligible datasets for analysis or re-analysis, and / or...
- New data acquisition (fully supported, typically 1-2 days per project, within a day trip from Edinburgh)
- Access to our Airborne Data Laboratory's workstations and software for processing and analysis
Equipment loan for longer or remoter projects may in some cases be possible, subject to resource availability for training.
Please note that as staff resources and suitable weather are in finite supply the number of projects that can be supported each year is limited. Please get in touch as early as possible to avoid disappointment.
Please get in touch if you would like to discuss incorporating airborne data within your dissertation plans.
We are delighted to be playing an active part in a number of field courses and field trips. We are able to offer instruction and demonstration on airborne platforms and sensor systems and geospatial data, including practical training and demonstration of aerial surveys.
Airport visits allow students to sit in our manned aircraft and interact with the advanced sensor systems that we have installed, as well as exploring our unmanned aircraft capability, and discussing the relevance of geospatial, remote sensing, and/or atmospheric data within the context of their course. On other remoter field courses students are able to gain first-hand drone flying experience, participate in the planning and execution of drone survey operations, and explore the data products generated.
We are also happy to support field courses with data acquisition for related student projects, and to provide professional standard drone videography and photography to assist with related marketing and communications.
Field courses currently supported include:
- Ecological Measurement (Loch Tay, Scotland)
- Physical Geography Fieldwork (Iceland)
- Introduction to Ecological and Environmental Sciences (Fife Airport, Scotland)
- SENSE doctoral training, field skills, (Loch Tay, Scotland)
- Research Practice and Project Planning field course (Aviemore, Scotland)
We are very happy to discuss support for additional field courses; please do get in touch if we can be of assistance to your teaching.
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