Khan Muhammad, PhD in Earth Resources
"I am sponsored by the NWFP University of Engineering and Technology in Peshawar, Pakistan, where I studied for my BSc and MSc in Mining Engineering. After I qualified for a 3-year PhD scholarship, I found the Unviersity of Exeter's Cambourne School of Mines on the internet with an excellent RAE ranking. Exeter has a good reputation. It was the only institution in the UK which offered a research opportunity that fitted with my mining background. My specialisation is geostatistics, which has wide applications in spatial estimation in various disciplines, ie agricultural, petroleum, geochemical, environmental and mining engineering.
The academic environment is quite friendly and you get a lot of extra support and guidance. I have followed a number of subject-related courses which were extremely helpful for my project, and attended presentations and training sessions by professionals from leading companies in the mining industry. I have also taken part in a number of events organised by the Generic Skills Programme for PhD students which I have found really useful. Apart from good academic work the Camborne School of Mines has its own glorious history of more than one hundred years, displayed in a small museum."
