As well as other students, members of the public are welcome to attend

Students showcase their research at inaugural conference event

Undergraduate students at the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus are taking part in a conference style event for the first time to present their research in a professional setting.

Third year Bioscience students will showcase their final year research projects at a three-day conference from 24-27 March. The students conduct independent work over two semesters for the project, which forms a large part of their final degree grade. These projects reflect the work being carried out at the Penryn Campus on emerging and important global issues.

At the Geography undergraduate research conference, held in February, topics included flood defences, wild camping, avalanches, identity on the Scilly Isles, the environmental implications of surfing and the use of Twitter in natural disasters.

Students at the upcoming Bioscience event will be presenting research on an equally diverse range of subjects, from the evolutionary consequences of pesticides to highly intelligent crow behaviour, and Cornish porpoises, seals and seabirds to parasite problems in honeybees.

As well as other students, members of the public are welcome to attend. The event will take place from 9am to 5pm in the Media Centre on the Penryn Campus, with plenary speakers at the beginning of each day of the conference.

Dr Lucy Hawkes, who is co-ordinating the conferences, said: “We’re very proud of the hard work our students put into their final year projects, when they distil everything they have learned over their degree programme into an original piece of research. The conference is an opportunity for the students to showcase their research to each other and to a wider audience, and will be very worthwhile and exciting.”

Plenary speakers at the conference will include Professor Brendan Godley, Dr Britt Koskella, Dr Nick Royle and Dr Dustin Penn from the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna.

Date: 21 March 2014