Postgraduate Student Projects
In collaboration with Coral Cay Conservation
Coral Cay Conservation (CCC) is an international NGO dedicated to provide resources to help sustain
livelihoods and alleviate poverty through the protection, restoration and management of coral reefs and
tropical forests. CCC provides opportunities for MSc/PhD students wishing to pursue postgraduate
research for theses and dissertations on tropical ecosystems. CCC does not offer funding but can provide
support in terms of scientific advice, logistical field support or access to archived databases. Students are
asked to submit their project proposal in accordance with the following guidelines:
Project Design



Students should be familiar with CCC expedition operation, science and project locations prior to
submitting a proposal (see www.coralcay.org for more details).
CCC expeditions are run on a permanent basis with accurately planned survey goals. There are
significant time and logistical constraints for individual research projects. Students data collection
should be planned around the ongoing CCC survey effort, and thus have no impact or disruption on
CCC’s data collection on behalf of our project partners.
CCC surveys concentrate mainly on spatial rather than temporal data, this should be considered
during the project design phase.
Terms and Conditions
 Locations and times scales of students on site are subject to discussion with CCC during project
proposal planning to allow for space on field sites.
 All students require full and comprehensive medical cover and equipment insurance.
 Students and their supervisors are responsible for obtaining any necessary research permits (e.g. for
the collection and export of biological samples).
 All students must provide full SCUBA equipment (diving research), and/or other necessary specialist
equipment pertinent to the research wishing to be undertaken.
 If CCC volunteers are to help with the collection of specific project data, this must be agreed in
advance with the CCC Head Office.
 Off-site activities need to be approved by CCC Head Office.
 CCC’s general site rules, operational and safety rules apply to all work carried out through CCC and
whilst on site the student will be under the line management of the Field Base Manager.
 The student agrees to collaborate and communicate with the expedition staff and participate in dayto-day running of the expedition.
 The student agrees to respect the advice of the resident Project Scientist.
 On arrival the student will introduce his/hers research activities to the staff and volunteers by means
of a short presentation.
 Email communication with a supervisor will be available to the student albeit at a limited basis and at
the discretion of the Field Base Manager.
 Any data set received by the student is the property of CCC and may not be shared with any
individual or institution without prior permission.
 All images, figures or other outputs supplied by CCC must be fully credited to CCC.
Coral Cay Conservation, The Granary, Shoelands Farm, Puttenham, Surrey, GU10 1HL
W. www.coralcay.org
E. headofscience@coralcay.org
T. +44 (0)20 7620 1411




A copy of all data collected while on CCC’s site must be submitted to CCC’s Head Office on
completion of the project.
An electronic copy, or two hard copies, of the final thesis or dissertation must be submitted to CCC
within one month of the completion date.
Where a report is to be produced for a peer reviewed journal or other publication, the manuscript
must be submitted to CCC for approval beforehand and CCC must be acknowledged as a co-author.
Any report or publication produced will be made available to the public via CCC’s website (where
possible).
Depending on the nature of the project, CCC may require additional written agreements with the
student and/ or the supervisor.
Please return the application form overleaf and a copy of your CV, including contact details of two
referees to the address below. All student projects must be authorised by the CCC Head of Science.
Application forms should be submitted at least 3 months prior to project commencement for data
based studies and 6 months prior for field based studies.
Coral Cay Conservation, The Granary, Shoelands Farm, Puttenham, Surrey, GU10 1HL
W. www.coralcay.org
E. headofscience@coralcay.org
T. +44 (0)20 7620 1411
Application Form: Student Project In Collaboration With CCC
Student’s name:
Supervisor’s name:
University:
Affiliation (supervisor):
Please choose one:
BSc BA other (specify)
Address:
Course:
Position (supervisor):
Address (supervisor):
Phone:
Phone (supervisor):
Fax:
Fax (supervisor):
Email:
Email (supervisor):
Project proposal.
1.Working title:
2. Aims – what are the specific aims and objectives of your project? What proposed research
questions do you propose to answer as a result of your research?
3. Introduction – demonstrating some background knowledge/reading on the subject you intend to
investigate, what has led you to you develop your research idea or hypothesis?
Coral Cay Conservation, The Granary, Shoelands Farm, Puttenham, Surrey, GU10 1HL
W. www.coralcay.org
E. headofscience@coralcay.org
T. +44 (0)20 7620 1411
4. Methods – which existing data sets are you going to need from CCC? What new data do you
intend to collect? What methods do you intend to employ?
5. Analysis – what data analysis methods do you propose to use to analyse this data, and are the
tests suitable for the data under analysis?
6. Outputs – what is the purpose of this project? What do you hope the end result will prove and/or
achieve?
7. Contribution to CCC – how do your perceived outputs contribute to the conservation mission of
CCC?
8. Timings – what are the proposed start and end dates for data collection, what is your timetable for
data collection, what is the proposed date for overall completion of the thesis/dissertation?
Coral Cay Conservation, The Granary, Shoelands Farm, Puttenham, Surrey, GU10 1HL
W. www.coralcay.org
E. headofscience@coralcay.org
T. +44 (0)20 7620 1411
Support requested from CCC – please outline support required from CCC including access to archived
data and logistical support in the field, e.g. advice from CCC science staff. If data is required please
state from what country or region you require it, and if portions of the data are requested what
specific species/life forms for example do you require? (please see the CCC science reports
http://www.coralcay.org/science-research/scientific-reports/ for information on specific data sets
collected).
I have read, understood and agree to the Signed:
terms and conditions
Signed (supervisor):
Date:
Date:
CCC use only:
Date forwarded to PS:
Date agreed by hosts:
Signed by Head of Science:
Please submit this form to the Head of Science by email (preferable) to headofscience@coralcay.org or
post to Coral Cay Conservation, The Granary, Shoelands Farm, Puttenham, Surrey, GU10 1HL
Coral Cay Conservation, The Granary, Shoelands Farm, Puttenham, Surrey, GU10 1HL
W. www.coralcay.org
E. headofscience@coralcay.org
T. +44 (0)20 7620 1411