Cool News Issue 6: article 2

   To a prospective DPhil student, CASE studentships prove attractive for two differing reasons. Firstly, the commercial link allows academic research to be put into context and secondly, it provides increased financial support, a factor that can not be overlooked after four years as a British undergraduate.

Upon starting my DPhil, some of the benefits of a CASE type studentship became immediately apparent. One of my first projects was to investigate the potential applications of an existing product in a new area (macromolecular crystallography). The long-term loan of a Metripol microscope allowed considerable time to be spent developing new experimental methods, while at the same time improving the Metripol software and hardware. The arrangement was simple, and flexibility on both sides allowed much progress to be made. This flexibility was important as I (and my supervisor!) felt able to choose in what direction experimental work proceeded, while Oxford Cryosystems were able to request specific experiments to be carried out, trial new software, or simply wait for reports of progress. In this way I think my CASE studentship was able to benefit both me and Oxford Cryoystems.

Communication of results and/or hardware developments is important both for researchers and companies promoting new products and the geographical closeness and long productive relationship between LMB, Oxford and of Oxford Cryosystems aided this considerably. The CASE studentship proved advantageous for me in that Oxford Cryosystems partially funded conference costs, allowing me to attend meetings that would otherwise have been financially out of reach. The advantage for Oxford Cryosystems was the availability of an extra person to assist in demonstrations of the product on their commercial stand, and also in installations of the Metripol with customers.

At the end of my DPhil how do I feel about CASE studentships? Well, I would recommend them to potential students and companies alike. Both parties stand to gain through such a collaboration. For me it added an extra and valuable dimension to my development as an independent researcher: a benefit I certainly grew to appreciate over my three years with Oxford Cryosystems.

Robin Owen was funded on a BBSRC CASE studentship sponsored by Oxford Cryosystems under the supervision of Dr. Elspeth Garman at the Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics, University of Oxford. He is now working at the Swiss Light Source.