Preparing for the interview, and the interview process.

If you are shortlisted for an interview, we want you to be comfortable and give your best performance. Our interview Chairs are experienced at putting you at your ease, and so we hope that the interview will be a positive experience.

In the interest of fairness, our management team will ensure that interviews are conducted consistently, across the 4 universities. The interview panel, no matter the university,  will ask you the same interview questions, and we will provide the first few questions to you ahead of time.

We hold all of our interviews online, via Microsoft Teams, so you should prepare to have that software available to you.

In the interview, we’re looking particularly for motivation and enthusiasm, both for the specific PhD topic(s) and the wider field, including evidence of your understanding of what the PhD project is about and why this PhD research might be important to wider society and our understanding of the environment.

It’s important that you’ve thoroughly read and understand the PhD topic and also check the webpages of your potential supervisors for their background. 
Make sure that you’ve “done your homework”, as this shows your enthusiasm for the project, and makes the interview more rewarding for all!

You’ll get the chance to discuss the project in advance of the interview with supervisory team members, and ask them specific questions about the project. You can also ask the prospective supervisor for advice about the interview. You are very welcome to contact your prospective supervisor(s) ahead of an interview, and indeed this is a good idea – they will welcome hearing from you.