Applications are invited for a fully funded 5-day summer school aimed at PhD students interested in changing the way they use the digital research infrastructure (e.g. large scale compute and HPC) to work to enable a move towards Net Zero. The school will provide training and skills to help empower attendees to make real positive environmental change.
Background
The UK is committed to being Net Zero by 2050 but achieving this requires positive environmental action from everyone. This includes researchers and those that enable this research.
Within the UK our rich Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI) provides world-class facilities for researchers, ranging from high performance computing (HPC) systems and large-scale data facilities through to local clusters and desktops. Changing the way we use these facilities is crucial to achieving a Net Zero DRI.
We seek applications from UK based PhD students whose research requires compute and/or data. Applicants should be keen to make a change to the way they work to reduce emissions and to advocate for change within their communities.
Summer School Experience and Skills Development
The summer school blends keynote speakers and practical hands-on training to empower and motivate attendees on NetZero strategy, while also providing key skills and knowledge. A running theme throughout the school will be a series of communication and skills sessions, training students to communicate their message in a meaningful way, to advocate for change.
Key themes of the school include: introducing the Net Zero challenge and understanding the context; making change within your research environment; connecting emissions with your computational and data research; influencing the sustainability of data centres and the procurement processes; green software engineering; sustainable data management (data storage); sustainability and Artificial Intelligence; and advocating for change.
Social Programme
There will be ample opportunity to socialise and build collaborations with other attendees, with a series of engagement activities and social events.
How to Apply
Places on the summer school are fully funded by NetDRIVE, including travel to attend, food and hotel accommodation for the week. There are approximately 30 places available.
We welcome applications from any UK based PhD student whose PhD research involves the use of computational or data facilities. The school provides practical training in sustainable practices but also has a strong emphasis on creating advocates for sustainable DRI. Applicants should therefore have a willingness and interest in becoming such an advocate. Applicants will be selected to represent a range of research areas, covering the different research councils within UKRI.
The application form is available from the summer school web site: https://durham.readthedocs.io/en/latest/netdrive/index.html
Key Dates
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Deadline for applications: 1st February 2026
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Notification of acceptance: 15th February 2026
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Response to acceptance: 28th February 2026
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Second round acceptance: beginning 1st March 2026
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Summer school dates: 15th-19th June 2026
Accommodation, Travel, Funding
The summer school is located at the University of Durham and accommodation has been arranged in a Marriott hotel in central Durham.
Accommodation will be provided to all successful applicants free of charge. Reasonable travel expenses will also be funded. We anticipate all applicants will travel by train and consider their environmental footprint when travelling.
We recognise that this may be challenging for some individuals and should not be a barrier to participation, alternative forms of travel are appropriate to meet individual circumstances.
Food will also be provided.
For more information and to apply visit https://durham.readthedocs.io/en/latest/netdrive/index.html
