Dear Colleague

NATCOR: National Taught Course Centre in Operational Research (OR)
(EPSRC funded)

NATCOR, a national centre providing taught courses in OR for PhD students is one of a range of taught course centres in the mathematical sciences supported by EPSRC. These are now in their second year of full operation. The response to NATCOR's  2007-8 programme far exceeded expectations. The total number of registrations for the three residential courses was close to 250 and the student feedback to date has been extremely positive. NATCOR's provision consists of five residential courses  delivered over a two-year cycle and is mainly intended for PhD students in their first two years of study. That said, during this initial phase of our operation, we will welcome registrations from doctoral students now entering their third year.

One point we continue to emphasise is that this EPSRC-funded provision springs from an acknowledged need to both broaden and deepen doctoral provision within the UK. Hence it is very much not the case that students should feel that they will only profit from material which is close to their research topic. Our courses are all designed for a broad doctoral audience. This will include, for example, mathematics students not taking PhDs in OR but who wish to be exposed to topics of direct industrial relevance for career reasons. 

Please consult our website at http://www.natcor.ac.uk <http://www.natcor.ac.uk/>  in the first instance for any questions you have about NATCOR's provision. If questions remain, please get in touch with either Lindsay Newby or myself with any queries. Contact details are to be found below. I would be very grateful if you could encourage your PhD students to look at the website.

Registration via our website has now opened for NATCOR's programme for the 2008-9 session. We expect demand for the courses to continue to be strong and encourage early registration. This letter contains outline information on the programme, the costs of course attendance and details of the system for registration and payment. Please consult the website for further information.

NATCOR courses for 2008-9

There will be two one-week (Monday to Friday) residential courses. Web-based materials will be made available to participants in advance to assist with preparation. The courses are as follows:

Stochastic Modelling
Lancaster University
March  23- 27,  2009

Simulation
University of Warwick
June 29-July 3, 2009


Detailed course outlines may be found on the website. Please note that the Stochastic Modelling course will be immediately followed by a two-day conference for PhD students in OR also to be held at Lancaster. Further details of the conference will be available from the organisers shortly. 


Costs

The cost associated with each residential course attendance has two elements. The first is a registration fee and is payable for all participants. The second is an accommodation fee. The latter is NOT payable for EPSRC funded students (nor for those who do not require accommodation). The details are as follows:

Registration Fee (payable for all students)

£60 registration fee per course
A reduced registration fee of £100 is offered if both courses are booked

Accommodation (bed & breakfast for four nights), if required

Non EPSRC funded students - £140 per course
EPSRC funded students - no charge

A course dinner will also be held, the cost of which is included in the registration fee.  All other meal costs will be met by the student.

We continue to work very hard to keep the costs of attendance as low as possible so as not to create obstacles to attendance, especially for non-EPSRC students. The maximum charge (for participation in both courses by a non-EPSRC student requiring accommodation at each one) will be just £380 (£100 registration fee plus a £280 accommodation charge).

Travel costs

Funds are also available to assist in the defraying of the costs incurred by EPSRC funded students in travelling to and from the residential courses. Details may be found on the website.


Registration and payment

Registration is via the NATCOR website. Once registration is complete, an invoice will be raised for the amount payable and sent direct to the department/institution.  Payment details will accompany the invoice.   If you have any queries regarding this process, please contact our administrator, Lindsay Newby - [log in to unmask]  



Yours sincerely 
Kevin Glazebrook
Professor of Statistics and Operational Research, Lancaster University,
Director, NATCOR

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