Online placement details

Group and project summary:

The Chilbolton Observatory, Hampshire, is a radio and space field station. We operate a range of facilities focused on atmospheric science, future telecommunications and space situational awareness. Most of our expertise lies in radar instruments, and we work with various other groups to develop and maintain the capabilities they need.

The Chilbolton Observatory is a radio and space field station that runs lots of science equipment. As well as maintaining the kit running 24/7, we develop new technologies for higher performance and reliability. Our work involves a lot of time in the field and the laboratory, getting hands-on! We are looking for a work experience student to help gather and analyse data using some high-tech instruments. This may involve checking instruments, plotting graphs and lots of other fun laboratory experiments.

Other criteria: A broad interest in enabling science, with a desire to understand how we generate data and take measurements.

Discipline: Science

Group and project summary:

The Public Engagement team at ISIS are responsible for informing, inspiring and engaging young people and the general public with the exciting science and engineering that goes on at our facility. We run various events and activities throughout the year, deliver tours of the site and produce an array of online and printed resources to connect with a wide range of audiences and get them excited about science! We aim to make science accessible, interesting and relevant to all.

As part of this work experience placement, students will have the opportunity to support the Public Engagement programme by developing resources, materials or activities based around science and engineering at ISIS. This will be a great opportunity to combine creativity and a passion for science whilst learning about the work carried out here.

Other criteria: Applicants will need to demonstrate a passion for STEM (Science, technology, Engineering and Maths) and an interest in communicating it to different audiences. Applicants should be interested in learning about a range of scientific areas and may have an interest in the creative arts.

Discipline: Other

Group and project summary:

The Optical Sensors Cal Val team in RAL Space calibrate and validate Earth Observation data. During the placement, students will help with the CloudCatcher project, where members of the public identify clouds in satellite images, so we can check the accuracy of the computer generated cloud identification process. Students will analyse data using Python code and generate images as part of the project.

This work experience project would be most suitable to those who are comfortable using Python Code.

Other criteria: An interest in climate and space technology.

Discipline: Computing and science.

Group and project summary:

The Business Administration team is part of the Operations Theme in Scientific Computing. The team of enablers supports the scientists across the department, across a variety of functions, including email/calendar management, purchasing, travel booking, meeting support & management, event coordination, licensing, project/programme support, website management and so much more. We are a cohesive supportive team with a vast array of skills that we take pride in their work and strive for improvements in practices and processes to maximise our effectiveness and efficiency, and that of the department.

Students would work with the team to design resources that will be used to promote the services that the team offers to the Scientific Computing Department. During the placement, students would discuss the functions of the team with a cross-section of team members and collate a list of services that are on offer. The findings of the research would be presented to members of the department in the form of a leaflet, which will be used to share what services are available.

Other criteria: Experience using Microsoft Office packages.

Discipline: Other

Group and project details:

Boulby Underground Laboratory is the UK’s deep underground science facility. Located 1.1km beneath the North York Moors, Boulby Underground Laboratory hosts a wide variety of multidisciplinary science, including dark matter detection projects, Mars rover testing, astrobiology, beyond-Earth habitation, material screening, neutrino physics, Earth and environmental science, and more.

The outreach team at Boulby take the vast array of science projects in our lab – as well as the experience of being 1.1km underground – and translate them into a format that non-Boulby people will understand. We work with schools and education providers to deliver storytelling sessions, broadcast live virtual tours, and share activities and resources about the science in our lab. We engage with the general public through our social media channels and any in-person events that we’re a part of, such as science festivals or STFC open days.

As part of the placement, students will work closely with the science and outreach teams at Boulby to create digital and print resources relating to the science in our lab. This could include articles, social media posts, and short videos. Students can also assist in the development of new public engagement activities, help deliver craft sessions in Boulby live links, or collate ED&I resources to share with the team.

Other criteria: This placement would be relevant for science or engineering students with an interest in science communications and who enjoy thinking creatively.

Discipline: Other

Group and project summary:

The ISIS Design Division design and create a wide range of equipment for use on the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source. This ranges from small handheld sample environment equipment to large instruments – these instruments range from the size of a large van to the size of a house!

We use 3D CAD packages to design components, then calculate or simulate if they will work and review designs with other engineers. We then get these designs manufactured to be installed on the beamline.

In this placement you will be given an ISIS design brief to work on and generate ideas to solve real life engineering problems through sketches, 3D CAD, calculations and simulations.

Discipline: Engineering

Group and project summary:

The Detector Development Group develops new detectors that enables STFC to better understand what we’re measuring or measure new phenomena. This includes new types of X-ray, neutron, cosmic ray and neutrino detectors. Our detectors are used to study hot dense plasma generated by high power lasers, look at how metals solidify to improve their mechanical properties and even study quantum effects in biology.

We use a range of scientific and engineering skills including electronics, mechanical and materials engineering, coding to analyse data and physics to underpin how to measure the radiation.

The detector group uses a wide range of technical skills spanning multiple disciplines to develop new detectors for STFC. We are able to accommodate students who are interested in optics, coding, physics, electronics and material science. The project will depend on the interests of the student but will best suit a student who has a broad range of interest in science and engineering.

Discipline: Engineering

Group and project summary:

The group carries out research into clean energy technologies to assist in the effort to achieve net-zero by 2050. Currently, this work is primarily targeted at renewable energy storage to overcome issues with intermittent renewable supply. The group’s key focus to achieve this is green ammonia. Group research includes the development of a green ammonia plant for generating ammonia and research into ammonia end use in engines and fuel cells. This work is achieved through the use of engineering analysis (CFD,FEA, etc.) and design (CAD).

Students will work closely with the energy research unit to assist in the design of a novel green energy technology. This will likely focus on design work using CAD but may also require the use of CFD or FEA to assess the effectiveness and structural integrity of the design. Developing an energy technology also requires it to be cost competitive with existing solutions, therefore, the work will likely include some economic analysis of the design whilst also considering carbon benefits.

Other criteria: This project is most suitable for students with experience in engineering design, or a keen willingness to learn and an understanding of economics.

Discipline: Engineering

Group and project summary:

We work on the ATLAS particle detector at CERN, part of the Large Hadron Collider experiment. It’s a big experiment looking for evidence of new physical forces and theories. At RAL we focus on building new detectors and writing new computer programs to support the experiments.

During the placement, students will learn the basics of experimental particle physics data analysis and help test software for filtering data from a particle collision.

Discipline: Science

Group and project summary:

We are the LHCb group at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. We are working on the particle physics experiments conduct at CERN. LHCb experiment specializes in investigating the slight differences between matter and antimatter by studying a type of particle called the “beauty quark”, or “b quark”. Our group works focus on upgrading the detectors, RICH and Mighty Tracker. Our research projects are including sensor testing (HV-MAPS and SiPM), cooling system development, detector readout system, detector geometry simulation and data analysis (python and C++ basis).

In order to build our detector test system, we are designing and prototyping the monitoring system with the use of Raspberry Pi, Arduino and electronics with specific purpose. For the sensor readout, we are developing both firmware (FPGA) and software (C++ and python basis) for testing. The studies with geometry simulation of detectors allowed us to analysis and optimise the design of the upgrade detectors.

In this placement, you will work with one or more of the detectors projects, the tracker system or RICH (Ring-Imaging Cherenkov) detector. We will offer the placement students to work in the lab for sensor testing with laser or in different cooling conditions, using various electronics and readout system. There will be possible exercises to try out some data analysis or simulation with your programming skill too.

Our group (LHCb) is working on two upgrade projects, The Mighty Tracker and RICH upgrade.

Discipline: Science