Summer placements
Each year undergraduates can apply for a bursary to spend around 10 weeks working with one of our department's research groups over the summer vacation. A bursary is the same as a grant – you don't have to pay it back. Students usually take this opportunity in the summer before their final year.
A summer placement gives you the chance to experience cutting-edge research at first hand and sample life as a PhD student. It can even lead to your name appearing in a journal. Many students enjoy the research experience so much that they decide to stay on and do a PhD.
What our students say
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I spent my 10-week placement with Professor Mark Fox and Dr Isaac Luxmoore studying the propagation of light through photonic crystal materials. I used the FullWAVE software package to simulate the movement of light through different photonic crystal waveguides. This has applications in the future of optical integrated circuits, which is a very active area of research in physics at the moment. I feel privileged to have worked as part of the photonics group here at the university, as the experience I gained will help me greatly throughout my final year. The research I did was relevant to my own academic interests, and the experience of undertaking individual research has greatly influenced my decision to pursue PhD study. |
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Sam Massey |
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During my eight-week summer placement, I worked with Dr V Kudryavtsev and Dr M Robertson on simulating the effect of background radiation on the EDELWEISS-III Dark Matter detector. The project was funded by SURE and carried out under the Sheffield division of the EDELWEISS collaboration, which is responsible for background radiation studies. I enjoyed working with academics and fellow students on these simulations, and the results were included at the EDELWEISS collaboration autumn meeting in Germany. One of the main outcomes of my placement was the amount of C++ programming I learnt, which will help me greatly in my future physics career. The placement helped me confirm my decision to do a PhD after University. |
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David Jessop |
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This summer I did a 10-week project funded by the EPSRC, working with Dr Nic Mullin and Dr Richmond Muimo. We were studying the membrane surfaces of activated and rested human peripheral blood neutrophils, and making comparisons between any changes observed in the images captured using an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). The data analysis process involved using the appropriate nanoscope software in order to visualise, analyse and manipulate the data electronically. One of the reasons I enjoyed this project so much was that I had never worked on an AFM before. I also learnt about biological processes such as how white blood cells react when they are introduced to a stimulant. I am sure that the skills I have gained from this experience will prove useful within my final year masters project, as I have chosen a topic that is closely related to the work that I carried out over summer. |
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Rebecca Dixon |
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