We recently celebrated the achievements of students who took part in the School of Engineering’s Summer Internship Programme.

Now in its seventh year, the internship programme offers paid, project-based work experience to undergraduate engineering students across a range of our research, teaching and professional services activities, over 8-12 weeks during the summer.

This year we hosted 45 internships in the School, which were offered to undergraduate students between second and penultimate year following a competitive application process.

Organised by the School’s Industry Engagement Manager, Dr Katherine Cameron, the scheme allows students to gain practical insights into what goes on behind the scenes at our School, and for some, a taster of PhD-level study.

Lighting presentations

At the halfway point of the internships, the students presented their projects to a lecture theatre audience of fellow interns, School staff and guests at a specially organised event in the Sanderson Building.

Students were challenged to deliver their presentations in under two minutes, providing an opportunity to practice their public speaking skills, while distilling complex information into brief, engaging elevator-style pitches.

Prize winners

Following the presentations, a staff and industry guest judging panel awarded first, second and ‘highly commended’ places and voucher prizes were presented by the judging panel.

Well done to all students who took part, and congratulations to the following prize winners who particularly impressed the judges for their presentation style and ability to make complex subjects engaging and accessible:

• First place: Havish Ganapathy – CT Scanner for Additive Manufacturing
• Second place: Niamh O'Neill-Berest – 4D Printed Actuators for Origami Solar Panels on CubeSats
• Highly commended:
  • Jasper Day – Matlib
  • Benjamin Olin – Tracking Plastic Movement with Lagrangian Ocean Analysis
  • Krzysztof Sotowicz – Design of Optical Enclosures

“Our summer internships are a fantastic way to involve our undergraduate students in the world-leading research carried out in the School of Engineering, allowing them to participate as researchers and gain experience on some very exciting projects. I congratulate all of the interns on their progress and in particular the prize winners.”

- Head of the School of Engineering, Professor Conchúr Ó Brádaigh

Watch the winning presentations

Thank you to the judging panel: Dr Jennifer Skilling (Senior Lecturer), Dr Dave Laurenson (Director of Learning & Teaching), Dr Keith Muir (Director, Broc Consultancy), Naomi Imms (Communications Officer).