Placements and industry links

Each year, academics and researchers within the department offer a range of summer internships to undergraduate students of the department to work within our research groups. The placements are open to all physics students who are not currently in their final year. Priority is given to penultimate year students (second year students on a BSc course and third year students on a MSci course), but it is also open to first and second year students as well. When allocating the placements the academic performance, attendance and CV of the applicants will be considered. The project supervisor will form part of the decision-making process, so we advise that you discuss projects that you are interested in directly with the supervisor.

To complete the internal placement, it is required that an A1 poster be produced detailing the research outcomes of the placement. The poster will be presented in a session in the Autumn term.

If you accept a summer placement, you will agree to be available for any physics outreach events that may occur during your placement (these could include open days, summer school programmes, etc). This would typically take one or two days during the six week placement.

For more information on the application process, deadlines, and list of project titles please contact Jana Checkley.

External placements are sponsored by partnering organisations including the National Physical Laboratory, international and UK national laboratories such as CERN, Diamond Light Source and ISIS Neutron and Muon Source and in local schools, among others.

We also offer a wide range of placements at other universities, high technology companies and other employers both directly from the department and through our partners in the South-East Physics Network (SEPnet).

SEPnet is a consortium of nine partner universities working together to advance and sustain physics as a strategically important subject for the UK economy and its science base in the South-East region of England. Royal Holloway is one of the partner universities; the others include:

• Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL),
• the University of Southampton,
• the University of Sussex,
• the University of Portsmouth, and
• the University of Hertfordshire.

You will have the opportunity to participate in various summer internships during the summer after your second and third year (for non-finalist students). All internships are awarded on a competitive basis, and students are encouraged to maintain an up-to-date CV to allow applications to be made in advance of the closing date.

Your SEPnet Employer Engagement Officer, Jana Checkley, will circulate a list of paid internships with physics employers at the start of the spring term. SEPnet internships for Royal Holloway students have included:

• National Physical Laboratory (NPL),
• UK Atomic Energy Authority’s (UKAEA) Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE),
• Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program,
• International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC),
• Accelogress (a software company),
• Online Lubricants,
• In2scienceUK,
• Thames Water,
• Ultra Intelligence & Communications,
• University of Surrey,
• EnSilica,
• Diamond Light Source,
• Ditchley Foundation,
• Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI),
• MeVitae,
• Openshaw & Co.,
• Institute of Physics (IOP),
• University Hospital Southampton,
• Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation,
• Symetrica,
• Environment Agency, and
• the Rosalind Franklin Institute.

Other employer run opportunities with large employers such as the IOP, SPiN, NPL, AWE, DSTL, P&G, Nuffield, SURE and DAAD are open to physics undergraduates, and you are encouraged to apply for these. They are usually advertised from October and your SEPnet Employer Engagement Officer will circulate as many as possible.

If you have any questions about internships, please contact your SEPnet Employer Engagement Officer, Jana Checkley.

It is likely that the Department of Physics will support a number of bursaries, awarded on a competitive basis, to support summer research projects in the department, for undergraduates.

The projects are likely to be of interest to those students wishing to continue physics research after their degree and will take place during the summer holidays. They are supported with £1,000 for six weeks. This scheme is aimed at internal (Royal Holloway) physics students only. It is also aimed at students who are not in their final year of their degree. Students are free to approach members of staff with a view to jointly develop projects. Projects to develop teaching within the department are also possible.

Have a look at where your studies could take you with the Study Abroad Programme. 

NPL Internships

As part of a strong research collaboration with the Department of Physics at Royal Holloway, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) offers a small number of prestigious summer studentships to Royal Holloway students.

NPL is the UK’s physical and measurement standards institution, but they also undertake significant amounts of fundamental physics research. Their research is partly related to the maintenance and development of the S.I. and other systems of units and partly related to fundamental curiosity driven research in quantum detection and other areas.

Many Royal Holloway physics students have taken up these studentships in recent years and have highly praised the scheme. These students were in turn praised very highly by our colleagues at NPL.

Who can apply?

The NPL studentships are particularly aimed at third year MSci students but second and fourth year students are also invited to register their interest. The studentships especially suit students who envisage a future career in science and would provide good background preparation for PhD level. Some students have indeed gone on to do PhDs on joint Royal Holloway and NPL projects.

The studentships

The studentships are likely to be between eight and ten weeks long, depending on the project and will be paid at a rate similar to other schemes.

In the past our students have been involved in:

• work on nanoelectromechanical devices in the quantum regime (with Drs Ling Hao and John Gallop),
• work on superconducting quantum information processing (with Professor Alexander Tzalenchuk and Dr Tobias Lindstrom),
• work on nanomagnetism  (with Dr Olga Kazakova),
• work on graphene and the development of new quantum electrical standards (with Professor Alexander Tzalenchuk),
• work on Quantum Current Standards (with Dr Masaya Kataoka), and
• other areas involving condensed matter and atomic physics for quantum measurement.

The studentships are located on a competitive basis and are usually limited to three or four students. NPL seek enthusiastic physicists, but you should expect to be asked to do some day-to-day laboratory work as well. There is no doubt the experience will be highly educational and interesting.

Other Summer Schools

The CERN Summer Student Program

How do you plan to spend your summer? How does getting involved in some of the world’s biggest experiments sound? This is more than summer work. It’s the chance to join CERN in Geneva – getting involved in the day-to-day work of our multicultural teams. Attend lectures, visit CERN facilities, take part in discussions and workshops with people who are leaders in their fields. In fact, it will be a summer like nowhere else on Earth.

The DESY Summer Student Program

Each summer DESY offers undergraduate students in physics or related natural science disciplines the possibility to participate in the research activities of the laboratory.

The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR)

The Institute of Cancer Research. The ICR offers paid undergraduate summer vacation scholarships every year. The programme provides exciting opportunities for undergraduate students to work with ICR research teams for a 6–8 week period over the summer. Funds are available for up to seven undergraduate students to undertake a six-to-eight-week research project (with a stipend of £300 per week).

Space Placements in Industry (SPiN)

UK Space Agency: Space Placements in Industry scheme provides placement opportunities for those considering employment in the space sector and connects space sector organisations who want to find the most talented and enthusiastic people to ensure the future success of their businesses.

Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL)

The Institute is looking for students from Physics, computing, engineering and communication: we believe ILL has a key role to play in the training of young professionals.

International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience (IAESTE)

The International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience is an association of national committees representing academic, industrial and student interests. We serve 3500+ students, 3000 employers and 1000 academic institutions through career-focused professional internships abroad, social and intercultural reception programmes, international networking and other career and employer branding activities in more than 80 countries worldwide.