This year Widening Participation hopes to repeat the success of its Nuffield Placement scheme by attracting and placing even more Year 12 students to take part in research projects on campus and at local businesses to inspire them to become the researchers of tomorrow.
The Nuffield Placement scheme, which is run in partnership with the Nuffield Foundation, is for Year 12 students studying science, technology, engineering and maths who are curious about what it’s like to work in STEM, particularly in research. Placements can last from four to six weeks during the school summer holidays and the students work alongside university researchers in campus labs and offices.
This year’s campus placements took place in the Departments of:
- Chemical Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
- Civil Engineering
as well as
- Computer Science
- Physics
- Chemistry
- Pharmacy & Pharmacology
- Health
Commenting on why he got involved, PhD student Alex Cousen (pictured) who supervised a Nuffield Research placement student in the summer of 2016 and 2017, said, “This experience helped me develop my own teaching and communication skills and played a helping hand as the placement student assisted with the research for my current research paper. In addition, PhD students can meet the criteria outlined in the Vitae Researcher Development Framework, in particular, the Engagement, Influence and Impact (Domain D) aspect by hosting a Nuffield Placement student.”
Sue Dimond, the WP Outreach Officer responsible for liaising with the Faculty of Engineering & Design is always on the lookout for volunteers, including staff, PhD researchers and more senior staff, to support the programme.
If you’re interested in running a placement in summer 2018 please email nuffieldsw@bath.ac.uk.
