Every year, STFC recruits industrial placement students from universities all around the UK to take part in the exciting research being undertaken here. This year, STFC has welcomed a total of 80 placement students across its departments, of which 16 have been posted to the Central Laser Facility (CLF). 

As the CLF's science communication placement student for the year, I sat down with four of my peers from the CLF (Ella, Narata, Thaddeus and Ellie) to chat about their work experience thus far. If you are an undergraduate (or Master's) student thinking of taking a year out from your degree to gain some work experience, read on to gain better insight into what a sandwich year at the CLF entails. We wish you all the best for your applications, and we hope to see you here soon!

Ella Hatton 

Ella said, “One of the big reasons I wanted to do a Year in Industry was to have a better idea of what I wanted to do, see what an actual lab environment and working in the industry was like." Wishing to explore this further, they applied to be a Detector Scientist for a year at the CLF. Ella first heard about STFC's placement opportunities from their friends and became quickly keen to apply due to STFC's reputation as a leading centre for a wide range of cutting-edge physics research.

Ella is part of the Terahertz group, a small collaborative team of 10 people from both the CLF and RAL Space working together to uncover the fundamental physical properties of the lesser-known terahertz wave.  Ella's role so far has been extremely hands-on, with half their time spent working in the lab and the other half spent analysing the data collected using code. “In university you get to do lab modules, but they aren't the most intensive in terms of teaching you skills. Whereas I've already found that I've gotten better at experimental skills in the month I've been here."

Their placement thus far has given them a much clearer idea of what being an experimental physicist entails, consolidating their interest in pursuing this career path after graduation. When asked what they were looking forwards to the most for the rest their placement, Ella said, “I really want to get more familiar with the CLF, because working here after university would be really appealing to me. Therefore, I want to get more acquainted with how everything would work here, and what working in this research facility would be like." 

Narata Heng

Narata joined the CLF as a High Repetition Rate Targetry Development Engineer after his third year at the University of Sheffield doing Mechatronics and Robotics. He opted to do a Year in Industry in hopes of being able to apply what he has learnt at university within the workplace. Having heard about this opportunity from another University of Sheffield student who has previously completed the same placement programme, Narata became motivated to complete his sandwich year here at the CLF.

Narata joined the CLF as a High Repetition Rate Targetry Development Engineer after his third year at the University of Sheffield doing Mechatronics and Robotics. He opted to do a Year in Industry in hopes of being able to apply what he has learnt at university within the workplace. Having heard about this opportunity from another University of Sheffield student who has previously completed the same placement programme, Narata became motivated to complete his sandwich year here at the CLF.

Working under the Target Fabrication group, Narata has been given full responsibility to work on a long-term project aimed at improving the Target Area Assembly System (TAAS). TAAS is a robot whose job is to automate and speed up the process of target assembly, a crucial step in target fabrication which is usually hands-on and time-consuming. Having been worked on by a succession of industrial placement students, TAAS will play an important role in producing targets for the CLF's up-and-coming lasers, EPAC and Vulcan 20-20, that will shoot at a much faster rate.

Currently, Narata is working towards integrating the camera vision system in order to automate the glue-dispensing process more reliably. As the only robotics engineer working on TAAS, Narata enjoys the responsibility and trust he's been given to shape the course of this project. Narata said, “This is the first time I've taken on and led such a big project. In university, I've only had the opportunity to join smaller student-led ones." Being given the chance to do so has also pushed him to develop a variety of skills in programming, research, report writing and more. 

Thus far, the placement has given him a better idea of what a career in robotics can look like, and hence greater confidence to step into the workforce after his degree. Looking ahead at the rest his year here, Narata is excited to continue working towards automating the entire system and potentially adding a new robotic arm to TAAS. He also hopes to pick up even more transferable skills that will prove useful and beneficial to his career in the future.

Thaddeus Allison

Thaddeus is a second-year physics student at the University of Bath working with the CLF High Power Laser team for his Year in Industry. “I wanted to do a placement because I think it puts you in a really good position to go on after study to get any sort of job." Thaddeus was intrigued by the High Power Lasers advertised in the CLF's job posting and decided to give this exciting opportunity a shot. 

Thaddeus is part of an exciting new project that will look into the development of laser technology for use in nuclear fusion. The project has been launched amidst increasing interest and gaining traction in nuclear fusion research and will accelerate the UK's research and development efforts on this front. He is excited to contribute to research that will not just be pushing the limits of technology but could also galvanise a global shift in the way we utilise energy.

Thaddeus said, “When I learned that I was going to be working on nuclear fusion, which is a passion and a goal of mine, I was really excited. The best part of my placement is being part of a potentially global shift in sustainable energy – it could fundamentally change our global approach to energy production and make sustainable energy available across the world!"

Besides an opportunity to make a real-world impact, working at the CLF has also allowed Thaddeus to collaborate and converse with specialists in the field, giving him many opportunities to network and learn directly from their years of experience. Looking at his year ahead, Thaddeus is excited to continue applying his knowledge through hands-on projects in the lab, as well as a potential opportunity to represent the CLF in a scientific conference happening abroad! 

Ellie Keene

Ellie is currently in her third year at the University of Birmingham studying Biochemistry. Inspired by the range of facilities STFC houses and the diversity of research being carried out, Ellie decided to apply for a sandwich year at the CLF's Octopus facility.

Ellie said, “I wanted to do a placement because I wanted to see what industrial research is like and continue to learn outside of my university course. There is only so much they can teach you in a lecture theatre as compared to learning directly from researchers who are the best in their field."

The Octopus group at the CLF works with a cluster of lasers used for Life Sciences research. Besides helping the external researchers that have applied to come down to use these instruments, Ellie is also making preparations to launch her own Masters project on DNA damage during her time here at the CLF. This means that not only does she get to help out with a variety of research projects being carried out at the facility, she also gets the freedom and autonomy to plan, execute and publish her own research experiment.

Ellie said, “I enjoy being able to do so many different things and being given the freedom to do them. For guidance I can ask my manager anything, but he also allows me to grow and treat my own cells, make little mistakes, understand where I'm going wrong and learn from that. I think most placements are more rigid and might not allow for that as much so I really appreciate the opportunity I get to do that here."​​​

Looking at the year ahead, Ellie hopes that this placement will give her a better idea of whether to pursue a PhD in the future. She is also excited to start work on her research project, as well as continue to meet and shadow the many researchers that will be coming in to use the Octopus facilities!  When asked what she likes most about working at the CLF, Ellie said, “The opportunity to use such high-tech equipment and be based at such a huge facility where so many different areas of scientific research come together is really cool!" 

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