Category Archives: Mining, Environment and Natural Resources

Student Case Study: University of Exeter

Name of Student:  Athena Atkinson

Degree Subject: MSC Mining Engineering

Job Title: STEM intern

Company Name:  University of Exeter

Type of Internship: CEMPS Internship

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship?

It was my responsibility to collect STEM-related questions for use in the STEM Day quizzes. After the group of interns had finished their respective parts of the presentation, we switched it up to keep it exciting. I also worked on the Growth Mindset part, which highlights the importance of resilience in the learning process. The Growth Mindset was very interesting as I hadn’t heard about it before this project, and it taught me to have more patience about new academic challenges.

What outputs and outcomes did you deliver for your employer?  

The internship gave me the opportunity to collaborate with a confident group of interns and create activities and quizzes designed to inspire younger students considering STEM. We did this through a series of ‘STEM Days’, days where we would present our content to schools and colleges.

What was your biggest achievement on your internship?

Each member of the team had a specific activity to design and make for the STEM Days, where we would present our content to schools and colleges around the UK. I had to create a series of STEM-related quiz questions, which would engage the younger students and encourage thoughts about STEM subjects. I created questions for a range of different topics, and used menti.com to quiz the younger students in a virtual environment. This was very effective, and we were able to discuss each answer afterwards.

Skills Learnt: 

  • Ability to Work Under Pressure
  • Organisation
  • Leadership
  • Strategic Planning
  • Decision Making

Attributes Developed:

  • Logical thinking
  • Creative thinking
  • Independence
  • Work Ethic
  • Professionalism

Your message to other students considering a similar job role, organisation or sector?

“I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of STEM Beyond Boundaries this summer. It gave me the opportunity to collaborate with a confident group of interns and create activities and quizzes designed to inspire younger students considering STEM. We did this through a series of ‘STEM Days’, days where we would present our content to schools and colleges. Digital platforms such as Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet were brilliant in widening participation from schools all over the UK. Each STEM Day was varied with a range of different age groups and number of students. The Q&A session at the end of the presentations were the best part of the internship as you could see what the students had taken in, listen to their thoughts about STEM, and discuss the next steps in their STEM journeys.”

Research Assistant and Project Analyst – CEMPS Renewables and Pure Energy Professionals

What were your main roles and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

CEMPS: analysis of wave data for FaB Test and assisting with the annual environmental survey

PEP: identifying and presenting storage opportunities in Cornwall, doing an analysis of wind turbine assets managed by PEP and producing a report

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

Programming used to feel like one of my weaknesses and I can now say that I feel confident using Matlab in a more instinctive way.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

CEMPS: I analysed wave data to produce charts for potential developers, which would have been fairly time-consuming for the existing staff

PEP: the potential storage opportunities map is likely to be used in the next few weeks or months

What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Enterprise, research, problem solving

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Motivation, personal awareness, work ethic

Research Assistant – University of Exeter College of Humanities

What were your main roles and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

I assisted with the geophysical survey in the Bishop’s Palace gardens. This involved laying out grids, carrying out both Resistivity and Magnetometry surveys. I was then responsible for sorting out the visual results for the written report.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I gained confidence in carrying out 2 types of geophysical surveys, both key for professional archaeological work.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I was able to assist Professor Creighton in one of his research projects, helping him save time as he transitions to head of the department.

What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Strategic planning, teamwork and collaboration, degree specific skills

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Confidence and independence

Intern Energy Consultant – JRP Solutions

What were your main roles and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

The main roles where contacting clients, creating business plans for potential company ventures, creating clear pitches for the company to take to clients, creating educational material and designing sheets within excel to create reports for senior management at the company’s client businesses. The biggest of these were the educational material and the reports for senior managers. The educational material was in the form of a booklet which would teach managers and other employees about energy management and energy usage. The report designed within excel was an executive summary of energy saving solutions identified and the savings associated with them.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I became more confident in communication with senior management teams and became highly proficient in excel.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I helped to lighten the workload of significant projects within the company and lead my own projects which would otherwise have been left at the bottom of priorities and possible never completed.

What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Teamwork and collaboration, problem solving, negotiation

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Perseverance, creative thinking, work ethic

Administration Intern – Royal Geographical Society

globe

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

Helping sort the RGS records and archives, with 5 other interns. We also shadowed members of staff in different divisions to grasp the various aspects of what the RGS does, and worked in the fundraising, education, research & higher education departments. We were responsible for handling confidential membership material and for organising important archives for their journals.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I lost my fear of not fitting in, as I was nervous that I wouldn’t. Within a few hours I felt very confident and at home there, the staff made us feel very welcome and I picked up some professional vocabulary that I feel comfortable using now.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I helped them sort out some of their many paper archives to aid them transition to becoming a more digitised organisation, and helped the education department by planning school visit sessions for them.

 

Renewable Technology Designer – Eco NRG

energy

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

The internship was at a small company that provides quotes and installations for various renewable energy technologies across the south west. Because the team I was working alongside was so small, I had a varied range of roles. I sized up heat demands for new builds and selected the pumps that would be installed for many projects. I relayed the potential energy generation and panel layout for solar PV projects. During the internship it quickly became apparent that my IT skills were far beyond that of anyone who worked for the company, so I was put to work updating the website, which hadn’t been touched in years.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I gained some real world work experience in the renewables sector – something that I never managed to engage in during or between years of my degree!

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

Adding a layer of IT fluency no-one else had, taking over the website, social media management, and some aspects of administration, allowing others to focus on more technical aspects of the company. Most notably, I discovered techniques and simple software that drastically reduced the time needed to convert architect blueprints into usable measurements for heat loss calculations.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

During the second half of the internship business really slowed down – which is really to say that the first six weeks were unusually busy, and during that period I had very little downtime. When the technical side of my job got more quiet it was then I turned my attention to the IT side of things, but even then this did not completely solve the boredom that came up from a lack of work to do.

Research Assistant (Ecology and Conservation) – University of Exeter

02

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?
I assisted in a variety of laboratory tasks, including the organisation and curation of field samples and preparation of samples for analysis. I also had to provide research support in the form of literature reviews, collation and curation of data sets. I provided general administrative support within the group. This included organising and timetabling meetings, processing of expense claims, Booking travel and accommodation for field trips and conferences.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

Learning and putting to use new lab skills and successfully managing my workload priorities.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I supported the research group by organising group meetings, collating data and taking on lab tasks such as processing field samples. I also reconciled Professor Bearhop’s expenses and organised his travel to and from work engagements and field trips in the UK and abroad.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

Whenever I had a problem I asked the supportive people in my office for advice and when I had issues with miscommunication I had a meeting with my line manager to clear up the misunderstanding.

Graduate SUDS Officer – Devon County Council

UoE Internships, University of Exeter Internships, SCP, SBP, GBP, A2I

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

I supported the work of one of Devon County Council’s Flood and Coastal Risk Engineers by providing bespoke surface water drainage advice, in respect of major planning applications, to eleven Planning Authorities in Devon. I fulfilled this statutory duty by critically reviewing the technical aspects of Flood Risk Assessments and engineering drawings, using my knowledge of environmental science, engineering and mathematics, supported by specialist computer software. Whilst preparing this advice, I was responsible for liaising with the Flood and Coastal Risk Officers within the Team, alongside staff from other Risk Management Authorities, to identify any local flood risk issues which could impact a development.

Providing this advice often involved attending site and office meetings, at which, if I was the principal officer, I was responsible for ensuring that a technically viable and sustainable surface water drainage management plan was negotiated and secured, even where significant environmental or financial constraints to development existed.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

Whilst providing bespoke advice to Local Planning Authorities, I was able to deploy much of my knowledge gained throughout my degree, ultimately ensuring that all new major developments throughout Devon employed sustainable measures to manage surface water flood risk.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I was able to provide support to one of the Flood and Coastal Risk Management Team’s new statutory duties, ensuring that the surface water drainage aspects of all new major developments across Devon were scrutinised in detail.

Mr. Christopher James Perrott

Renewable Energy Officer – LessCo2 Ltd

Universtiy of Exeter Internships, UoE Internships, SCP, SBP, GBP, A2I

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

I learnt and practically applied all the knowledge I learnt with regard to the installation and commissioning of wind turbines. This included onsite visits and working from home as required.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I found it an exceedingly rewarding experience and was able to learn about a lot about not just the renewable energy and small scale wind industry but also what makes a successful business. I was able to be involved in a range of roles and projects that enabled me to have an input into wind projects in addition to more general aspects of the business.

It was excellent to be able to make connections within the industry and apply skills and knowledge from my course in a real life situation, in addition to developing new ones.

“Emma was a pleasure to work with. She was hardworking and picked up new knowledge quickly. All of the projects she was given were completed to a very high standard and on time” – Line Manager

Research and Development Intern – Atlantic Energy for Fal Energy Partnership

Universtiy of Exeter Internships, UoE Internships, SCP, SBP, GBP, A2I

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

To assist Fal Energy Partnership (FEP) with the design and construction of a demonstration trailer to be used at key events both within and outside of the FEP membership area.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

The chance to engage with a newly established, driven community group was very inspirational. The work involved bringing skills from my degree and previous work experience together to create something unique for community groups. I had a chance to meet with local business owners during my placement, share my plans with them and gain useful feedback. I will continue working voluntarily with FEP now that my placement has finished and hope that I can continue to gain further experience while being part of such a worthwhile organisation.

“We were very grateful for the enthusiastic help that Adam contributed”- Line Manager