Unique experiences with physics
There are many amazing opportunities you can get involved in here as a physics student. Our students share some of their biggest successes.
The placement that led to a graduate job
At university
In the summer of 2017 during my degree, I had a 12 week summer internship with the defence and aerospace company BAE Systems. My role was working as a systems engineer (someone who looks at designing, testing, integrating and managing complex systems over their lifetimes). I worked on developing communications and networking systems projects for our customers, and no two days were the same.
After university
I graduated in July 2018, and started my new role at BAE Systems in September that year. In my role I spend a lot of time trying to answer complex engineering challenges. Sometimes people will say to me that doing a physics degree might seem odd since I now work as an engineer. Well, I've learned a lot from my degree and it's been so helpful. A physics degree teaches you to have a strong mathematical and logical grounding. This in turn gives you the ability to approach complex problems in a certain way, and therefore means you can solve them efficiently and effectively. Coding is arguably the best skill you learn from a physics degree, since so many companies now want to employ software engineers and need people with those skillsets. My software role would have been much harder if I hadn't had the grounding in MATLAB I'd learned at university.
I had a 12 week summer internship with the defence and aerospace company BAE Systems.
Jake
MSci Physics
Two prestigious internships
I have gained two amazing research internships through studying physics at UoN. In 2020 I interned for the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge, studying the Sagittarius Galaxy. This summer I will be working with the LEAPS programme for the European Space Agency, studying exoplanet transits and stellar variability.
These internships have already benefited me massively, as I was able to talk about them in my PhD applications. The connections I formed while working at these institutions are also invaluable, as I now have people I can reach out to for future collaborations and advice.
Larissa
MSci Physics with Astronomy
Getting involved in ground-breaking research
Hannah recently wrote an article about the innovative medical physics research she has been involved in, which made the cover of Physics World magazine.
I've been very keen to take on as much work experience as possible during my time at university. It's a great opportunity to try different career paths. I had already worked with Professor Matt Brookes and his group, helping them with outreach events. Matt thought it would be a good idea to try and combine the skills from my previous humanities degree and the physics I'd learned, to try and write about their research. A physics degree has shown me just how many opportunities there are to use your scientific and analytical skills, and how diverse and broad your interests can be.
Hannah
BSc Physics
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