Lancaster’s Chemistry Department has welcomed eight interns as a part of their summer internship programme, funded by Lancaster University, the Royal Society of Chemistry, AIchemy, and EPSRC.

The Department received confirmation of the funded places – totalling to about £27,000 - earlier this year, and are thrilled to have recruited eight chemistry students to fill the positions. The interns have since begun their posts, and will remain with the Department until September. An additional internship will start later in August.

The undergraduate interns will have the opportunity to work on diverse projects including solar cells, catalysts, and organic electronics. The students will be carrying out projects for a four-to-eight-week duration, and will each get an insight into how academic research works as well as the opportunity to obtain new results for research publications. In addition to current Lancaster undergraduates, the department has also welcomed an intern from the University of Durham. This year’s summer interns and their respective projects are:

• Maria Ermakova (Lancaster University) - Computational Modelling of Solar Cell Materials
• Menna Shirras (Lancaster University) - Machine Learning for Solid-State Materials Chemistry
• Reuben Withey (Lancaster University) - Polymer Chemistry
• Daniel Hogarth (Lancaster University) - Light Harvesting Devices for Solar Cells
• Hannah Copland (Lancaster University) - Green Catalysis
• Aldo de Grandis (Lancaster University) – Development of Biomaterials
• Oscar Wild (Lancaster University) – Computational Modelling of Energy Materials
• Will Bateman (Durham University) – Computational Modelling of Molecular Materials

Intern Hannah Copland commented: “Doing this summer internship has been an absolute privilege. My supervisor and peers have created an environment where I've been able to grow in my confidence and skills as a chemist, and I've woken up excited for each day. I could not have been more thankful for this opportunity; it's already been a pleasure, and I can't wait for what's next. It's definitely been a game changer for me.”

On the appointment of the interns, Director of Research Professor John Griffin said: “I’m really pleased that so many students have joined us for summer research internships this year. These internships offer students the chance to experience real academic research and to enhance their employability when they finish their degrees. They also provide an important contribution to the research taking place in the Department and we hope to see papers and conference presentations coming out of the work our interns are doing over the summer.”