The bursary scheme has been running successfully for nearly ten years and has benefited several thousand students. Thousands of science, technology, maths and engineering-based organisations have provided projects for the students to work. Through the scheme, students take part in STEM based projects, lasting 4-6 weeks, in universities, industry or research institutions during the summer holidays.

This year the Department of Engineering was invited to join the scheme and provided one placement. This is quite a prestigious scheme - only 1000 places are allocated for the whole of the UK, and the East Midlands region covering Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire were awarded a total of 46 places.

The Scheme receives additional support from The Wellcome Trust, The Royal Society, the Engineering & Technology Board, NESTA and Research Councils UK.  Last year, some organisations were also able to fund additional bursaries from their own resources. The Nuffield Foundation welcomes these contributions to the scheme.

Some students use their project to obtain a CREST Award. CREST (Creativity in Science and Technology) is a nationally recognised award scheme which accredits science projects and research carried out by students in partnership with scientists, technologists and engineers.

A project should be self-contained so that the student can experience a beginning, a middle and an end within the 4 - 6 week period. The time available limits the scope and complexity of the projects that the students can complete. The criteria for selecting projects are that they should:

• have clear scientific or technological content;
• contribute to the work of the host organisation;
• be well defined, having a clear outcome in mind from the beginning;
• allow some scope for initiative on the part of the student.

A key criterion is that the students should gain from working alongside practising scientists, engineers, technologists and mathematicians. Increasingly, students are undertaking projects involving extensive use of ICT; for example involving mathematical modelling. These are acceptable as long as the origins of the project are scientific or technological, and the project meets the criteria of ‘enabling the student to work with and alongside practising scientists, engineers, technologists and mathematicians’

Chris Kennell's Project

Our student for this placement was Chris Kennell, a fast track student from Longslade Community College, now studying A levels with the hope of going on to Oxford University.

The project we chose for him was to investigate replacement of a PC26 AT, digital-to-analogue card. This is used for a first year lab experiment on signal averaging; the PC26AT D/A card ISA slot version is no longer available.

A solution would be to:

1. Buy a PCI version
2. Update the experiment so that the data can be captured using a device/circuit via the USB slot.

Option 2 is the preferred option.

Task

1. Verify the existing experiment and understand the aims and objectives of the experiment and principles of operation.
2. Investigate alternative to ISA slot PC26AT D/A card.
3. Investigate using NI DAQ card with LABVIEW to capture data and MATLAB to process the data.
4. Select best option device for best software package
5. Build test and verify selected option
6. Document results

Chris was here for 8 weeks during the summer and did actually achieve all the tasks we set him. He eventually produced a report on all he’d done and the results with recommendations on the solution. It is now for us to incorporate his recommendations and develop a new experiment based around MATLAB and LABVIEW.

Chris and the other 45 students on this scheme were invited to present their projects at the Astra Zeneca R & D Charnwood site in Loughborough on 14 October. Also invited were the staff working with the students; from Engineering these were Rash Patel, Andy Truman, Bilal Haveliwala and Tom Robotham, all from the electronic group of technicians. After presenting their projects there was a reception with buffet and all the students were keen to check out each other’s projects. The students were presented with a certificate of achievement and all the project provider institutions were also presented with a certificate. University of Leicester hosted 6 projects, more than any other establishment, from various departments including Engineering, Physics & Astronomy, MRC Toxicology and Genetics. Other institutions included University of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University, Loughborough University and of course Astra Zeneca the hosts.