Welcome to our Summer Interns

A warm welcome to our SURE Interns for 2021, engaging in research from across the School of Physics and Astronomy.

As announced in April, the School is supporting a number of undergraduates to join our research teams this summer, working on a diverse range of scientific projects. This programme is funded from several sources – School funds, the Royal Astronomical Society, UK Space Agency, and the Royal Society, but is managed collectively as the SURE (summer undergraduate research experience) scheme.

SURE Logo 2013


Unlike in previous years, where the SURE programme was open nationally to third-year undergraduates, this year we are piloting a scheme for Leicester students only, and adding flexibility in starting dates to better support our students and staff.

In our Planetary Science group, Jamie MacQuillin will be working with Drs. Michael Roman and Leigh Fletcher to explore storms and long-term variations in the atmosphere of Neptune. Dikshita Meggi will be working with Dr. Beatriz Sanchez-Cano, exploring Planetary Space Weather with multiple missions in the inner Solar System, including BepiColombo during the cruise-phase to Mercury, Earth based solar observatories and in-situ solar wind satellites, as well as spacecraft at larger distances, such as Mars Express. Niamh Topping and Branden Sampson are working with Prof. John Bridges on the Royal Society Summer Exhibition 2021 on the ExoMars exhibit.

In our Astrophysics Group, Mac McMullin will be working with Prof. Andrew Blain, using the WISE all-sky survey of the whole sky to explore phenomena in the infrared. Yasmin Davis will be exploring the brightness of satellite constellations and their influence on astronomical observations with Prof. Martin Barstow and Dr. Matt Burleigh. Natalia Stylianou will be working with Drs. Rhaana Starling and Kim Page to model the X-ray emissions from Gamma Ray Bursts. Adam Yeo will be working with Dr. Steve Leach to simulate Cherenkov Radiation showers to aid in the design of a compact instrument to track Extensive Air Shower (EAS) charged particles. Robert Savage will be working with Prof. Sergei Nayakshin and team to develop a simulation of a protoplanetary disc with young embedded planets. And Shangeetha Manivannan is going to be working with Dr. Gavin Lamb to measure the structure of jetted outflows associated with gamma-ray bursts.

In our Earth Observation Science group, William Butcher will be working with Dr. Tim Trent and Prof. Hartmut Boesch, using climate model simulations produced as part of the latest United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) sixth assessment report to understand how potential future warming scenarios could affect the hydrological cycle. Finally, Katie Knowles is working with Piyal Samara-Ratna and colleagues to support the development of a small spacecraft novel space electric propulsion system being developed at the Space Research Centre.

We wish all of our summer interns every success with their research projects!

Share this page:

Share this page:

Leave a Reply

Network-wide options by YD - Freelance Wordpress Developer