• Question: Does one need a contact at university to get a work experience placement in a university?

    Asked by danm to Arttu, Ceri, James_M, Monica, Philip on 15 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Philip Dolan

      Philip Dolan answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Nope. My supervisor has just recently organised for a sixth former to come and work in our lab for a week over summer. Apparently the reason he said yes this time was because she’d taken the time to read about exactly what we do in the lab, and asked some good questions in her email (often he gets requests that are just mass emails to lots of group leaders).

    • Photo: Arttu Rajantie

      Arttu Rajantie answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      It definitely helps if you have a contact, but as Philip says, if you don’t you should find find out what people do and contact someone you really want to work with. Also, please keep in mind that we get lots of requests and we cannot accommodate everyone.

    • Photo: Ceri Brenner

      Ceri Brenner answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      not always, but it does help to get the conversation started i guess. my tip would be to look for a research group that you’re really interested in (you can normally find info on the group’s interests on the university department’s website) and then make contact with someone in the group (the email addresses are normally on the website too). It shows great initiative to contact someone you don’t know and inquire after a subject you’re really keen to be a part of-most supervisors will be impressed with that i reckon

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