Nya-Therese Halliday - Summer STEM Virtual Work Placement Student - Weekly Reports

In April SATRO took the unprecedented (and sad) decision to suspend the Research Programme for this year due to COVID-19. We asked all our providers for a 'day in the life of' summaries to give the students a flavour of the many types of roles that are available in the professional environments. 

Following SATRO's hard work to develop an online policy. In May, we reached out to our wonderful providers to propose a virtual solution and to get around any social distancing rules. The response was amazing. We asked for suitable titles that the students could research over the summer and devise a short essay and either a PP or a poster with their findings. 

All students have been asked to provide a weekly update on their experience - please see below to see what Nya-Therese has been up to so far! 

Week One

"I chose to research the question what is the truth and consequences behind the MMR vaccine and autism scandal? I decided to explore this title because when I was undergoing my research about Wakefield’s hypothesis regarding the MMR vaccine and its potential link with autism, numerous issues regarding Wakefield’s research appeared and the consequences of his proposed hypothesis to society. This for me made it a very interesting project to write about because I was able to incorporate several ideas into my dissertation and develop a greater breadth of knowledge about the truth behind Andrew Wakefield, undercovering his true intentions.

 

The methods of working I have found successful have been gathering all of my research, writing a first draft and then further researching specific areas that perhaps lacked in detail and cohesion or possible questions that had arisen. Using this information, I then went on to write a second draft and repeated this process until I was happy with the result. I struggling slightly on developing a clear and concise structure, that flowed logically. It took me a few drafts to perfect this and for me to be satisfied, but I am happy with the end result.

 

I have absolutely loved and I am incredibly lucky to have been given this opportunity to research thoroughly a topic I am passionate about and have curiosities in learning more about. I am excited to building on this and pursuing a deeper understanding about this subject." 

- Nya-Therese Halliday 

Anja Salta - Summer STEM Virtual Work Placement Student - Weekly Reports

 

In April SATRO took the unprecedented (and sad) decision to suspend the Research Programme for this year due to COVID-19. We asked all our providers for a 'day in the life of' summaries to give the students a flavour of the many types of roles that are available in the professional environments. 

Following SATRO's hard work to develop an online policy. In May, we reached out to our wonderful providers to propose a virtual solution and to get around any social distancing rules. The response was amazing. We asked for suitable titles that the students could research over the summer and devise a short essay and either a PP or a poster with their findings. 

All students have been asked to provide a weekly update on their experience - please see below to see what Anja has been up to so far! 

Week One

"I have always been curious about what will happen in the future and how our actions will shape what it looks like. It’s why I choose to do ‘How to sustainably provide food for 9 billion people’. When I saw this question I was immediately drawn to it as it made me really think about possible solutions. I had a couple of thoughts in my head about what can be done so I did the research to see if they were viable options and to see if there were better solutions.

It was easy to find information on this topic as it is seen as a pressing issue that needs to be addressed quickly in order to solve it. It took a little while to be able to pick and choose what I thought was the most important factors and then put them into categories, but I eventually got there. Now all I have left to do is finish writing my findings."

- Anja Salta

Angela Avramovska - Summer STEM Virtual Work Placement Student - Weekly Reports

 

In April SATRO took the unprecedented (and sad) decision to suspend the Research Programme for this year due to COVID-19. We asked all our providers for a 'day in the life of' summaries to give the students a flavour of the many types of roles that are available in the professional environments. 

Following SATRO's hard work to develop an online policy. In May, we reached out to our wonderful providers to propose a virtual solution and to get around any social distancing rules. The response was amazing. We asked for suitable titles that the students could research over the summer and devise a short essay and either a PP or a poster with their findings. 

All students have been asked to provide a weekly update on their experience - please see below to see what Angela has been up to so far! 

 Week One

"I chose the chemistry question- ‘How can catalysts improve our lives in the 21st century?’. One of the reasons as to why I chose to research this is because I wanted to widen my knowledge about ways in which catalysts can benefit us, beyond what was taught at school. As there are many challenges that we have to face in the 21st century, some of those being climate change, storage for energy and an increase demand for food, searching for potential ways in which catalysts can help tackle these interested me.

I started off my research by going over the basics of catalysts and the different types- heterogeneous and homogeneous. I then looked into the history of catalysts, how they have been developed, by who and how they have been benefiting the world in the past. My focus then shifted to the current uses, that being the infamous Haber-Bosch process and catalytic converters in cars. I also looked at the overall advantages of catalysts that have and still are improving our lives. It was challenging to find how catalysts can further benefit us as they already do so in many different areas. However, reading articles and looking at interviews from professors and scientists have helped me gain knowledge on current research that is going on. This then allowed me to discover new ways on how the development of catalysts can improve our lives. I gathered further understanding on making biofuels from waste materials, with the help of microorganism-derived catalysts as well as storage of energy from renewable resources, which I will be looking more into. So far, I have really enjoyed the research as I was able to delve into new information and find discoveries that are of a great interest of mine."

- Angela Avramovska