The British Antarctic Survey welcomes students who wish to gain hands-on experience of working in a scientific research environment while studying.
We run a number of placements schemes for students at various stages of their education:
- Work Experience Placements (under 18s)
- Summer Placements (university undergraduates)
NERC Summer Placements
NERC Funded Research Experience Placements – REPs
Summer placements are available typically for students studying for their first degree who are seeking research/work experience, usually during the summer break. Projects will be advertised below when they become available. The application process will be made clear within the advertisement, as this will differ depending on the NERC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) or Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) administering the scheme.
We welcome applications from those from underrepresented demographic and diversity-related groups in environmental sciences.
To be eligible for consideration you must meet all of the criteria listed below:
- Be undertaking your first undergraduate degree studies (or integrated Masters).
- Be applying for a placement in a different department to your undergraduate degree.
- Be eligible for subsequent NERC PhD funding (find out more about eligibility for PhD studentships)
C-CLEAR DTP
Unravelling the sources of ice nucleating particles above Arctic sea ice
Supervisor: Dr Markus Frey
Spontaneous Dansgaard-Oeschger type oscillations in climate models (SDOO)
Supervisor: Dr Irene Malmierca
AI4ER CDT
IceNet2 Operational Forecast refinement
Supervisor: Dr. Scott Hosking, James Byrne, Tom Andersson
Automated detection of walrus haulouts to assess seasonality
Supervisor: Ellen Bowler and Hannah Cubaynes
ARIES DTP
Exploring the origin of snow water isotopic signals in the Arctic
Supervisor: Dr Xin Yang
Development and characterisation of an automated surface ozone analyser to be deployed at Halley Research Station, Antarctica
Supervisor: Dr Freya Squires
The flux of microplastics in the Southern Ocean: the role of gelatinous zooplankton
Supervisor: Dr Clara Manno
Scaling the application of Artificial Intelligence in science across Antarctica
Supervisor: Dr Ben Evans
For general enquiries, please contact the BAS Student Office
GW4+ DTP
Applications Close: Monday 20th June
Detecting prey of Antarctic Lanternfishes using novel genetic methods
Supervisors: Dr Alison Cleary & Dr Jennifer Freer
Observing atmospheric waves at the edge of space
Supervisor: Dr Tracy Moffat-Griffin
Spontaneous Dansgaard-Oeschger type oscillations in climate models: Tipping Points in the climate system
Supervisor: Dr Irene Malmierca-Vallet
Other Summer placement opportunities
Work Experience Placements
In-person work experience placements for 2022 are currently under review due to COVID-19. Please register your interest through this form. Work experience is usually a short period of time during which student has an opportunity to gain an insight into the work of the Survey and to get an experience of a particular type of work. Work placements are often an integral part of a Year 10 study and last no more than 2 weeks.
Who can apply
In-person unpaid work experience opportunities are mainly only offered to students under the age of 16 studying at a local school in Cambridge and surrounding areas. We have been running a virtual summer work experience week since the start of Covid. See more information above.