Summer Scholar 2012/13 - Research School of Physics and Engineering

I particularly enjoyed living at Burgmann College, this made the summer far more enjoyable and gave a good balance between work and relaxation.

I chose the ANU summer research programme as an opportunity to undertake a real research project and also be part of social programme. While there are other places to do a summer project the ANU was an easy choice as it is not only a high quality research university but the summer scholar experience offers a busy social programme, food and accommodation in city I had never been to before.

My home university is the University of Canterbury where I am studying mathematical physics with honours. My project was on an extension to a particular plasma confinement model in the Research School of Physics and Engineering, having applications to plasma confinement for nuclear fusion.

The highlights of this programme for me were getting interesting results in my research, learning a new area of physics and living on campus with the other summer scholars. I particularly enjoyed living at Burgmann College, this made the summer far more enjoyable and gave a good balance between work and relaxation.

My advice to prospective summer scholars is to look for an available project, even if it means diversifying to find a project, as these can often be adapted and made to suit your own requirements and interests. The research topic is only a part of the summer scholar experience, there is so much more to this programme that makes ANU a great choice. The best thing to do is just apply, the small amount of work for putting in the application is worth it for the great experience you will gain.