​​Ben Tragheim​

1. How has pandemic the affected your work
Being a Chemistry student and spending quite a lot of time in the lab, understandably I've not been able to do that same type of work working at home. However, luckily before the pandemic I was able to complete an experiment on HRPD which gave me a lot of data to analyse, which formed a large part of my project, so I've been able to work on that during quarantine.

2. How have you been keeping healthy during lockdown
I'm staying with my family during lockdown, so I've been keeping healthy by getting plenty of fresh air in the garden, and going for walks with them in the surrounding countryside.

3. How often do you see your team/communicate with your team
I have coffee meetings with my team every week, and meetings with my line manager once a week.

4. What has been the highlight of your placement year?
My highlight of the year was to successfully perform a full neutron diffraction experiment on HRPD with a sample I synthesised myself. This formed a crucial part of my project and I'm happy I was able to achieve this in only 8/9 months.

5. How have you kept in contact with your co-workers during lockdown?
I've kept in contact with co-workers usually either by email or video call.

6. Sum up your placement in 5 words
Rewarding, practical, thought-provoking, enjoyable

7. Are there any things you did in your placement that you didn't expect?
I didn't expect colleagues and staff to be so friendly and helpful! Everyone is very welcoming if you have a question/problem and they'll help you very effectively. The students also support and complement each other very well and it has been a great year as a result.

8. How was the canteen food?
I didn't have the canteen food too often, but I would definitely recommend a slice of the rocky-road if you're feeling peckish for dessert!

9. How has your work attitude changed after your Placement Year?
I always felt like I had a good work ethic, but working on my project this year has given me so much more confidence in my knowledge and abilities. I feel so much more mature after working here for the year and I will go back ready and highly motivated to complete my ​final year of University.​​​

Emily ​McFarlane

1. How has pandemic the affected your work
The pandemic has affected my experimental work, as I can't access the lab to carry out tests on new equipment which are vital to my project. However, as I am able to connect to the STFC network, I still have access to papers and journals through the RAL library which has been very helpful for the report I am writing while I work from home!

2. How have you been keeping healthy during lockdown
I keep active by going on cycle rides around Didcot/Oxford.

3. How often do you see your team/communicate with your team
I communicate with my team usually one/twice a week, either by email or video call.

4. What has been the highlight of your placement year?
The highlight of my placement year has been when I got to sit in on an experiment which used the system my placement has been about improving - not only has observing experiments been one of my favourite things about my placement, it was fantastic to be able to see improvements I'd worked on be reflected in the data.

5. How have you kept in contact with your co-workers during lockdown?
I've kept in contact with my co-workers via Zoom - I've been able to attend science meetings and group meetings, as well as social coffee meetings with both my team and other students.

6. Sum up your placement in 5 words
Fun! Interesting! New! Informative! Eye-opening!

7. Are there any things you did in your placement that you didn't expect?
I had quite a few side-projects in my placement which I didn't expect, and the skills I learnt alongside them, particularly in coding, have been very useful in aspects of my main project, and will continue to be useful in my Masters project when I return to university.

8. How was the canteen food?
It was fine! I don't see what the fuss is about!

9. How has your work attitude changed after your Placement Year?
I think the main change to my work attitude throughout my placement has been developing how I work independently - rather than just carrying out a task independently, I've had the freedom to choose what tasks to do in the first place and how I'm going to tackle them.