Benefits to the supervisors, their work, and professional development
All supervisors agreed that it is something that they would happily do again in the future. In some cases, the researchers were new to computational modelling and they gained valuable experience from learning more about how to use computational methods in their research. Here are some of their feelings on hosting an intern:
“It was valuable to have somebody solely focused on research software development, a task which it is often difficult to have dedicated time and effort towards.”
“It provided me with an opportunity to gain experience as a lead supervisor on a project. The student acted as a catalyst for a new avenue of development of the research. His ideas and work have accelerated software development across the wider team.”
“Listening to their perspectives and how they approach a problem, and the realisation that they could reach the outcome they so sought from our engagements was satisfying.”
“The internship enabled them to develop the work he started during his BSc Project to the point where it can now be published.”
“This was my first time working with an undergraduate intern, so the experience was extremely beneficial for me. Understanding the gaps in documentation, trying to explain the concepts they needed to understand, and working alongside them to debug scripts and understand how the program worked was a very fun experience.”
“It developed a line of research which will be continued in the future, showing real-world potential for the work.”
Supervisors' impression about the quality of the research
All supervisors found hosting an intern to be a positive experience and were pleased and surprised with the quality of the student’s work.
"I was very happy with the intern's work. They were very dedicated to the position and worked diligently. I kept my expectations limited as it can be difficult for a novice to learn a coding language. Nonetheless, they showed a great commitment and were able to devote time to more advanced parts of the analysis."
“The software developed is of a high standard, and the focus was on building a software framework that was flexible and extendable in the future for related research work. It was pleasing to see this developed to a high standard.”
"I was not only happy with their work, but I was very happy with their attitude to work. Both met expectations.”
"I was very impressed with the student; they were hardworking and dedicated. I did not know what to expect, as they had no prior experience working with HPC. They took on the challenge and did their best within the limited time frame. I was particularly impressed by their grasping complex concepts very quickly, and the fact that they were not intimidated by all the tasks."
"The student was engaged throughout the project and progressed the work forward."
"The work was completed to an excellent scientific standard."