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Two terms down, one to go: we’ve come a long way

Autumn term: check. Spring term: check. Time for the Easter holidays then a final push through our Summer term.  But first, a quick reflection on the academic year so far. (And what a year it’s been.) Now I’ve been in the UK for over 20 years, and when I first arrived learned much about the …

On Stars, Ciphers, and Cigarettes

Guest post by Floe Foxon (BSc Physics and Astronomy, 2020), whose final year of undergraduate studies featured international travel, research, published papers, and ultimately a job offer. Congratulations Floe on all your accomplishments! What do stellar reactors, medieval cryptograms, and smokes have in common? Probably nothing. Regardless, the final year of my BSc in Physics …

Joel wins Ultimate gold

Our students have a huge range of interests outside physics, and often juggle their studies with impressive achievements in other areas. Joel Miller (MSci Physics with Astronomy, 2017) is currently a third-year PhD student in the astronomy group, and recently was part of the winning GB Ultimate Frisbee team at the 2019 European Championships in …

MEG UK 2019: Hannah’s first conference

Guest post by regular contributor Hannah Coleman, who has just completed her second year as a BSc Physics student. Over the Easter Break I had the opportunity to attend my first academic conference in Cardiff. It is unusual for undergraduates to attend conferences, but not unheard of. As I am very keen to embark on …

Makun’s summer internship in Cambridge

Guest post by Makun Madar (MSci Honours Physics with Astronomy) about his research experience over this past summer — by coincidence working under the supervision of another former Nottingham undergraduate! A student-athlete, Makun juggles his academic work with being President of the university athletics club. The summer between my third and fourth year was spent …

Chloe’s summer internship in Oxford

Guest post by Chloe James-Turner, who is just starting her fourth and final year on the MSci Physics with Theoretical Astrophysics course. Summer research experiences are a great way for students to experience life in other institutions, learn new skills, and just enjoy doing some hands-on physics. This summer I did an internship in the …

Noah Hardwicke at the 2018 Wolfram Summer School

Guest post by Noah Hardwicke, one of our MSci Physics undergraduates. Noah has previously blogged about the importance of creativity in both science and art, and here reflects on his first year at Nottingham as well as the stimulating experience he had recently as a participant in the 2018 Wolfram Summer School.  My first year …

Student research: Teaching neural networks to identify gravitational lenses

The major research project in the fourth year of our MSci degree is a chance for students to get hands-on experience in the frontline physics research our academic staff are working on, i.e. where we don’t know what the answer is going to be when we start! Some projects lead to valuable advances in the …

A summer Down Under chasing gravitational waves

Guest post from former Nottingham undergraduate (MSci Physics 2017) and now first-year PhD student Lizzie Elmer, who went to Australia for a summer research experience and ended up playing an important role in one of the most exciting recent discoveries in physics! Finding an internship At the beginning of 2016, I was trying to decide …