Calling A Level students : Want to be a Zookeeper?
This post is only relevant to UK students taking their ‘A’ levels – sorry everyone else
When I was 17, I spent a summer working with Stuart Clark. Stuart’s now a full-time writer, but at the time he was still a researcher at the University of Hertfordshire. The ‘work’ I got done that summer – playing around with models of dust around newly forming stars – didn’t make any meaningful contribution to science, but I came away having learnt a huge amount, both about astronomy and about life as a an academic.
Do you fancy working with the Galaxy Zoo team this summer? We’d like to apply for two Nuffield bursaries, the scheme which made my trip to Hertfordshire possible, for sixth form students to work with us in Oxford or Portsmouth. Between us we’ll choose a project involving Galaxy Zoo data and apply to Nuffield for funding to support your work. The money isn’t a lot, but it’s more than you’d earn from a terrible summer job and it’s a good chance to polish your cv before university applications come round.
If you’re interested, drop me an email on chrislintott AT cantab.net with the subject line ‘Nuffield bursary’. Tell me why we should choose you, what ‘A’ Levels you’re doing at which school, and whether you’d be willing to work in Oxford, Portsmouth or both. Time is short, so make sure your emails arrive before noon next Monday, the 26th. We look forward to working with you.
Galaxy Zoo 
OOOOOOH, how exciting. Good luck, A level students!
It is, indeed, exciting for A level students to be offered such a wonderful opportunity to get involved in the ZOO – one of the top 10 scientific ventures in 2008.
What a great program. I wish I could have done this when I was doing my A-levels. I hope one of the students can come to Portsmouth. I’d be very happy to help them this summer if they do.
Good luck to all applying! 😉
Be honest guys – do you think I’d pass as an “A” level student?
Worth a try?
No?
Oh well…… 🙂
Hey, I did one of these Nuffield bursaries in the summer of the lower sixth. It helped my university application *a lot* – we spent most of my interview at Cambridge talking about it, as I recall.
Quite an important question from a sixth former. Does it have to be between your lower and upper sixth form years? Or can you do it between A levels and university?
Yes, it has to be between lower and upper 6th. Sorry – not our rules!
Chris
Wow what a great idea. Too bad they don’t have this sort of schemes in other countries. Would have made a difference…
This is a great idea! As a teenager in the early 80’s, I spent a summer at the Lund observatory, working with Gösta Lyngå, and had a great time.
Ummmm NO