CERN collaboration giving Dundee students a taste of the future

In addition to exciting internships in the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) project teams, learners from Dundee’s School of Science and Engineering are also being given the opportunity to undertake placements with the Open Quantum Institute (OQI), helping to identify ways to harness quantum computing for the benefit of societies across the world.

The field is a far cry from traditional computing, aiming to utilise quantum mechanics principals to solve complex problems beyond what is currently possible with high performance computing facilities. The OQI is bringing together the academic, diplomatic, civil society and industry communities to promote accessibility of quantum computing for the benefit of humanity, including efforts to help advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

It marks the latest development in the collaboration between the University and the Institute’s host, CERN, which also operates the Large Hardon Collider (LHC), the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator.

James Wilson, a third-year Mechanical Engineering student from Banchory is undertaking a near year-long placement at the OQI. 

“The opportunities I’ve had since I arrived have been incredible,” he said.

“I’ve been introduced to lots of different aspects of the work done at the OQI – there’s very little I’ve not been able to get involved with.  Since I’ve been working at OQI, I’ve had the opportunity to engage with lots of interesting people I wouldn’t have met otherwise, such as people working for UN agencies, industry professionals, distinguished academics and Ambassadors to the UN.

“I was quite nervous at first but the opportunity to meet and work with these people has really helped to build my confidence.”

The University’s involvement with the OQI builds on its collaboration with the CMS experiment, which it joined as an Associate University Partner in 2017. The collaboration has allowed the partners to run a series of educational initiatives, including joint PhDs, undergraduate research projects and fully funded student placements, which began in 2021.

To date, more than 20 Dundee students from Dundee’s Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Maths, and Physics programmes have enjoyed placements with CERN, before returning to the University to complete their studies.

As well as enjoying the opportunity to live and learn in another country, James admit that his internship is also helping to form his career plans after completing course.

“Geneva is a lovely place – it’s nice to go out walking and experience the local area,” he said. “There are social gatherings with some of the other people working here, so it has been an enjoyable time.

“It has been exciting to learn about quantum computing and it would be a shame not to utilise that knowledge in my future career. It is a revolutionary field that will only develop in the years to come. It has been such an eye-opening experience.

“I would advise anybody studying at the School of Science and Engineering to take this opportunity. The opportunity to work on projects hosted at CERN is invaluable.

“I cannot think of a better way to build my CV and to gain experience in a field that is going to be hugely important in the future.”

CERN, the European laboratory for particle physics, is the world’s leading particle physics research laboratory, headquartered in Geneva.

The University’s collaboration with CERN has been hugely productive to date, with experts from our School of Science and Engineering having contributed to research projects at the LHC and CMS, one of the world’s most advanced and prestigious scientific installations.

This positive work has evolved into a new tranche of partnership working with the OQI. With a mission to harness the power of quantum computing to develop algorithms to be used to advance UN Sustainable Development Goals, internships at the OQI are allowing Dundee students to gain valuable workplace experience at the forefront of technological, political and social thinking.

Professor Robert Keatch is the lead academic for the University’s partnership with CERN/CMS, having secured funding for more than 20 student placements in the past four years. 

He said, “Our work with CERN has been a fantastic opportunity for our undergraduates to work in the world’s largest High Energy Physics research laboratory alongside the world’s best scientists and engineers. Projects have ranged from developing new types of inspection robots to installing and testing particle detectors at CMS.

“To work with CMS, the LHC and OQI are unique opportunities presented to students at the University of Dundee. With generous support from the Turing Mobility Scheme we have also managed to fully fund our students time whilst in Switzerland.”

You can read more about the University’s collaboration and work with CERN on our website.