FUSE Internships 2024
The applications for FUSE internships 2024 are now closed.
In the summer of 2024, the Faraday Undergraduate Summer Experience (FUSE) internship programme is providing 55 internships for undergraduate students to undertake paid-eight week placements with battery researchers from partner organisations.
Goals of the internships are:
• Provide opportunity to gain research experience
• To inspire young people to pursue careers in the fields of battery technology and energy storage
• To diversify the pool of talent
• To increase participants’ knowledge, skills and aspirations
• Give contact with positive role models
Participating institutions construct project research topics that connect to the Faraday Institution research projects and select interns on a competitive basis from a diverse pool of applicants. Working alongside a supervisor, students have access to other research scientists. Interns are invited to join cohort video calls on a range of topics. At the end of the summer, and with the assistance of their supervisor, each intern prepares a poster detailing their scientific research project.
A number of FUSE interns have successfully gone on to undertake a PhD in battery research or work in the battery sector. Read Siddhi Barhanpurkar’s Faraday Pathway career journey, and a blog post highlighting the success of the 2023 FUSE programme.
Eligibility
Applicants must:
• Be registered full-time undergraduate student from a UK university.
• Undertake the internship within the years of their undergraduate study (i.e., not in final year or during a subsequent Masters’ programme).
• Not have been a FUSE intern in a previous year
Application processes vary by university.
Topics
Internships are in-person unless indicated below.
| Project Title | Supervisor(s) | Host organisation | Application status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CATMAT | ||||
| 1 | Synthesis of manganese-based disordered rock-salt phases via low temperature routes | Peter Slater and Wilgner Lima da Silva | University of Birmingham | Closed |
| 2 | Towards preventing degradation in next-generation lithium-rich cathode materials | Dominic Spencer-Jolly and Emma Kendrick | University of Birmingham | Closed |
| 3 | Understanding cracking behaviour in next generation battery materials | Rhodri Jervis | University College London | Closed |
| 4 | High energy density lithium-rich spinel cathodes | Robert House | University of Oxford | Closed |
| 5 | Understanding mechanochemical processes for new electrode production | Peter Slater and Adam Michalchuk | University of Birmingham | Closed |
| Degradation project | ||||
| 6 | Machine learning molecular dynamics for battery materials | Ioan-Bogdan Magdau | Newcastle University | Closed |
| 7 | Operando Raman investigation of battery degradation | Michael De Volder | University of Cambridge | Closed |
| 8 | Best of both worlds: mixed LFP/NMC battery and electrochemical optimisation | Galo J. Paez Fajardo | University of Warwick | Closed |
| 9 | Performance and aging evaluation of Li-ion batteries with novel formulations | Debashis Tripathy | University of Cambridge | Closed |
| 10 | Investigating degradation in olivine cathodes for lithium-ion batteries | Hrishit Banerjee | University of Cambridge (hybrid working) | Closed |
| 11 | Dielectric constant determination of battery electrolytes using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy | Svetlana Menkin | University of Cambridge | Closed |
| FutureCat | ||||
| 12 | Investigation of high-entropy metal oxide electrodes by pair distribution function analysis | Xiao Hua and Hekang Zhu | Lancaster University | Closed |
| 13 | Traceless delivery of singlet oxygen for assessing electrolyte degradation | Lee Johnson and Kieran Jones | University of Nottingham | Closed |
| LiSTAR | ||||
| 14 | Moving towards carbon fibres based lithium metal pouch cells | Magdalena Titirici and Samantha Southern | Imperial College London | Closed |
| 15 | Exploring TAP900@Fe single atom catalysts for enhanced lithium-sulfur battery performance | Magdalena Titirici and Mengjun Gong | Imperial College London | Closed |
| 16 | Voltammetric studies of sulfur redox reactions | Darren Walsh | University of Nottingham | Closed |
| 17 | Solvation and transport in electrolytes for Li-S batteries | Mauro Pasta, Ben Jagger and Camilla Di Mino | University of Oxford | Closed |
| Multi-scale Modelling | ||||
| 18 | Building fast electro-thermal models with heat-flow simulations on a spiral domain | Mark Blythe | University of Bristol (hybrid working) | Closed |
| 19 | Modelling electrode coating with PyBaMM | Ferran Brosa Planella and Masoud Jabbari | University of Warwick (hybrid working) | Closed |
| 20 | Particle velocimetry for transference numbers | Charles Monroe | University of Oxford | Closed |
| 21 | Pattern recognition in drive cycles to approximate equivalent current-rate cycles | Gregory Offer and Derek Siu | Imperial College London | Closed |
| 22 | Characterising the effects of pressure distribution on parallel-connected lithium-ion batteries | Monica Marinescu | Imperial College London | Closed |
| 23 | Heat generation mapping of a range of cells | Carlos Garcia | Imperial College London | Closed |
| 24 | Optimising coin cell manufacture and harvesting electrode materials | Gregory Offer and Derek Siu | Imperial College London | Closed |
| 25 | Quantifying battery degradation through post-mortem imaging and virtual reconstruction | Gregory Offer and Derek Siu | Imperial College London | Closed |
| NEXGENNA | ||||
| 26 | Battery scale-up facility for capability demonstration and prototyping | John Irvine | University of St Andrews | Closed |
| 27 | Automating battery data outputs | John Irvine | University of St Andrews | Closed |
| Nextrode | ||||
| 28 | Preparation of stable water-based inks for high Ni content cathodes | Peter Slater and Tomislav Friscic | University of Birmingham | Closed |
| 29 | Low temperature processing of solid state electrolytes | Peter Slater and Josh Makepeace | University of Birmingham | Closed |
| 30 | Low cost mechanochemical approaches to battery materials | Peter Slater and Tomislav Friscic | University of Birmingham | Closed |
| ReLiB | ||||
| 31 | Advancing sustainability: recycling and manufacturing lithium-rich cathodes from high-power lithium-ion battery materials | Peter Slater and Bo Dong | University of Birmingham | Closed |
| 32 | Reduction and recovery of cathode active material from end of life batteries | Dan Reed | University of Birmingham | Closed |
| 33 | Electro-spun graphitic carbon fibres for anodes | Gerard Fernando | University of Birmingham | Closed |
| 34 | Development of characterisation of end of life batterie electrodes for automated sorting | Dan Reed | University of Birmingham | Closed |
| SafeBatt | ||||
| 35 | CATION PaD (Current and Temperature Influence on Nucleation Propagation and Dendrite Growth) | Mel Loveridge | University of Warwick | Closed |
| 36 | Database for fire modelling of Li-ion batteries | Francesco Restuccia | King's College London | Closed |
| 37 | A quantitative risk assessment of Li-ion battery failure | Solomon Brown | University of Sheffield | Closed |
| 38 | Developing an internal short circuit model for implementation into existing Li-ion thermal runaway models | Solomon Brown | University of Sheffield | Closed |
| 39 & 40 | 3D visualisation and spatial distribution analysis of gases released during lithium-ion battery thermal runaway (2 positions) | Wojciech Mrozik | Newcastle University | Closed |
| 41 | Exploring the application of acoustic techniques to improve battery safety | James Robinson and Arthur Fordham | University College London | Closed |
| SOLBAT | ||||
| 42 | Single ion sodium-conducting polymers for enhanced solid-state battery performance | Georgina Gregory | University of Oxford | Closed |
| 43 | Achieving high current densities with sulfide solid state batteries | Mauro Pasta and Jack Aspinall | University of Oxford | Closed |
| 44 | Titration of lithium metal to study SEI formation | Mauro Pasta and Matthew Burton | University of Oxford | Closed |
| 45 | Investigating the extent of solid electrolyte interphase growth in sulfide solid-electrolytes | Gregory Rees | University of Oxford | Closed |
| Other Projects | ||||
| 46 | Designing low-resistance jigs to improve cell testing quality and charging performance | Harris Medwell | Breathe Battery Technologies - London | Closed |
| 47 | Developing software to test automotive battery management systems | Dimitrios Panagiotopoulos | Breathe Battery Technologies - London | Closed |
| 48 | Battery fast charging | Tom Heenan | Gaussion - London | Closed |
| 49 | Battery fast charging for cylindrical cells | Tom Heenan | Gaussion - London | Closed |
| 50 | Battery fast charging for prismatic cells | Tom Heenan | Gaussion - London | Closed |
| 51 | Charge photometric activity correlations in commercial battery electrodes | Elena Pascal | Illumion - Cambridge | Closed |
| 52 | Bringing physics-based models to industry through improved Battery Parameter eXchange support in PyBaMM | Robert Timms | Ion-Works (remote working) | Closed |
| 53 | A miniaturized fluxgate magnetometer low noise level. | Terry Dyer | University of Strathclyde | Closed |
| 54 | Soluble lead flow battery: system control and monitoring | Richard Wills | Univeristy of Southampton | Closed |
| 55 | Characterisation of high power anode materials | Peter Slater and Lizzie Driscoll | University of Birmingham | Closed |