Kategorie: ‘Environmental Engineering’
Writing my Master’s Thesis at the UCL
- Environmental Engineering M.Sc.
- United Kingdom, London
- University College London
- 09/2024 – 03/2025
Application
In January 2024, I applied to AVT (Aachener Verfahrenstechnik) at RWTH for an external master’s thesis at University College London (UCL). The AVT offers not only Erasmus places for process engineering students, but also external master’s theses at partner universities. I was particularly interested in topics related to fuel cells and water electrolysis, and looking through the partner universities I found out that I could combine research in this field with living in one of my favourite cities in Europe! After my successful application to AVT, I was put in contact with the exchange student coordinator at UCL’s Department of Chemical Engineering to find a topic and a supervisor. From UCL side, I had to apply as an undergraduate exchange student to be part of the official exchange student programme, even though I wouldn’t be taking any courses but would be working full-time in the labs. For this application I had to take an IELTS language test and submit a letter of recommendation, which was provided by the Erasmus team at AVT. After an online interview with one of the Associate Professors of the Electrochemical Innovation Lab (EIL), I decided on a preliminary topic for the thesis. Once these steps were completed, I was able to apply for my Erasmus+ internship grant and my UK visa.
Accomodation & Cost of Living
The view from my room in Camden ©Bia Brandt
As much as I love London, finding affordable accommodation can be challenging. UCL offers accommodation in the university’s halls to first year and exchange students. Accommodation in the halls is much more expensive than renting a room in Aachen, but still a good price for London. As I had already lived in London for an exchange semester during my undergraduate degree, I was not eligible for halls accommodation and spent my first two weeks in London looking for private accommodation. Especially in September a lot of people are on the lookout for a room as the university year is just starting. For my search I used Facebook groups and a website called Spareroom. Often rooms can only be rented on a yearly basis and for council tax reasons it is easiest for students to find accommodation in shared flats with other students. As well as finding rooms to rent, you can also use Spareroom to get in touch with other people who are looking for rooms. I went to a few flat viewings with a group of UCL students I had met through Spareroom. We didn’t end up renting together, but we remained friends for the rest of my time in London. The room I rented in the end was a six-month sublet in Camden and cost £950 a month. The area was great to live in (my favourite spot is Regents Canal) and I was spared many hot, stuffy and expensive tube rides as I could take the bus to UCL ☺️
Not only the rent, but the cost of living in general is a lot higher than in Aachen. Public transport is expensive, especially the tube if you use it regularly at peak times. Food in the UCL cantine costs ~£6 per meal (I always meal prepped as most of the students did). Also, there was a Lidl close to UCL where I usually did my shopping as the food is very reasonably priced there. There is an endless amount of things to do in a city like London. While eating out or going to the pubs will cost you a small fortune there are also things that can be done for free, as for example many of the museums. I can recommend the British museum which is just down the road from UCL, making it possible to visit the Rosetta stone during a lunch break.
Master’s Thesis in the EIL Labs
London at night ©Bia Brandt
On a day-to-day basis, I arrived at UCL around 9am and started working in the EIL labs. Mostly PhD students and research fellows work in the EIL labs and from the beginning I was part of the team and shared an office with the group. Compared to my previous research experience in AVT, I worked much more independently with different PhD students helping me where my research overlapped with theirs. I had a lot of freedom in where to go with my Master’s thesis, which was a very valuable experience, but also challenging at times. The labs and the work were sometimes a little less structured than I was used to in Aachen. However, everyone there was very helpful, especially in the first few weeks and when I was collecting my equipment, which was very valuable. Even though I was there for a Master’s thesis, I was treated like a PhD student, with bi-weekly meetings with one of the academic leaders of the group. I was not the only international visiting the EIL labs, there were two PhD students on a six-month visit for the same period as my Master’s thesis. Towards the end of my stay, another Masters student joined the EIL group for a research project. Overall, I felt very welcome in the group and even though I was the only one doing a Master’s thesis, it felt very easy to connect and spend time with the others both inside and outside of the labs.
Life at UCL & in London
Weekend walks along Regents Canal ©Bia Brandt
Needless to say, living in London is amazing! Over the course of my Master’s thesis I always took the weekends oft to enjoy the city. There is so much to do and even though I have spent 6 months doing all the touristy and not so touristy stuff, I still have things on my list. One of my favourite activities in London is to just walk around the streets or drive around in the red double decker busses as there is always something interesting to see.
Something I particularly enjoyed about studying at UCL is the societies. UCL has a very vibrant student community, and everyone can be part of it. When I went to the society fair at the beginning of my stay, I learned that there is a society for every hobby imaginable (ranging from a Taylor Swift Society to the Bubble Tea Society). I decided to join the Dance Society, the Hiking Society and the Photography Society (joining is very easy, you just need to pay ~£10 at the beginning of the semester to become a member). Joining the societies meant my calendar was full of social events from week one, but of course it took a bit longer to actually get to know the people in the societies. The society I enjoyed the most in the end was the Photography Society. How often do you get the chance to meet up with models (students from the modelling society) in a park in the middle of London and do a spring photo shoot as an amateur photographer?
Conclusion
The past six months have been incredibly intense, full of visits from old friends while making new friends. I had a steep learning curve academically through working more independently than I have before but also got the chance to dive into a more creative world through the societies and meet people who study something completely different from me. All of this in the setting of a huge and chaotic, yet also very beautiful city. Even though it took a lot of time to prepare and was an expensive time abroad, I am very glad I spent these six months in London ♡
Writing my master’s thesis in California
- Environmental Engineering M.Sc.
- Berkeley, California, United States of America
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- January 2022 – August 2022
My stay abroad at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (California) was 8 months long, from January 2022 to August 2022. During this time, I was doing research for my master’s thesis (Process Engineering) and did not collect any CPs as a student at UC Berkeley.
Preparations:
I started contacting professors from UC Berkeley, asking for an opportunity to research on my master’s thesis without having a concrete topic. Through several emails and zoom meetings I was invited as a “visiting student researcher” at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), the equivalent to the “Frauenhofer Institut” in Germany. I had to apply for a J1 Exchange Student Visa, which meant filling out many documents and a lot of planning. In total, this process (called Free Mover) took almost a year before I was able to fly to San Francisco International Airport to start my research beginning of January 2022.
Living:
I found a shared apartment via craigslist close to my work and close to the campus. Do not underestimate the costs of living in the Bay area. For my room in a normal sized apartment with three housemates and a garden I paid $950. Food is as well a big expense, for example, a loaf bread costs $9 compared to a German 3€ loaf. Expensive is as well eating out (Pizza $15 compared to 5€) or having drinks (Beer $10 compared to 3€). But the food scene in Berkeley/Oakland/San Francisco is very versatile and vibrant, which surprised me. This all-year-great weather leads to people being active and sociable no matter how expensive life is.
Culture:
Near Berkeley is Oakland, a larger city that has become very attractive to the middle class. In Oakland, you can witness the process of gentrification, which means that the wealthy young generation is taking over an entire neighborhood from the poorer population. Oakland has a vibrant, fascinating culture on one side and crime and poverty on the other. To the west of Berkeley is San Francisco, which can be reached in about 20 minutes by BART, the local subway (cost $5, use ClipperCard). Berkeley is rather a quiet
University town, whereas SF is a magnet for tourists. The best places in SF are the Golden Gate Park (in the center of the city), the Dolores Park (a very crowded park, full of locals), Chinatown and Ocean Beach, there are as well great bars and festivals all year round. North of SF you can go hiking along the coast (Marin County, Point Reyes). In the south is Stanford University with a beautiful campus (Palo Alto). Must-see are as well: Napa Valley and Sonoma County (the wine regions of CA, 1 hour car ride from Berkeley), Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park, and Big Sur (each 3 hours car ride from Berkeley).
Daily Life:
Since I was not an official student of the UC Berkeley, I was not able to create a membership for the on-campus gym. Instead, I got a membership at the YMCA gym in Downtown Berkeley, very close to my apartment. I spent the day in the lab working on my research, ate lunch there with colleagues, and then went to the gym. In the evenings, I often took walks to the Rose Garden in Berkeley, hiked around the Fire Trails, watched the sunset at the Berkeley Marina or on top of the Indian Rocks in Berkeley. When spending the weekend in Berkeley, I usually went to: University Ave (Downtown), Southside (the equivalent to the Ponte in Aachen, in South Berkeley), to Temescal (South Berkeley, on the edge to Oakland) and Solano Ave (on the edge to Albany). When I was writing for my thesis, I enjoyed going to the many libraries the campus has to offer (the best being DOE library) and cafes, like Strada, Blue Bottle, Berkeley Espresso and Yali’s. Other things I liked to do: Yoga at Ohlone Park, Sunday food at “Thai Temple” (Wat Mongkolratanaram from 10am-1pm), biking to Lake Temescal.
© Emna Aidi
Last Advice:
You will need at least half a year to plan such a research stay abroad. I created a one-page leaflet about my idea to work on my master’s thesis, listing my relevant coursework I took at the RWTH Aachen University and my interests in which I would like to work. I sent it to professors, who seemed to work on similar topics, and kept asking them to help me forward my email to others as well. Apply for scholarships since the research stay will be very expensive (Auslandsbafög, RWTH Research Ambassador, Promos DAAD, GIZ).
View: At the LBNL (located on a hill) overlooking the UC Berkeley campus and San Francisco with the Golden Gate Bridge.
Working in one of the most beautiful cities in Europe – Amsterdam
- Environmental Engineering M.Sc.
- Netherlands, Amsterdam
- Metabolic Amsterdam
- 28.02.2022 – 26.08.2022
Preparation
Already four months before the planned start of the internship, I start looking for a suitable position. At this point, it is clear to me that I want to gain several months of professional experience in the field of sustainability strategies for public or private institutions. Since my studies are rather technical, a direct connection between the academic content and a practical job seems rather unlikely. Another challenge is that my idea covers a very broad area and often refers to advertised positions with very different descriptions. This makes the search even more difficult.
In my case, the path to a successful application therefore requires ambition and stamina, as I have to work my way through the long list of results after searching for “Sustainability Intern” several
times. A position at a sustainability consulting company that is looking for interns in the area of circular economy with a background in recycling technologies turns out to be promising.
As a platform to search for advertised jobs, I mainly use LinkedIn or Glassdoor. Furthermore, I would recommend going to the website of companiesthat appeal to you, as many do not upload their open positions on all job platforms. Alternatively, a speculative application is also possible at any time, as especially with practices companies are often interested.
Formalities
The experience of doing an internship in another EU member country shows me once again the many advantages of the European Union. Of course, as an EU citizen, no separate visa is required for employment in Amsterdam. The employer, who is used to receiving applications from abroad, has the necessary experience here and checks this out directly during the application process. A big challenge, especially in the Dutch capital, is finding a suitable and, above all, affordable apartment. I am lucky enough to be able to go on a flat-share search together with a contact person who already works in Amsterdam, which makes this process much easier. As a recommendation, I can give at this point various online portals, which, however, must be updated several times a day in the period before the planned move to have any chance of finding accommodation. Students who decide to work in the Netherlands are required to register for a so-called citizen service
number BSN. This can be done at the local administration and is necessary for tax reasons. Furthermore, one is obliged to take out a Dutch health insurance. However, this only applies if the remuneration of the job is above the legal minimum wage. Since it is possible for students to have a lower salary, it is possible that such insurance is not necessary.
Working Environment
At this point, it should first be mentioned that my experience is not meant to be representative of a typical working environment in Amsterdam. Nevertheless, I have the impression that openness,
calmness, flexibility and flat hierarchies are standard rather than the exception. As an intern at my employer, you are usually assigned to a specific supervisor in a specific team. Since
the areas of responsibility of the individual teams differ significantly in terms of both content and working methods, the activities of the interns also vary accordingly. In general, it can be said that in most cases interns are seen as an addition to the core team and are integrated as such. At the beginning of the internship phase, a plan is drawn up together with the supervisor and with the help of the HR department, with which expectations both sides go into this temporary employment relationship. Particular attention is paid to which goals are pursued and which means are necessary to achieve them. The main aim is to address the individual strengths of the people concerned and to promote them, or to identify weaknesses and counteract them. The work of the team to which I have been assigned specializes in the direct or indirect support of private clients from industry. A large part of the work consists of analyzing products and production processes. The goal is to find leverage points by looking at the entire system in order to make it more sustainable. In most cases, this means using resources more responsibly. For example, it may involve minimizing waste streams, restructuring processes to reduce energy requirements, or revising product design to think about both materials and the product itself in cycles. During the support phase or the cooperation with the customer, it is always of great importance to let all stakeholders participate in the status of the work and relevant decisions. This is referred to as stakeholder engagement. The idea is that through analysis and suggestions from external partners, a certain resistance to this intervention can develop. However, one make the experience that a view from the outside can be quite helpful to rethink products and processes to get closer to the set goal. In order to reconcile these two sides and thus achieve the best possible and sustainable result of the
collaboration, it is very important to involve all areas of work and hierarchical levels.
Living in Amsterdam
The capital of the Netherlands, located on the Ij, is in my opinion one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. Especially the famous city center with its many canals, the so-called Grachten, is stunningly beautiful. As a first recommendation from my side are therefore not any museums or special buildings, but simply a long walk in the canal belt of the city. Within this beautiful area, you should rather avoid the middle between the Central Station and Dam Square, because most tourists are here. Culturally, the city has an incredible amount to offer. It has the highest museum density in the world and contains, among other things, in the famous Rijksmuseum also many international works of geniuses such as Rembrandt or van Gogh. As another classic, the Anne Frank House is definitely recommended. The minimalist exhibition of the rooms where the family hid from the Nazis is oppressive and yet incredibly fascinating. However, early booking is necessary. If you want to spend a little more time in nature, you can explore the huge city park Amsterdamse Bos.
Summary
The bottom line is that my personal field of activity during the internship deviates only slightly from the field of activity of a junior consultant. The reason for this is that I and other interns are generally very well integrated into the work of the core team, with consideration being given to the strengths, skills and preferences of the individuals. Overall, it can be said that the daily work routine is very diverse. On the one hand, this is due to the fact that the work on four different projects in conjunction with the cross-project work covers several sectors of the industrial economy as well as sociopolitical aspects. On the other hand, the work within a project consists of many facets. This includes research of relevant data as well as their processing and integration into models. This data analysis often includes the recognition of patterns and the translation into information that can be presented to the client. Furthermore, the evaluation of interventions to address different points of sustainable performance of private and public organizations plays an important role. On the one hand, this requires a clear understanding of the problem to be solved, for which a thorough understanding of the data provided is necessary. Additionally, a basic knowledge of industrial processes with the corresponding physics or chemistry behind them is necessary. Another important component of the work, also for me as an intern, is a well thought-out and transparent communication with customers and partners.
