Placement at the UK Catalysis Hub at Harwell
There’s a really nice community feeling at Southampton, especially in Chemistry. The staff are fantastic, you can talk to them after the lectures and they have an open door policy if you have any questions.
My placement was at the UK Catalysis Hub at Harwell and my project involved using metal oxide nanoparticles to facilitate the reaction of methanol to formaldehyde and investigating if surface area affected the reaction.
I learned so much, a placement takes you out of your comfort zone and lets you try out a completely new area of research for a few months. I was already interested in catalysis and knew what I wanted to do but some of my friends took the opportunity to travel the world for their placements. I’m now preparing for a PhD in catalysis at Southampton in the autumn because I want to carry on with this work.
