Successful conclusion to the latest edition of IFGAE summer scholarships for university students  

Ten university students received summer scholarships awarded by the Galician Institute of High Energy Physics (IGFAE). Since 2019, this centre, a member of the CIGUS Network, an initiative launched by the regional government (Xunta de Galicia) that groups  together centres of proven scientific excellence within the Galician university system, has awarded these annual scholarships, enabling students to spend a month taking part in the day-to-day work of IGFAE’s scientific projects and providing them with an excellent opportunity to extend their knowledge and discover the world of research.  

In July this year, young people including Gonzalo, Carlota, Juan, Iván and Adrián, joined in the IGFAE’s scientific activity, supported and supervised by the centre’s research staff. Carlota, one of the beneficiaries of these scholarships, explained that this experience has enabled her to see “that there’s a purpose behind the things we learn during our degree. A utility that goes beyond the mere hypothetical problems and traditionally taught models”.  

In turn, Gonzalo, another beneficiary of the scholarship programme, stated “this experience is a great opportunity to observe the inner workings of this world and to consider whether this is a possible career option for me. I’ve learnt a lot, especially about particle high energy physics, detectors and the use of the ‘PyROOT’ Python library for data analysis”.    

In recent years, some 40 young people have had the opportunity to take part in this training programme. In several cases, the experience has marked the start of a research career that continues today in the institute, where they are preparing their doctoral theses. The beneficiaries of these summer scholarship also had the opportunity to take part in a series of initiatives, including IGFAE’s annual meeting.