What is it like to work as a technician or engineer at a scientific research infrastructure?

Three female visitors in red helmets listen while a male engineer from ESS is talking in a workshop
The students visit the technical workshops.  J Lewis

Eighteen young people currently enrolled in an internship programme, came for a visit to find out more about ESS. 

The group are all interns at either Volvo Group in Göteborg or at Chalmers University of Technology in the Department of Vehicle Technology and Autonomous Systems. 

The visitors toured part of the facility, learning more about technical aspects of the equipment, the governance of an international organisation, gender distribution in technical roles and more.

The visit to ESS was part of the internship organised by the Tekniksprånget programme, an initiative led by the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. The programme offers those finishing high school a four-month internship opportunity at science and technology companies across Sweden before continuing further studies at university. The aim is to inspire and motivate young people to apply for a higher technical education. The internship also includes a study visit to a related area of the choice of the cohort of interns.

“ESS is keen to support initiatives like this which inspire young people to choose a higher technical education”, comments ESS recruiter Daniel Nordin Baker. “ESS is a good example of the increasing need for technical skills in Sweden and Europe, offering entry level jobs which would be suitable for those graduating from technical studies.”

A male ESS engineer shows a small technical item to a young female visitor in a red a helmet

The visitors handled some of the items being machined in the technical workshops. 

J Lewis

A mixed group of young men and women sit an stand in the bright ESS offices smiling, looking relaxed

The group had a moment to relax after an intensive day of visits

J Lewis

We asked the interns what they thought after the visit:

“It was really inspiring to see a lot of different things you could work with. The workshops, the physics behind it and the research. Also that it is so international – it is really cool!” Anna

“It’s cool to see what the future might be – this is what we could be like as well!” Tilda