During the month of July, the Centre for Power and Energy Systems (CPES) welcomed seven students for the Summer Internships. Coming from several Portuguese and foreign universities, they had the opportunity to learn about energy innovation and research work in this field.

Designed specifically for engineering students, the CPES Internships are geared towards practice-based learning. Over four weeks, the participants were invited to carry out research tasks associated with ongoing projects, thus actively contributing to the innovation that takes place at INESC TEC.

During the entire internship, the students were monitored by CPES researchers, who guided them in their research work and helped them to develop new skills.

"Something like this can actually change the way students find their motivation"

The programme evaluation by participants of the CPES Internships was quite positive, with the teams of researchers receiving most of the compliments. “I was lucky enough to follow up a large project and to be part of an incredibly talented team, which was also very solicitous to a student who's still undergoing training, as myself”, explained Vítor Bueno, a student at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Porto (FEUP). “I'd like to thank you for the experience, and to say that something like this can really change the way how we can become more motivated about everything we still have to learn, as well the new challenges that are yet to come”.

As to Ana Silva, the activities allowed “to understand some of the real application of the knowledge acquired along the academic career”. The FEUP student acknowledged that “engineers require great versatility, particularly in the areas of programming and optimisation”, and that CPES Summer Internships were an opportunity to “gain professional experience”.

Rohit Kumar, a student at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, valued “the chance to work with experts in the field of energy markets”, stating that he would recommend the programme to all colleagues “who seek to gain research experience during their academic career".

The CPES Summer Internships lasted four weeks and welcomed seven Portuguese and foreign college students, who carried out research activities in different Energy areas.