Every year, STFC celebrates the successes of apprentices at both the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and Boulby Underground Laboratory. It is a fantastic opportunity for apprentices to showcase their incredible achievements and to collect awards nominated by their colleagues and peers. Apprentices are a key part of ISIS, helping us to ensure that our outstanding research and facilities keep driving forward.
Amongst the six awards presented on 23rd November 2023 was Apprentice of the Year, which has been awarded to Tara Allinson, now an Electronics Engineer in our Electrical and Electronic User Support Group. Tara was nominated for Apprentice of the Year by her Group Leader, Steve Payne and the other members of her team.
In addition, Tara was awarded 'Highly Commended' for both the Impact and Peer Support Awards, and prior to this, 'Regional Highly Commended' for the BAE Systems Advanced Apprentice of the Year Award 2023 in October.
It has been nothing short of a ground-breaking and exceptional year for Tara. In April, she completed her apprenticeship five months early. In July, she was awarded 'Best Project HNC Electrical & Electronic Engineering' at University Centre Newbury (UCN) Expo. Earlier this year, Tara wrote about this project conducted during her apprenticeship, where she is developing a new temperature indicative system to solve an issue presented by our Cryogenics Team. This issue was the inefficient filling of cryostats, in which the sound or feeling of the helium flowing through the pipes was used to determine its current state. If the cryostats were filled while the helium was in a gaseous state, then any liquid helium inside would be blasted out. As helium is a finite resource rapidly increasing in cost (almost £30 per litre), losses must be reduced. This project involved the design and fabrication of an electronic circuit, mechanical assemblies and additive manufactured components to interface with the cryogenic equipment.
Tara's older brother, Ryan, started an apprenticeship four years prior to Tara starting. Ryan has a similar amazing success story, having achieved a first in his degree and this January, will begin a new role within the ISIS Diagnostics Group as a Diagnostics Electronics Engineer. During Year 10, Tara chose ISIS for her work experience due to Ryan's recommendation.
“I knew I wanted to do electronics," explained Tara. “I knew I wanted to do an apprenticeship, so I applied and joined straight after school. I really enjoyed the variety of work, changing placement every four months. It was a great opportunity to see how different groups work and the work that they are responsible for."
Starting the project during her apprenticeship in January 2022, Tara designed the electronic circuit from scratch, solving a problem for which there was no solution. There was a lot of trial and error, as the project brief stated a portable device was needed, as other methods involve larger and more expensive pieces of equipment. Tara returned to complete the project during her fourth year and then stayed on within the group and has worked on it ever since.
Tara's prototype is currently on the beamline for testing during this current cycle, where she is noting any minor modifications that are required and will then design a final prototype. Twenty units have been requested to implement across the beamlines. Her design has already attracted interest from international facilities, including ESS and Tara has been speaking with the STFC innovations team on the necessary next steps for her brilliant new invention.
“Becoming an apprentice at ISIS is a really good opportunity to be introduced into the workplace, whilst simultaneously gaining an education and also receiving a salary. A levels isn't necessarily the preferable route. I started at ISIS when I was 17 and I can't tell you how much it's helped me with my personal confidence."
