ISIS Placement years at ISIS

Placement years at ISIS

ISIS is a world-leading research centre using neutrons and muons to study the structure and dynamics of materials at the molecular/atomic level. It is based at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, near Oxford, and operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). ISIS has over 30 research beamlines supporting an international community of over 2000 scientists. Each year over 500 scientific papers are published based on ISIS research.

Placements usually last for 12 months as part of a sandwich degree course. Projects are announced in September, the year before the placement is due to start. Applications are accepted in the Autumn, and interviews are held during December and January. For more information about the scheme, visit the STFC careers website.

The benefits of taking a placement at ISIS include:

Being part of world leading projects
Access to job specific training
30 days paid holiday per annum
10.5 days paid public and privilege holiday per annum
Flexible working hours
Informal working environment

Find out more by reading our collection of case studies below.

Meet the Placement Students 2024-25
Each year, ISIS hosts a cohort of industrial placement students, offering a year away from their university studies to gain experience working in a variety of roles. We spoke to 4 students about their placements.
Meet the Placement Students 2023-24
It’s been a few months since our industrial placement students started their roles. Orla Fernie, Science Communication Placement Student (is placement student-ception a thing?) spoke to some of her colleagues about their roles here.
Meet the Placement Students 2022/23
A talk with our new placement students on their time at ISIS so far...
End of Year Placement Interviews 21/22
As we welcome the next batch of placement students, we wanted to get in touch with the 2020/21 cohort and ask them to reflect on their time in ISIS Neutron and Muon Source.
Meet the Sandwich Students 2021
ISIS Neutron and Muon Source would like to welcome our new cohort of Sandwich Students for 2021.The sandwich student scheme offers students the opportunity to spend a year away from their degrees and gain valuable work experience.
End of Year Placement Interviews 2020/21
As we welcome the next batch of placement students, we wanted to get in touch with the 2020/21 cohort and ask them to reflect on their time in ISIS Neutron and Muon Source.
Olivia Tindle: being stubborn in the face of adversity
ISIS placement student Olivia has been determined to be a physicist since she was 15, and is now well on her way to getting there, despite struggling at college and being told she should try something else.
Industrial Placement applications for 2020/21 now open
STFC's Industrial Placement scheme gives undergraduate students the opportunity to work at ISIS for 12 months.
Industrial Placements 2021/22 now open
STFC's Industrial Placement scheme gives undergraduate students the opportunity to work at ISIS for 12 months.
Where can an ISIS industrial placement year take you?
We speak to some previous sandwich students to find out what they're doing now, and how their placement helped them get there.
Meet the Sandwich Students 2020/21
ISIS Neutron and Muon Source would like to extend its welcome to a fresh batch of sandwich students for 2020. The sandwich student scheme offers students the opportunity to spend a year away from their university degrees to gain work experience.
Mohamad Kurdi
From placement student to STFC graduate scheme.
End of Year Placement Students 2019/20
Join us once again at the end of the year to find out how the year has flown by with some of our placement students as they share their thoughts and experiences with a very unexpected year!
Jasmine Hind
After finishing her placement year in the deuteration lab in the support laboratories, Jasmine Hind will go straight into a full time role within the facility.
ISIS Sandwich Student 2019-2020 - Emily Brookes
ISIS Sandwich Student 2019-2020 - Emily McFarlane
ISIS Sandwich Students 2018-19
Last year, we sat down with some of the Sandwich Students based at ISIS in the early days of their Placement year. As their year draws to an end, we meet with some of the students we originally interviewed 12 months ago to share some of their highlights
Being a computing student at ISIS facility
STFC hires many early career staff each year and several spend their time in ISIS. Here are the views of some of our alumni of their time with us.