£11.44 per hour + £1.38 holiday pay
Advertising End Date
29 Jan 2025

Role & Department Overview

This micro internship is for 30 hours in total (including 4 hours for training) and is aimed at students who may not have had any professional prior work experience and are looking for an opportunity that supports them to develop their employability skills.

Eligibility

To apply for this micro internship, students must be part of GROW Your Future.

GROW Your Future is an opt-in scheme for UK undergraduates and postgraduate taught students who also meet specific Widening Participation criteria, e.g. students who are:

  • first in their family to go to university;
  • in receipt of a Lancaster Bursary;
  • received free school meals or from a low participation neighborhood
  • over 21 when they start their first undergraduate degree;
  • Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic;
  • disabled (including learning disabilities, physical or mental health conditions);
  • care leavers or have caring responsibilities, or estranged from family
  • a refugee or asylum seeker, from a gypsy or Traveller community, or from a military family

For more information and to sign up see the following link GROW Your Future | ASK - Lancaster University

The post-holder will work as part of the ongoing interdisciplinary art-science project on self-organisation in planetary rings, Ringmind (http://ringmind.org).

They will work primarily under the guidance of Principal Investigator Bronislaw Szerszynski (Sociology), but also draw on the expertise of Co-Investigator Leandro Soriano Marcolino (Computing and Communication).

They will use their computer coding skills to familiarise themselves with the main planetary-rings simulation code developed by the Ringmind project team, and to assist the Principal Investigator in developing new ideas for simulating planetary-ring dynamics, and visually rendering them.

Pay Rate: £11.44 per hour plus £1.38 holiday pay

Start Date: 14th February 2025

End Date: 15th April 2025

Job Description

At the heart of Ringmind is a complex ring simulation code that runs in the computer coding environment Processing.  It generates visual (and sonic) simulations of evolving planetary ring systems, including the spontaneous kinds of structure-creation that is observed to occur in Saturn’s rings. The visuals are scientifically accurate (using the physics of orbital motion), visually striking, and generated in real-time, with a graphical user interface, so that users can change the ring dynamics and see how they respond. The simulations are used for public performances and outreach events, and for speculative interdisciplinary research

(see e.g. https://medium.com/anotherplanet/life-in-a-planetary-ring-public-engagement-with-speculative-astrophysics-5ba7716e9576). 

The hiring manager, Bronislaw Szerszynski, has been awarded a Javier and Marta Villavecchia Fellowship to spend time at the Centre for Aesthetics, Religion and Contemporary Culture, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, developing new ways of thinking about planetary rings in dialogue with Medieval and Renaissance philosophy, especially the logical figures of Ramon Llull, with outputs including a publication and a public performance. 

The post-holder will contribute to developing new computer code to feed into and support the fellowship activities. They will be primarily engaged in the following tasks:

  • familiarising themselves with the overall goals of the Ringmind project
  • familiarising themselves with the projects’ ring simulation code
  • generating and testing new ideas for simulations
  • generating and testing new ideas for visual renderings of the simulations

Person Specification


  • Computer programming skills (e.g., Python, Java, C++, Processing)
  • Studying for a degree with mathematical elements (e.g., Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science)
  • Interest in and basic understanding of orbital motion and the dynamics of planetary rings
  • Capacity for creative thinking, and interest in visual renderings
  • The ability to work both collaboratively and independently, and to meet deadlines
  • Availability during February-April 2025

As this internship is aimed at students who do not have prior professional work experience, please draw upon examples from extra curricular activities, hobbies, interests, volunteering and part time work in your CV and cover letter.

Working in this role will help develop the following skills and experience:

  • Analysing
  • Collaboration
  • Creativity
  • Curiosity 
  • Exercising Professional Judgement
  • Knowledge Sharing

You are required to submit a cover letter to support your application. Applications without a cover letter will not be considered.

Please note:Unless specified otherwise in the advert wording, this role is only open to individuals living in the UK.

Under the terms of this work, we endeavour to provide the advertised number of hours however,hours are not guaranteed and that work may cease if there is a fall in demand. 

Adverts that display a closing date should be treated as a guide. We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so we advise you to submit your application as early as possible to prevent disappointment.

Please also outline in your CV and cover letter why you believe this micro internship will benefit you and your career progression.

Help and advice on making applications can be found on the Lancaster University Careers pages. Visit www.lancaster.ac.uk/careers.