Local and Overseas Summer Programs

Local and Overseas Summer Programs for Undergraduate Students 2023
 

Our Department is soliciting applications from undergraduate students majoring or planning to take Physics related majors for the following undergraduate local and overseas summer programs in 2023. 

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(1)   Physics Summer Undergraduate Overseas Research Program

 

Description: 

(a) 2023 CERN Summer Program
The department will recommend one student to the CERN program with the details available at:
https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/CERN/743999862723722-cern-summer-student-programme-2023-member-and-non-member-state-

Accepted participants are also required to apply for the Virtual-Overseas Research Fellowship of the Faculty of Science.

(b) Research at other overseas universities
The participant(s) will be assigned to work on a frontier science research project supervised by a professor or scientist overseas upon mutual agreement based on an interested research field. Previously, successful candidates had been placed in prestigious institutions such as Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Caltech and Stanford.  Accepted participants are also required to apply for the Virtual-Overseas Research Fellowship of the Faculty of Science.

Duration: Minimum 8 weeks (Exact start/end days and working hours to be determined after discussions with the research supervisor)
Prerequisite: Successful completion of the Introductory Level course requirements for either Astronomy/Maths-Physics/Physics majors
Financial support: Undergraduate Research Fellowship Programme (URCP)of the Faculty of Science if successful
Target group: Current third year majors who would like to gain experience conducting research in an overseas research institution. Special considerations may be given to second year majors with exceptional performances.
Selection criteria: The selection will be based on the following factors: academic performance, relevant experience and aptitude for research.
Relation to Capstone Experience: For participants who have completed the requirements for the Capstone Experience (http://www.scifac.hku.hk/ug/current/bsc/curriculum/capstone-req), they may register for the course PHYS4966 Physics Internship before the commencement of this activity and no later than 1 July, 2023. Details will be announced in due course. Participants may use PHYS4966 to satisfy the Capstone Experience requirement for graduation.

(2)   Physics Department Summer Local Internship

 

Description:  This year, the following local internship possibilities are available:

(a) Hong Kong Science Museum (2 places)
(b) Hong Kong Space Museum (1 place)
(c) Ho Koon Nature Education cum Astronomical Centre (1-2 places)
(d) Secondary School teaching opportunities (3-4 places)

The work requirements for the positions in the last summer are as follows:
(a)     Hong Kong Science Museum:
One position: Under the Science Promotion Unit 
- To assist in the research of the science news and fun science facts and writing posts on our social media 
- To conduct visitors' survey for the special exhibition and science promotion activities 
Second position: Under the Development Unit 
-  To assist in the development of experiment programmes 
-  To assist in the running of experiment programmes for young children and elderly people 

(b)    Hong Kong Space Museum:
The main work is to assist with their public activities and astronomy projects.

(c)     Ho Koon Nature Education cum Astronomical Centre (1-2 positions):
The main work is to help them to develop new educational programs in astronomy for both school children and school teachers. The intern is expected to also work in some nights.

(d)    Secondary School teaching experience (3-4 positions):
A wide range of possible duties, including, but not exclusively: preparation of teaching materials, development of online teaching framework, tutors of summer learning programs, tutors of gifted science programs, assisting in public expedition activities, teaching junior form secondary school students physics and popular science

Duration: 8 weeks in the summer of 2023 (Exact start/end days and working hours to be determined after discussions with the internship provider)
Prerequisite: Nil
Financial support: Nil
Target group: Our current second and third year majors who would like to spend some time in the summer of 2023 to work as an intern in a local institution. Special considerations will also be given to other groups of students, such as first year majors with strong academic results and/or relevant experience.
Selection criteria: The selection will be based on the following factors: academic performance, relevant experience and aptitude. Moreover, if everything being equal, preference will be given to third year majors who have not completed capstone requirement.
Relation to Capstone Experience: For participants who have completed the requirements for the Capstone Experience (http://www.scifac.hku.hk/ug/current/bsc/curriculum/capstone-req), they may register for the course PHYS4966 Physics Internship before the commencement of this activity and no later than 1 July, 2023. Details will be announced in due course. Participants may use PHYS4966 to satisfy the Capstone Experience requirement for graduation.

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Interested students to either one or both of the programs should fill in an application form (copy attached) and submit it in hard copy together with your examination results up to now to the Department Office.
 
The deadline to hand in the application is 4 Jan 2023.  Shortlisted applicants may be invited for interviews.  
 
Should you have any questions, please contact Dr. Francis Ling (ccling@hku.hk)
 

* Remarks: For students who would like to claim financial support for these activities, the expense claims, accompanied by original receipts [and used air ticket(s) if reimbursement of airfare is requested], must be submitted to Department Office not more than 30 days after the end of the activity. Expenses claimed after this period will not be allowed.

Undergraduate Overseas Experiential Learning Activities 2022-23
 

Our Department is soliciting applications from undergraduate students majoring or planning to major in Astronomy/Maths-Physics/Physics for the following undergraduate experiential learning activity for 2023. These activities will take place during the summer of 2023. Students who had already applied for the Local and Overseas Summer Programs for Undergraduate Students 2023 may also apply to these activities. It should be noted though that the internship candidate need to receive prior approval from their internship supervisors before they can participate in these activities.  

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(1)   Summer School on Nuclear Physics at RIKEN, Japan


Description:
The 13th Nishina School for Nuclear Physics will be held for 10 days on July 26 to August 4, 2023 at RIKEN research institute in Tokyo, Japan. The RIKEN Nishina Center (RNC) has commenced Nishina School to enhance international research relationship in the Asian Region in the field of nuclear physics. In this program, 5 undergraduate students are being accepted from Peking University, Seoul National University and Universities in Japan, as well as The University of Hong Kong (since from 2016) respectively.

The curriculum of the School was designed to introduce the pleasure of nuclear physics into the undergraduate students. The first-week program consists of lectures, basic experimental and accelerator trainings; while the second-week program is dedicated to performing real-beam experiment using the RIKEN accelerators and detectors, starting from its planning, data-taking and followed by the analysis and the discussion. Student presentation is held on the last day of the School. Another one-week training at HKU is scheduled before the summer school to provide the needed basic knowledge to the participants.

HKU undergraduate students participated in Summer school in 2016 (6 students), 2017 (6), 2018 (5) and 2019 (5). The school was not held in the past three years because of COVID. With the positive feedbacks from students, we therefore apply for the funding of sponsorship for also 5 students for the year of 2023.

There will be about 2-week training carried out in HKU before the summer school for students to get prepared for the school (including gaining in nuclear physics knowledge, experimental skills and safety issues).

Location: RIKEN, Tokyo, Japan
Duration:  From 17 July to 6 August, 2023: 3 weeks in Japan; Training at HKU in summer before the School  (2 weeks)
Prerequisite: Nil
Enrolment:  up to 5
Financial support*: HK$6,000, or 80% of the total cost, whichever is the lesser. The remaining cost has to be borne by the student.
Target group: Current year 2 and 3's Physics major students who are interested in exploring nuclear physics and getting research experience on experiments at large-scale facility
Selection criteria: The selection will be based on academic performance.
Relation to Capstone Experience: Nil
Related Webpage: https://www.physics.hku.hk/~nuclear/programmes.html#nishina-2019

For further inquiries regarding this program, please contact Dr. Jenny H.C. Lee (jleehc@hku.hk).

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Should you have any questions, please contact Dr. Francis Ling (ccling@hku.hk)

* Remarks: Eligible items include travel expenses, accommodation and registration/programme fee (if applicable). Meals and local (Hong Kong) travel cost are not supported. For students who would like to claim financial support for these activities, the expense claims, accompanied by original receipts [and used air ticket(s) if reimbursement of airfare is requested], must be submitted to Department Office not more than 30 days after the end of the activity. Expenses claimed after this period will not be allowed.

Last updated on 17 April 2023