Summer students experience the Crick
The Francis Crick Institute's summer student programme offers UK undergraduates hands-on experience in both research and operations.
Every year, the Francis Crick Institute invites a number of proactive and high-achieving undergraduates from universities in the UK to join the Crick summer student training programme, a nine-week opportunity to get training and experience in a biomedical institute.
This year, Papa Yeboah, an intern in the Communications and Public Engagement team, caught up with some of the 2025 cohort to talk about their experiences during their internship.
Eren is a final year joint-honours student of Biological Sciences and Management at Imperial College London. His placement was with Cell Science.
Valerie is entering her penultimate year at the University of Birmingham; she is studying Global Environmental Change and Sustainability with Environmental Science. Her placement was with the Facilities and Infrastructure in operations.
Eren – I was interested in doing something productive this summer, so I started looking for an internship when I went back to Uni, I applied to the Crick through 10,000 Black Interns and I thought it was a relatively smooth process.
Valerie – yeah, my thought process and path was pretty much the same, I also applied through 10,000 Black Interns.
Eren – it was a mix of being anxious and excited at the same time. The building is massive and state of the art, but I felt it was really cool to be here.
Valerie – I was definitely impressed by the building. I felt a bit nervous coming in, but I also felt excited by the opportunities I had in front of me.
I was definitely impressed by the building! I felt a bit nervous coming in, but I also felt excited by the opportunities I had in front of me.
Eren – the first thing I did besides from introducing myself to my team was two weeks of training on how to do my work on cryofarms safely and correctly.
Valerie – the first thing I did was shadowing someone involved with reviewing the sustainability of the Crick, we went around all of the labs to check if the light switches inside were easily accessible, as a minor sweeping change across the building can make a massive difference.
Valerie – I’m a part of the Facilities and Infrastructure team in operations so my role is to ensure the actual building and its systems are safe, functional and efficient for the people that come in every day.
I mainly focus on the boilers, the steam system and the CHP (Combined Heat and Power), (CHP is basically where all the energy for the building comes from).
Basically, anything to do with sustainably powering the building comes through Facilities and Infrastructure. Right now, my main project is water and the autoclaves, which are used to sterilize stuff.
Last week, I had to call someone in to fit a water meter in the autoclave, the brine system, the bulk salt system and the Skylab. I would definitely recommend in investing in a map before trying to find your way to those places!
Eren – as a member of the Science Delivery STP (Science Technology Platform), I deal with the logistics and communication behind the freezer farm upgrade. The freezer farms here have to be reconfigured and upgraded to cope with the hotter summers we’re getting so I’ve been helping the labs redesign their racking systems, helping with PO orders as when we get a quote, we need to register it on the system so the finance team can approve.
Finally, I’ve been moving data from our old Excel spreadsheets to the new asset management system. This means I go to each lab and record what assets they have, what assets they want to register and haven’t registered so far.
Eren – I’ve learnt how important multi-stakeholder communication is as I’ve had to communicate with numerous labs to conduct my work to the best of my ability. Being able to accurately and effectively convey what I need to do and why I have to do it has made my job so much easier. I also feel like my attention to detail has improved because I’ve had to be so careful with the cryostorage.
Valerie – definitely my comprehension and attention to detail as there are so many acronyms that you have to pick up because it feels like they're speaking a different language!
The last nine weeks here have shown me the importance of being able to convey my responsibilities and goal to other parties so we can work together to achieve them.
Eren – I got to attend a couple of multimillion tender (contract negotiations) meetings (am I allowed to say this?) where I got to meet and network with some big names in the world of science such as the Head of Sales of Eppendorf Group and Starlab UK, I also met a CEO of a lab startup – they even added me on LinkedIn!
Valerie – I got to go offsite and conduct a HazOp (Hazard and Operability study) on Warren Street. It was really cool to see how some of the theory I learnt at Uni is actually used in practice.
Eren – I think it’s taught me how to navigate office dynamics, the Crick is a multidisciplinary institute with around 120 labs and countless more teams, all with their own way of doing things. The last nine weeks here have shown me the importance of being able to convey my responsibilities and goal to other parties so we can work together to achieve them.
Valerie – It’s been genuinely insightful as it is my first time being in a workplace related to something I’m interested in. I think the internship has allowed me to visualise the type of environments I want to work in the future.
Both – the rooftop terraces!
We aim to be a bastion of nurturing early career talent with a focus on giving high-potential students from under-represented or disadvantaged groups the opportunity to gain experience at the Crick.
Every student benefits from being a part of a stimulating training environment and a personal mentor that will provide the chance to develop scientific and transferable skills over the summer.
