Philip - Energy and Environment

I am currently studying physics at York university where I have just finished my second year. I was attracted to this internship as it would give me the chance to apply some of the skills I have learnt during my degree to the real world. I was particularly interested to see what local government was doing to help the climate conference and see what I could do to help. 

Over the 12 weeks, I’ve worked on a variety of different projects both individually and as a team with my fellow interns.  One of the big projects I worked on was the continuation and promotion of the council’s solar for business scheme. This involved monitoring and analysing the performance of our solar panels across West Suffolk. This also involved using GIS to identify suitable businesses for this scheme in West Suffolk and reaching out to them.

Another project I enjoyed working on was a project performance analysis of the councils’ warm homes healthy Suffolk. I particularly enjoyed using the data analysis skills that I have developed over my university course and applying them in a real-world environment. As part of working with this team I was fortunate enough to attend a youth climate conference which was a great experience to improve my communication skills with the public.

During my 12 weeks I also worked with the other interns on a group project on recruitment of young people into the council. This involved us working together researching how we could improve on the council’s recruitment strategy. This was great project for gaining invaluable experience working in a team and project management.

I have had a great experience working at West Suffolk Council and have enjoyed working with all the people I’ve met. It has taught me many valuable skills and experiences and I’d strongly recommend this internship for anyone interested in working in the public sector or in the energy and environment sector.