Finding the Right Job

QUEST Scholarship Programme Profile 2

Who is your QUEST Partner Company?
Arup

How is the scholarship helping you?
The best thing about the QUEST scholarship is the relationship it helps you develop with your partner company through the annual summer work placement. The work experience is invaluable not only because it lets you see what you’ve learnt in lectures being put into practice, but also because it helps you make decisions about what career path you want to follow. I’m going to try out a different group each summer so I know whether I prefer structures or geotechnics and so on.

Additionally, the financial security the scholarship offers means I haven’t needed to take on part-time work to fund my studies. This has allowed me to focus on my university work. It has also given me some free time to gain skills by taking part in extra-curricular activities such as conservation volunteering in Camden’s nature reserves.

What projects have you been involved with on your summer work placement?
On my first summer placement I worked on a small exhibition gallery being built in an oasis-town in Abu Dhabi. The building was made from concrete and glulam sections (pieces of timber glued together). I constructed a model of the building using an in-house computer programme called GSA. Then I estimated the loading on the structure using the British Standards (the design codes used in the UK) and applied this to the computer model to show the deflections of the beams and columns.

Earlier this year I worked in Arup’s Geotechnics group. I used software called gINT to enter information from borehole logs into a database. With this data I was able to plot geological profiles showing what the earth beneath the site looked like i.e. the types of rock and the thicknesses of the layers.

Did you have a mentor assigned to you during your summer work placement?
I have a mentor that Arup have assigned me who remains my main point of contact. But during each summer placement I have had an engineer sitting at a nearby desk who checks I have enough work to do and who makes sure I’m getting something useful out of the placement. I’ve found that the people I’ve worked with at Arup are always happy to offer advice even if I email them during term-time.

What other benefits have you experienced during your time as a QUEST scholar?
When you become a QUEST scholar you can sign up to an ICE training agreement free of charge. This means you can get a head-start working towards the objectives you need to meet to become chartered. The sooner you get chartership after you’ve graduated, the sooner you can take on more responsibility for projects.

Would you recommend the scholarship to others?
Yes, definitely. This is a great opportunity to gain experience with a big name in the construction industry and get paid for it.

Are you actively involved with ICE?
One of the conditions of the QUEST scholarship is that you help promote the ICE and your partner company in local schools. You can do this by becoming an ambassador for STEMNET, who will put you in touch with teachers looking for people to enthuse their classes about engineering, maths and the sciences. So far I’ve visited the primary school where my parents teach. I talked to the kids about what engineers do and then I got them to make the Millennium Bridge out of food (an activity I’d done at my Arup induction). Next I’ll probably go back to my old secondary school to give a career talk.

Last year I attended the ICE bridge-building competition, which was organised by the London Graduates & Students Committee. It was a good opportunity to meet civil engineering students from other London universities and it also came in handy when I had to design a footbridge for my coursework.

Is there anything else you would like to add?
Thank you to the QUEST committee and Arup for giving me the chance to be a QUEST scholar.

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