At any moment in time, CERN is training thousands of young people across a large spectrum of competencies, providing society with a continuous stream of talent in science, technology, engineering and mathematics who have been trained in a truly international environment.<\/p>\n
A key aspect of this work is the annual CERN Summer Student programme, which provides unique training opportunities to bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s students and gives them a deep insight into the world of particle physics research. This summer, 341 students from more than 100 countries arrived on campus for placements across the Organization lasting from 8 to 13 weeks.<\/p>\n
These paid placements allow students to work on a wide range of physics, engineering and computing projects through both the Summer Student programme and the computer-science-focused openlab<\/a> summer programme. In addition to making real contributions to CERN research, the students get to attend a series of lectures given by researchers at the top of their respective fields, visit CERN facilities and take part in a variety of discussion sessions and workshops. For many students, the programme is an opportunity to step out of their comfort zone.<\/p>\n \u201cMy investigation is something that I never expected to do, and it\u2019s great to discover new areas of physics,\u201d says Constanza Valdivieso from the Universidad T\u00e9cnica Federico Santa Mar\u00eda in Chile, who worked with the International Muon Collider collaboration<\/a>. Support from her supervisors and the \u201csuper friendly\u201d researchers in her office ensured she could make progress, and Valdivieso now plans to return to CERN by undertaking a PhD on the SHiP<\/a> experiment, which will investigate neutrinos and hypothetical dark-matter<\/a> particles.<\/p>\n Agathe Fremont, an engineering physics student at Sweden\u2019s KTH Royal Institute of Technology, emphasised how she valued developing soft skills in parallel with technical training, including \u201chow best to communicate with other students and my supervisor to find solutions to problems\u201d. Having spent the summer researching cosmic-ray<\/a> muons with the ATLAS experiment<\/a> at the LHC, \u00a0Fremont described CERN as an \u201cincredible\u201d environment that is \u201cthe best place for science\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cSummer students question assumptions that we usually make for our projects and bring in new ways of thinking that help to advance our research,\u201d says Fremont\u2019s supervisor, Kostas Ntekas of UC Irvine.\u00a0 \u201cOver the years, I have seen how the programme really sparks the students\u2019 interest and enhances their motivation to carry on with their studies, with several returning to work at CERN after graduation.\u201d<\/p>\n Summer students question assumptions that we usually make for our projects and bring in new ways of thinking that help to advance our research. Although the application process is highly competitive, summer student Sera Conti from the University of S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil, and Politecnico di Milano, Italy, urges interested students not to be put off. \u201cYou need to stand out, but I think people have the wrong idea about what outstanding is: \u00a0you need to be specific about the kind of experience you have and really write through it, showing what those few lines on your CV really mean.\u201d<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a physics, computing, engineering or maths student looking for a unique way to spend next summer, applications<\/a> for the 2026 CERN Summer Student programme will open in November 2025. Students of any nationality can apply, including \u2013 thanks to the CERN & Society Foundation \u2013 those from countries that are not members of CERN.<\/a><\/p>\n See what a summer student’s average day is like in this video:<\/p>\n <\/a>
\nConstanza Valdivieso presenting her radiation protection research at the student poster event. (Image: CERN)<\/p>\n
\u2013 Kostas Ntekas, summer student supervisor<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nSummer student Agathe Fremont presenting her project at the student poster session. (Image: CERN)
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\nComputer engineering student Sera Conti spent the summer researching LHC data acquisition. (Image: CERN)<\/p>\n