My internship has come to an end, my report has been completed and submitted to my supervisor and, so far, the feedback has been positive. I spent the final week continuing to write up my research and editing the content, reworking the structure and ensuring the formatting allowed me to present my findings in the best way possible.
I also met more of the trustees of the charity to hear about the work they do and to discuss the experiences they have had when visiting Nepal and Peru on numerous occasions and distributing the lights as they made their way up the mountain ranges. Hearing first-hand information about the lights that are currently being used and the feedback the trustees have heard from the recipients helped me to compare this standard to the other models I was evaluating. It helped to further define the necessary specifications of any products that should be recommended as it meant I could fully understand the kind of problems the lights can sometimes present.
© Mary Loosemore, photos showing two types of lights that were donated and mountain ranges in Peru.
Overall this has been a really enjoyable and rewarding experience. LED have been an amazing charity to work with and I hope to stay in contact with them and keep up to date with the work they are doing. Conducting my research and writing this report has been really eye opening as I had not previously realised how big a market there is for these products and how many charities there are focusing on delivering renewable solutions in developing countries. It was interesting to find out about the solar technology being implemented to provide light and electricity in rural areas, as well as new innovations to harness the power of movement and gravity, among others.
I would highly recommend taking part in the Charity Insights scheme; it offers the chance to spend a summer making a difference within a charity and gaining experience in an interesting field of work. This internship has made it clear to me that this is an area of research and innovation that I would like to explore following my degree, and I look forward to conducting my masters project into solar materials, hopefully building on what I have learnt over the summer.