EPSRC Vacation Intern

UE03: 24729.00 - 25804.00 Per Annum.

CSE / School of Geosciences.

Full Time 35 Hours Per Week.

Fixed Term Contract 10 Weeks.

Project: Interdisciplinary secondary education resources on Carbon Storage and Scotlands Energy Transition (Geography Chemistry)

EPSRC theme: Energy and decarbonisaiton

Duration: 10 weeks (summer) Outputs: openly published via (CC BY)

Supervisors:Stuart Gilfillan () and Mark Wilkinson ()

Advisor: Colin Graham ()

Rationale and need

Scottish secondary learners are encountering climate change energy and sustainability across subjects but classroom resources are often siloed (science or social subjects) overly technical or not designed for hands-on learning within normal school constraints. There is a clear opportunity to create a coherent low-jargon set of lessons that:

• links Geography (places maps land/sea use people policy and economics) with Chemistry (CO₂ properties acidity reactions measurement and evidence) with optional connections to biology/physics and history.
• situates carbon storage within both deep time (Scottish geology; how rocks store fluids over millions of years) and recent history (the last 20 years of Scotlands changing relationship with carbon and energy as coal phased out and wind expanded rapidly).
• supports balanced discussion of risk monitoring safety licensing and just transition without advocacy or jargon.
• is reusable and adaptable by teachers through open licensing and publication including a localisation kit for use beyond Scotland.

This internship would provide a practical mentored experience for an undergraduate exploring a career in teaching focused on curriculum design clarity of explanation and classroom-ready activity planning.

Aim

Develop a 69 lesson interdisciplinary learning block (adaptable S1S3 aligned to CfE/SQA) on natural and engineered carbon storage rooted in Scottish places and data and publish it openly on for wide reuse.

Objectives (intern deliverables by end of summer)

• Interdisciplinary lesson sequence (69 lessons): clear learning intentions minimal jargon and core stretch tiers to suit S1S3.
• Hands-on activity set (low-cost safe): e.g. porosity/permeability demo CO₂-in-water acidity/pH activity peatland water-retention demo and simple map/data interpretation.
• Scotland context embedded throughout: a simple narrative and datasets showing Scotlands electricity/carbon shift (coal decline; wind growth) plus place-based case studies (peatlands and engineered storage).
• Teacher-ready assessment tasks: quick concept checks and short claimevidencereasoning prompts using graphs maps and simple scenarios (risk/licensing/land-use trade-offs).

Open publication pack for : editable files attributions/licensing log accessibility checks and a short localisation guide for international reuse.

Click here to view a copy of the full job description.

As a valued member of our team you can expect:

• A competitive salary.
• An exciting positive creative challenging and rewarding place to work.
• To be part of a diverse and vibrant international community.
• Comprehensive Staff Benefits including generous annual leave entitlement a defined benefits pension scheme a wide range of staff discounts family-friendly initiatives and flexible work options. Check out the full list on our staff benefits page and use our reward calculator to discover the value of your pay and benefits.

Championing equality diversity and inclusion

The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions actively promoting LGBT equality.

Prior to any employment commencing with the University you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our right to work webpages.

The University is unable to sponsor the employment of international workers in this role. International applicants will therefore be unable to apply for and secure a Skilled Worker visa. They will only be able to take up this role if they can demonstrate an alternative right to work in the UK.

Key dates to note

The closing date for applications is 20 May 2026.

Unless stated otherwise the closing time for applications is 11:59 pm (UK time). If you are applying from outside the UK the closing time shown on our adverts will automatically adjust to your browsers local time zone.

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