We sat down with Amelia to find out what makes her tick, and why she chose to enrol on our tech grad scheme
Who are you and what do you do?
I’m Amelia Winterburn and I’m a graduate on the Applied Research Graduate Technology Scheme.
Tell us about your background
I love all of the different sciences. I attended an open day at the University of York and I knew that the Natural Sciences course was exactly what I wanted to do. It was the way to get to do the most different forms of science in one! I was a part of York’s first year of biophysics students, so I’m currently one of only two people who have this degree from the University of York. In the penultimate summer of my masters programme, I did a placement at the BT Labs. When it finished, I was offered a job to come back as a graduate. Now, I’m on the Applied Research Graduate Technology Scheme.
Are you part of any professional groups?
I’m a member of IOP (Institute of Physics) and I’m aiming to become chartered.
What drives your passion within your career?
I’ve always loved science. I used to watch science documentaries with my mum. As a kid, I wanted to be an evil scientist for good, to help people and have an impressive lab. I love knowing how things work. People get a text on their phone and say ‘cool, I got a text’ but I want to know how I got the text. I like knowing how technology works to understand the world around us. I also have to credit all of the amazing science teachers that I’ve had who were very encouraging. I would like to get a PhD at some point, definitely physics related. Maybe in relation to antennas or something that could be useful to in my career at BT.
Tell us what projects you’re working on
I don’t do any rotations in my graduate scheme at the moment. This is actually really helpful in Applied Research because it means that I don’t have to change team after spending months learning the science and technology I need to do my job (how mine functions and the role that I can play within it). My team looks at projects with lead times that are 10+ years into the future on enhancing 5G and more, for example looking at meta materials and intelligent surfaces. There are lots of opportunities in this space where fundamental physics of fibre and light are key.