King’s College London’s Summer Placements Foster Personal Growth for Black Engineering Students

With the support of the KCL Race Equity and Inclusive Education Fund (REIEF), the Success for Black Engineers Project (SFBE) supported Black engineering students on a four-week summer research placement either remotely or in person at KCL.

Students who participated in the project stated that they not only gained valuable research skills but also developed personal and professional skills and attributes which will help them in their future studies and careers. They highlighted resilience, work ethic, curiosity, patience and self-reliance as being instrumental to their development.

The summer placement project follows a similar format to the King’s Undergraduate Fellowship Scheme run by the Careers & Employability team. During the summer placements, students contribute to research projects whilst working alongside a KCL academic or PhD student and their team. The students complete approximately 150 hours of research either continuously over four weeks or part-time. The funding provided by REIEF has enabled SFBE to provide 20 stipends for students to ensure there are no financial barriers to participating in the placements thereby ensuring equity of access to opportunity.