Sara Bury
BSc Computer Science
First Class Honours 07
Why did you chose your course and what did you gain from it? What was the most exciting or interesting part of it?
I graduated from the Lancaster Computer Science BSc programme and the quality of teaching had encouraged me to remain in education, and to think about continuing within the department. I applied for both the MSc and PhD programmes and due to the quality of the topics and advice available whilst completing my final year undergraduate project I was offered funding and a PhD place based on that work. So far I've gained a lot from the course, learning about academia and traveling to a variety of places around Europe to disseminate my research.
Why did you chose Lancaster University?
I originally chose Lancaster because of its location and facilities; I wanted to feel part of a real community which Lancaster excels at thanks to the collegiate system and campus layout. I remained in Lancaster because of the excellent teaching and administrative staff who've looked after me throughout my university education.
Were there enough facilities?
The facilities at Lancaster are very good, from the educational (library, computing labs, campus wide wireless) to the social (campus bars, coffee houses, clubs and societies) and everything else (swimming and sports centre, variety of restaurants, banks, bookshops). You don't really need to leave campus for anything, though it'd be a shame to not visit the Lake District up the road from time to time.
Did you make lots of friends at Lancaster?
I made loads of really good friends at Lancaster, many of whom also stayed on to do further study after their undergraduate courses. I was involved in a number of student societies, from juggling to student radio, and I'm enjoying the opportunities within the Computing department to meet yet more new people while taking part in reading groups and seminars.
Can you comment on any work placements or company contact you had?
As part of my undergraduate I was given the opportunity to attend workshops at IBM Hursley thanks to the group project work we did which was IBM sponsored. My final year project was in collaboration with DANTE based in Cambridge, who operate the GEANT2 research network around Europe. Since joining the PhD programme I have been accepted onto a six week research placement with BBC Future Media and Innovation in Manchester which I completed in July/August 2009.
What you are doing now in your career and how did the course influence this?
I'm currently in the third year of my PhD, hoping to finish sometime reasonably soon. The course has helped me understand what a career in academic research might be like and given me a number of opportunities to make contacts in different research departments around the world, which hopefully should stand me in good stead when I have graduated and am searching for my next step.