XMM-Newton Trainee Project 2004

The Project Concept

Young scientists participate in a trainee programme taking place at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) and contributing to the XMM-Newton satellite project.

The trainees as of now have been from the following universities:

• University of Madrid (Spain)
• University of Bonn (Germany)
• University of Tuebingen (Germany)
• University of Warwick (England)

and from the ESA Young Graduate Trainee Programme.

The project is supervised by tutors and comprised of students from the following three areas.

• The pre graduate program for Spanish students from the UCM, that every year allows students from the Madrid Complutense University to do an internship at ESAC and get the results credited for their university career.
• The ESA internship trainee programme.
• The ESA young graduate trainee programme.

The project is every year split in sub-projects that overlap in the techniques of data analysis and benefit in conceptual structure from each other. However it is assured not to introduce dependencies that slow one project down, because important input from other sub-projects is needed such that the situation of a single point of failure could arise.

To get the sub-projects started, a "First definition" and the "First steps and goals" of the project are defined by the tutor as a first guideline. The "First definition" is then refined and extended by the trainee to a real project definition after the first weeks. The "First steps and goals" are transformed into a Timeline for the project by the trainee supervised by the tutor. This strategy allows the trainee to start from the outset on a well defined project, which is highly important for projects on short time-scales, but also to redefine and structure the project after a short period of introduction and adjustment. The concept of an realistic timeline also allows room for contingencies . After successful completion of the work, a self-assessment and review enable the trainee to get a first impression of the structure of project work, and to develop skills for the future regarding similar based project set-ups.

Once per week a meeting of all trainees with the tutor is held in order to discuss briefly the status of the projects. The responsibility for minutes writing is rotated amongst the members of the group, and is used in order to track the activities for the tutor and to force the trainee on a regular basis to self-assess and review the own project.

Each trainee, after the first introductory period of their traineeship, gives a talk on the principle ideas of their project which is complemented by a final talk on the content and outcome of the project at the end of the project period.