The UK Centre for the Observation and Modelling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics (COMET) aims to co-develop and co-fund summer research projects for undergraduate students with industrial partners to support cross-disciplinary collaboration and knowledge exchange between academia and industry.

Since 2022, COMET has run a prestigious 8-week internship scheme for students from underrepresented backgrounds in academia. Each year we receive >60 competitive applicants for two positions and our interns consistently produce high-quality research.

You can see examples of previous projects below:

2025 – Large InSAR dataset for training foundational machine learning models

2024 – Influence of Crustal Heterogeneity of Volcanic Deformation

2023 – Methods for Measuring Volcanic Plume Heights

2022 – Improving Building Exposure Datasets using High-Res Imagery and Deep
Learning

Opportunities

There are many benefits to being an industrial partner for the COMET Internship. These include:

• The ability to hire short-term roles to address your specific research challenges
• Access to world-leading technical expertise in Tectonics, Volcanology, Hazards, Atmospheric Science, Artificial Intelligence and Earth Observation
• Attracting talented students and identify future graduate hires
• Developing or testing out new and exciting collaborations with Universities  

Expectations of Industrial Co-supervisors

• Co-designed internship projects that ensure students are developing industry-relevant skills and knowledge of industrial practice
• Providing expertise and know-how through co-supervision
• Hosting intern during a short placement
• Co-fund the internship at 50% FTE (£1750-2000, dependent on institution)
• Contribute £500 towards research costs and travel for intern
• Provide training on, and access to, relevant technology for the project

Expectations for COMET member co-supervisors

• Contact potential industry partners 
• Co-design the project idea with industry partner
• Host the intern at your home institution
• Provide training on and access to relevant technology

Deadlines

February-March 2026	COMET members and/or industry experts submit a project proposal with co-supervisors (Deadline – End of March)
April 2026	Project proposals reviewed and funding awards made
April 2026	Internships advertised to students
July-August 2026	Interns conduct project
January 2027	Interns present their work at the COMET student meeting

Further Information

For further details, please email: [email protected] with your enquiry.

Proposal Form

If you are a COMET member or industry representative interested in taking part in this programme, please follow the link below to fill out a proposal form:
COMET Industry Internship Proposal Form