Aiming to stimulate students' interest in research, the programme provides them a platform to apply knowledge into the real-industry project and get them prepared for future academic and career development. 

In addition, considering the impact of the COVID-19, FoSE also launched an online remote research programme, which provides opportunities for international students and staff to participate in scientific research. 

Miran Lu, a year three student of Mathematics, has followed Dr Faith Chan, Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences, to conduct research on blue-green infrastructures and development of sponge city programme in Ningbo for two consecutive years. 

"During the past two summers, I have visited almost all the parks in Ningbo, collecting data and analysing the data. I enjoyed this process very much and like environmental sciences more and more. I even want to pursue a Master’s in this field," said Miran.  

Dr Chan is one of the tutors who volunteered to stay and instruct students to do the summer research. When speaking of his motivation of staying, he said that he wanted to give students the opportunity to practice scientific research and learn new knowledge. 

Through the summer research programme, FoSE hopes to provide students with the opportunity to experience the whole process of scientific from reading literature, discussing problems, outdoor investigation, data collection and report writing and enable them to practice in real life. 

The exploration and innovation of students has also provided inspiration for the tutors. The research outcomes of a summer research team led by Dr. Ali Cheshmehzangi of the Department of Architecture and Built Environment was accepted by a key international journal. 

In addition to the scientific research projects, this year's summer programme also includes innovation labs, core skills training programmes, volunteer activities and cultural appreciation programmes to cultivate diverse skills of students and enrich their extracurricular experience.