An ambitious Cybersecurity and Forensics student has combined their lifelong passion for technology and aviation to come out on top in this year’s Edinburgh Napier student work experience competition.
Final year student Aimie Grant won the top prize after impressing judges with her case study on her year-long internship with Boeing Defence UK.
Aimie – who combines her time studying with training for her pilot’s licence – joined the company for a year within its Bristol headquarters, working within both its cybersecurity and data services team.
Alongside reflecting on her time on placement and what she learnt, Aimie’s case study also provided valuable advice on how to navigate a placement as a neurodivergent student.
Aimie shared a number of tips on what she introduced during her time at the company to ensure she stayed on track with workload and deadlines and the impact this had on growing her confidence throughout the 12 months.
Launched in 2022, the student work experience competition – which is run by the University’s Student Futures team – sees students submit written case studies of their time on placement to the competition.
Submissions touch on several subjects including the student’s role, skills learnt, challenges overcome and reflections. The Student Futures team and a judging panel whittled down the shortlist to nine before an overall winner is chosen.
The competition is also supported by the wider Edinburgh Napier community with a number of placements hosted by alumni of the University.
The standard of entries was so high again, that two submissions were also chosen as runners-up.
Alyanna Posadas - BSc (Hons) User Experience (UX) Design – Barclays
Romy Jenit Xavier Jaya Singh - MSc Renewable Energy – Arthian
Carolann Begbie, Director of People and Student Services at Edinburgh Napier and part of this year’s judging panel, said: “Work-related learning is very much part of our DNA at Edinburgh Napier University. Every year significant numbers of our student's complete work-based learning in a diverse range of businesses and organisations throughout Scotland and beyond. They make a difference in every one of these placements- to their employer hosts and their own professional skills development. It was great to meet our shortlisted and winning students and hear about their plans for work once they graduate.”
Ross Watson from Edinburgh Napier’s Student Futures team said: “Running the competition is fascinating from a professional services point of view because you get to see beyond the operational side and hear about inspiring placement stories from across all our schools. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate our students’ achievements and highlight the strong links Edinburgh Napier has with host organisations in many different industries.”