Kaja Glazer, MSci student at University of Birmingham
Kaja Glazer won a poster prize whilst taking part in Undergraduate Faraday Institution Summer Experience (FUSE) programme.

As part of the FUSE internship programme, students produce high-quality scientific posters detailing their work, which are judged by a diverse panel of experts.

Ms Glazer was successful in the scientific content and context category. The judges were impressed with the way the simple concept of black mass was approached with great complexity, applying novel magnetic separation approaches to ensure technique optimisation. Creative use of graphics further strengthened the communication of the science and key facts.

The FUSE programme provided internships for undergraduate students to undertake paid eight-week placements with battery researchers from partner universities and organisations. The programme is highly competitive, with over 1,500 applicants received this year.

A total of 53 talented and enthusiastic interns from 15 universities were selected to work with the talented Faraday Institution research community.

Ms Glazer worked under the guidance of Dr Rob Sommerville, Dr Elizabeth Driscoll, and Professor Emma Kendrick in the Birmingham Energy Materials Group. Kaja contributed to the ReLiB project, which is tackling the challenge of recycling spent lithium-ion batteries.

Kaja also had the opportunity to collaborate with Ecobat during the internship. Ecobat is a world leader in recycling batteries.

The Faraday Institution is the UK’s independent institute for electrochemical energy storage research, skills development, market analysis, and early-stage commercialisation. It brings together research scientists and industry partners on projects with commercial potential that will reduce battery cost, weight, and volume; improve performance and reliability, and develop whole-life strategies including recycling and reuse.