Scientific Experience Without Borders: Student of DNU Completes Research Internship in Canada

This summer Anastasiia Marinenko – a fourth-year student from the Faculty of Physics, Electronics, and Computer Systems at DNU – completed a 12-week research internship in Canada through the Mitacs Globalink Research Internship program. This marked a significant milestone in her education and served as her first major experience with genuine research work.

Mitacs Globalink is a competitive Canadian research internship program open to students across all disciplines, offering full coverage of travel and accommodation expenses.

Anastasiia learned about the program through announcements from International Office in DNU. After reviewing the participation requirements and testimonials from past participants, and selecting a project that interested her, she decided to apply and successfully passed the interview. This was followed by correspondence with a Canadian professor and preparations for the move; by late May, Anastasiia had flown to Saskatoon.

The internship took place at the University of Saskatchewan, a public research university ranked among top ten institutions for research performance in Canada. The student of DNU worked in the Department of Computer Science as part of an international software engineering research group that included students from Tunisia, Mexico, and Canada, as well as researchers from Turkey and Italy. Each participant was immediately assigned a mentor – a local university student – which greatly eased the transition during the first few weeks of the internship. One could always turn to the mentor for help and join them for campus tours and other events.

 

The team also held weekly research meetings where participants shared their findings and planned next steps. All work was conducted in English, following agile principles and using shared tools for code and documentation.

 

However, the internship in Canada was more than just work for our student; it was, above all, an experience of independence. She had to build everything from scratch in a foreign country – handling paperwork, opening a bank account, finding accommodation, and making new connections.

Інформаційно-аналітичне агентство
Дніпровського національного університету