The 2025/26 vacation students during their visit to the Parkes Observatory. (Image credit: John Sarkissian)

The CSIRO Undergraduate Studentship Program (previously known as the Summer Vacation Student Program, and still widely referred to by that name!)  is designed to provide students with the opportunity to work on real-world problems in a leading R&D organisation. Each scholar undertakes a research project under the supervision of a staff member, and gives a presentation on their work at the end of the project. This year, Space and Astronomy students are hosted in Adelaide, Canberra, Parkes, Perth and Sydney. The Space and Astronomy students are traditionally also given the opportunity to visit at least one of the ATNF telescope sites. This year the students travelled to Narrabri to visit the Australia Telescope Compact Array, and on to Parkes to see Murriyang, the Parkes radio-telescope. (Image credit: John Sarkissian)