Are you all about science and technology? Would you like to develop your skills and use them to tackle the greatest challenges of our time? VTT might be just the place for you – apply now for VTT Summer of Changemakers 2025 traineeships! 

VTT is one of the leading applied research organisations in Europe. What unites us are curiosity, a passion for learning, and a purpose: to solve the biggest challenges of our time and turn them into sustainable growth and well-being. Our cross-disciplinary community of over 2300 brilliant minds from over 55 different nationalities is focused on creating impact through science-based innovation. Now, we are looking for passionate changemakers – you – to join us as summer trainees.

Our last summer's trainees rated their summer job experience at VTT 4.6/5 in Oikotie's Responsible Summer Job survey. Below are some excerpts from their feedback when asked what was the best part of their summer job:

“Great team, interesting tasks, enough responsibility, and opportunities to make an impact.”
“I got to know a lot of professionals from different fields with this summer job. So, networking is the best part.”
“Interesting projects, nice and helpful colleagues, work-life balance, and equal treatment with permanent colleagues.”

Do you want to be our next Research Trainee in our Flexible Electronics Integration team? 

As a research trainee, you will work on clothing integrated sensors and heaters. You will work mainly on the EU funded project Penguin (https://penguin-project.eu) in which our task is to develop a heating and sensor system to be used in winter clothing. The clothing utilizes the novel fibers developed by project partners, purpose of heating is not only comfort but removing moisture from the fibers, also one of the key topics is recyclability of materials.

Depending on the skills and interests of the trainee, work can be tailored to focus on developing the sensor system or the heating elements. The sensors and heating controllers require electronics skills: electronics design, embedded programming, data collection and display. Integrating the heating elements into fabrics requires knowledge of materials and processing techniques.

Our team, Flexible electronics integration, works on flexible and stretchable electronics integration technologies. The recent focus of our research has been on wearable sensors for measuring signals from the human body. We work in collaboration with globally leading universities, research institutes and companies in the application areas such as automotive, IoT and healthcare and wellness.

What would your responsibilities as a Research Trainee include?

• Electronics design of prototypes from schematics to layout; including flexible electronics
• Embedded programming using microcontrollers (i.e. Arduino)
• Fabrication and assembly of the prototypes
• Building laboratory measurement setups and carrying out various electrical and thermal measurements
• Documentation of the results (in English)
• You will be part of a project team, but capability for working independently is appreciated

Who we are looking for?

You are fluent in English, have good communication and networking skills, and have experience or an interest in one of the following areas:

• Studies in e.g. electronics engineering or physics for 1 to n years
• Electronics design, microcontrollers or power electronics
• Embedded programming e.g. Arduino
• Wireless technologies e.g. Bluetooth
• Programming in general
• Measurement and sensor technology, temperature, humidity etc. 
• Materials, especially fibers and adhesives
• Thermal design and simulation

As a person, we hope that you are:

• Interested in developing new things and hopefully see research or science as a career option. In your application, do not forget to mention if you are interested in being part of a start-up company one day, as VTT offers great opportunities for its spin-offs to commercialise the technologies developed here.

What would we offer you?

• Impactful work for the future. As a leading applied research organisation, we are on a mission to bring exponential hope to the world by joining together people, businesses, science and technology. We tackle the biggest challenges of our time – from climate change and resource sufficiency to industrial renewal and smart healthcare – and turn them into sustainable growth. Read more about our strategy – the path of exponential hope.
• Career opportunities, top-level mentors. At VTT, your skills are appreciated and supported with the opportunity to learn from the top experts in their field. You’ll get to discover our community of over 2300 experts representing more than 55 nationalities working across cutting-edge fields of science and technology.
• Meaningful projects, real responsibility. With us, you get to take on meaningful projects and create innovative scientific and technical solutions. We treat all employees as equals and give you real responsibility from the start. VTT is a caring employer that supports your growth and work–life balance and offers a range of well-being services.

What is like to work with us solving the biggest challenges of our time? Check from the video what kind of experiences Aymara, Daniil, Eric and Isabella had from their summer traineeships and what kind of change did they drive.

Apply now and join our community of brilliant minds!

Come, curious minds and clever changemakers! Prepare your CV and cover letter, and send in your application with your transcript of records via our recruitment system as soon as possible but at the latest by 2 February 2025. Let’s change the world for the better next summer.

All VTT Summer of Changemakers traineeships are paid, and the salary is determined based on study credits: for Master's students the monthly salary is between 2600€ and 2800€, and for Bachelor's students the monthly salary is between 2100€ and 2400€. The typical duration of traineeships is between 3 and 6 months, with start dates usually falling between March and June, however the length and the exact starting date can be discussed with the hiring team. 

Please read more of VTT Summer of Changemakers from here: https://www.vttresearch.com/en/summer-changemakers

Interested and want to hear more?

For further information, please contact Research Team Leader Teemu Alajoki, teemu.alajoki@vtt.fi, +358 40 745 4058 on 23rd Jan at 14:00-15:00 or on 27th of Jan at 10:00-11:00.

We will process applications as they come in, and fill in the position as soon as we find the right candidate. We will inform all applicants about the continuation of the process during February 2025. Most of the interview will be held in February-March, however they can be started already during the application period. 

We look forward to hearing from you!