Tez fellowship testimonial

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docs/source/fellowship.rst

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 FESTIM Fellowship Programme
 ====================================
 
+----------------
+Previous Fellows
+----------------
+
+.. grid:: 1
+
+   .. grid-item::
+      :columns: 12 10 8 8
+
+      .. card:: Tez Orr — UKAEA (2026)
+         :link: fellowship_tez
+         :link-type: doc
+
+         .. grid:: 2
+            :gutter: 4
+
+            .. grid-item::
+               :columns: 4
+
+               .. image:: /_static/fellowship/tez2.jpg
+                  :alt: Tez, FESTIM Fellow
+                  :width: 100%
+
+            .. grid-item::
+               :columns: 8
+               :margin: auto
+
+               Read our interview with **Tez**, our very first FESTIM Fellow, to learn about her experience mastering FESTIM v2 at MIT.
+
 A selective, project-based programme for experienced FESTIM users to develop advanced simulation expertise through direct collaboration with the FESTIM development team.
 
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docs/source/fellowship_tez.rst

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+.. _festim-fellowship-tez:
+
+FESTIM Fellowship — Tez Orr
+========================
+
+.. rubric:: UKAEA · First FESTIM Fellow · 2026
+
+.. rst-class:: lead
+
+   **Tez** is a physicist and materials scientist at :bdg-primary:`UKAEA` — and our
+   **very first FESTIM Fellow**. She joined the FESTIM development team at MIT for
+   two months in 2026 to master FESTIM v2 and bring that expertise back to UKAEA.
+
+.. grid:: 2
+   :gutter: 4
+
+   .. grid-item::
+      :columns: 12 5 5 5
+
+      .. figure:: /_static/fellowship/tez1.jpg
+         :alt: Tez, FESTIM Fellow, UKAEA
+         :align: center
+         :width: 100%
+
+         *Tez at MIT during her fellowship.*
+
+      .. TODO: replace with actual photo asset.
+
+   .. grid-item::
+      :columns: 12 7 7 7
+
+      .. grid:: 1
+         :gutter: 2
+
+         .. grid-item::
+
+            .. card::
+               :class-card: sd-border-1
+
+               🗓️ **2 months at MIT** — in person
+
+         .. grid-item::
+
+            .. card::
+               :class-card: sd-border-1
+
+               🐛 **1 bug fixed** — contributed directly to FESTIM v2
+
+         .. grid-item::
+
+            .. card::
+               :class-card: sd-border-1
+
+               🔬 **LIBRTI + STEP** — UKAEA programmes now using FESTIM
+
+
+.. pull-quote::
+
+   "Even though it's quite nice to be the FESTIM v2 expert on site (!!!), I would
+   absolutely recommend the programme to my colleagues."
+
+   -- Tez, UKAEA
+
+----
+
+Background & Motivation
+-----------------------
+
+.. rubric:: 1. What's your background, and what drew you to apply for the FESTIM Fellowship?
+
+I have a physics and materials science background. I have worked on modelling of
+**tritium transport** in **plasma facing components** and **lithium-based tritium breeders**
+in the past using FESTIM and COMSOL. I was interested to try out the FESTIM fellowship
+as FESTIM v1 was the first modelling code I worked with and learning to use it for the
+cases I was looking at was quite easy. The FESTIM fellowship meant that I could learn
+the new capabilities of **FESTIM v2** to help with more advanced tritium transport
+modelling in breeders at UKAEA while developing my own modelling skillset.
+
+.. rubric:: 2. What was your experience with FESTIM before starting the fellowship?
+
+I had used **FESTIM v1.4** when I started working at UKAEA to model tritium transport
+in STEP-like plasma facing components. I began using FESTIM because it could implement
+**tritium trapping** and **boundary conditions** easily. I also used FESTIM v1.4 to
+make a faux model of **multi-level trapping** in a material.
+
+.. rubric:: 3. What specific project did you bring to the fellowship, and why was it important to your work at UKAEA?
+
+I had hoped to learn FESTIM v2 capabilities and work closely with the FESTIM team as
+part of my development, so I only brought the plasma facing component, specifically a
+**monoblock**, case to the fellowship to learn based off something I knew the results
+of already. This meant that I could **push the limits of the model**, exploring edge
+cases, and know what to expect out of the model.
+
+----
+
+The Experience
+--------------
+
+.. rubric:: 4. How would you describe working with the FESTIM development team? Were there any standout moments or interactions?
+
+I had a wonderful time working with the FESTIM development team, they were very easy
+to talk to and would answer any questions I had with enthusiasm. It was really helpful
+to have them so close by so that anytime I was making a bit of a silly mistake, it
+could be picked up quickly and not cause too much disruption to my work, while working
+alone and in a different country, it would likely take much longer to pick up on such
+mistakes.
+
+.. rubric:: 5. What was the most challenging aspect of your project, and how did the fellowship help you overcome it?
+
+I found it hard to wrap my head around **FEniCSx** but understood the importance of
+being familiar with the foundations of FESTIM to be able to use it optimally. The
+fellowship gave me the opportunity to learn about FEniCSx in a way that **wasn't just
+reading their documentation** but included using my cases in FEniCSx to understand
+it better.
+
+.. rubric:: 6. Did you participate remotely or visit MIT in person? How did that work for you?
+
+I participated in person which meant living abroad for the two-month duration of the
+fellowship. This was **quite a scary thing to do, personally**, but meant that I got
+to be close, and in the same time zone, as the FESTIM development team so that they
+were much more accessible when I needed to ask anything. This massively increased my
+efficiency of my modelling work using FESTIM v2 as **any issues could be brought up
+and figured out together within the hour**.
+
+.. rubric:: 7. Can you share a specific example of when you felt the fellowship really "clicked" for you or when you had a breakthrough?
+
+Although a big challenge, I really appreciated the bug fix I got to help out on when
+the **implicit species did not work in the discontinuous case**. It was really
+interesting to see how an issue like this is approached and to learn how I could
+contribute to the code by using FESTIM in the way I am, pushing the limits of its
+capabilities to catch these bugs and improve the code overall.
+
+----
+
+Learning & Impact
+-----------------
+
+.. rubric:: 8. What's one advanced FESTIM feature or best practice you discovered during the fellowship that you'll use going forward?
+
+I think that the **multi-species, multi-level occupancy trapping** capabilities coupled
+with a **heat transfer problem** will be particularly useful for future work I will do
+on lithium-based breeders. The ability to combine all these features into one,
+relatively small script is great for making concise models without overcomplicating
+the workflow. I will also be using all the **GitHub** knowledge I learnt on secondment
+going forward as **version control** and having a repository has become very important
+to me through the fellowship.
+
+.. rubric:: 9. How has the fellowship changed the way you approach simulation work or your confidence with the code?
+
+Fairly often, I am convinced that I am the problem when my simulations don't work,
+thinking that I have just massively misunderstood something or made a silly mistake
+somewhere. However, I've seen through the fellowship that sometimes it is just the
+fact that **a feature capable of what I'm attempting hasn't yet been included or there
+is a bug in the code** — and those are good things to find, not problems! It's also
+made me a lot more confident in asking for help instead of staying stuck for longer
+than I have to be, **a bad habit of mine**.
+
+.. rubric:: 10. What was the outcome of your project? Did you achieve significant progress, contribute to the codebase, or accomplish something else?
+
+The goal of the fellowship for me and UKAEA was to develop an **expert user** of the
+FESTIM code who could then be a reliable point of contact for any future work that
+may wish to use FESTIM, as well as between UKAEA and the PSFC team of MIT. I feel as
+if this was accomplished as the **LIBRTI project** at UKAEA have already asked for
+work using FESTIM to assist them since I returned from secondment. I also accomplished
+much more than just a thorough understanding of FESTIM v2 as I used GitHub repositories
+for the first time and learnt how to contribute to the code, a step in a good direction
+for the future of my materials modelling career.
+
+----
+
+Broader Perspective
+-------------------
+
+.. rubric:: 11. How do you see FESTIM fitting into UKAEA's work, and what's the potential impact of your fellowship experience?
+
+The tritium transport work happening at UKAEA will benefit from FESTIM as we look more
+into **tritium inventory** taking in new breeder designs. There is interest from both
+**LIBRTI** and **STEP** to use FESTIM for work along these lines as well as the
+potential to use FESTIM in a **PhD** to investigate tritium transport within
+lithium-based breeder pebbles. The fellowship experience has made me a reliable point
+of contact for help on getting others started on using FESTIM as well as the ability
+to create models where they are needed across the organisation.
+
+.. rubric:: 12. What advice would you give to someone considering applying to the FESTIM Fellowship?
+
+
+💬 I would tell them to **absolutely give it a shot!** It's a great way to learn
+about a really interesting modelling code while exploring the wider world of
+computational materials modelling and software development. The FESTIM team were
+all very welcoming and it was helpful to be a part of the development of not only
+the code but of all the projects that are using it.
+
+.. rubric:: 13. Would you recommend the programme to colleagues? Why or why not?
+
+.. pull-quote::
+
+   "Even though it's quite nice to be the FESTIM v2 expert on site (!!!), I would
+   absolutely recommend the programme to my colleagues."
+
+   -- Tez, UKAEA
+
+Many different modelling codes are used at UKAEA and if those who have bottlenecked
+into one particular code tried out the fellowship, even in a short capacity, I think
+they would realise that **there are always options when it comes to tritium transport
+modelling** and to use the code which best fits their needs, rather than force the
+code you like to do what you want.
+
+----
+
+.. seealso::
+
+   Interested in the FESTIM Fellowship? Learn more on the
+   :doc:`FESTIM Fellowship page <fellowship>`.