What it is actually like.
Students write up their own placements, what they worked on, what broke, and what they took with them.
In their words.
Directly from the students. If you did a placement with us and want to write one, email students [at] marble.eu.
“MARBLE is a phenomenal environment for students who are interested in where science meets hands-on work.
It is a place that lets students work on genuinely interesting and useful projects, and solve them in an innovative way. The people here are highly motivated and they really do want to help.”
Real teams, real problems, one table.
Most of the work looks like this: three people, a shared desk, and a problem that only gives way once everyone is looking at the same picture.
“As a French student from Paris, I spent two months at CoE Marble without really knowing what to expect; I met a team of people from diverse cultural and national backgrounds, genuinely kind individuals who are passionate about their work and eager to share their knowledge.
As an intern, you have the freedom to choose your topics, handle equipment (depending on the role), and manage your own time - all while working on projects that are interesting, enriching, and unique.”
“I arrived at MARBLE through Erasmus+ not entirely sure what to expect, and left feeling like I’d genuinely grown as an engineer. Over eleven weeks, I went from learning ROS 2 fundamentals to integrating six different sensors into a real marine robotics system like temperature, water quality, a weather station, a wave sensor, a current profiler, and a sonar. Each had its own protocol, its own quirks, and its own lessons.
Read the full story ↓
Some of my favorite memories are the debugging stories. There was a week where a hydrophone seemed to be giving completely nonsensical readings, and instead of assuming it was broken, I spent days running controlled tests until I found the real cause: a known quirk in the sound card, not a faulty sensor at all. Moments like that, where patient, systematic thinking actually pays off, are exactly why I love this field.
By the end of the internship, I’d also built a live dashboard the team now uses to monitor everything at a glance, and helped get a full demo network running end to end with real hardware. Presenting all of that on my last day, to people who’d supported me the whole way through, was genuinely one of the proudest moments of my degree so far.
But honestly, what made this summer what it was wasn’t just the technical work. In MARBLE everyone is part of the big family. I’m grateful to Nikola Mišković for offering me this opportunity in the first place and welcoming me into MARBLE. Nadir was an incredible day-to-day mentor, giving me real trust and real responsibility from the start. Tomislav and Eugene were always there whenever I needed a hand, no question too small. My amigo David and I worked side by side from day one, learning the ropes together. And Matea made sure Zagreb felt like home from the very first week, not just MARBLE, from the small things to making sure David and I actually got to enjoy the city, not just the office. I’m genuinely missing the daily “hi” in the corridor and the kitchen (always filled with cheese and goodies and random tasty chocolates from colleagues).
I’m incredibly grateful for the summer, and for everyone who made it what it was.”