Industrial Placement Student, Immuno-Inflammation Review

I really enjoyed most aspects of the job, and I am glad a chose to work here. I've learnt a lot about the industry and it's helped my understand how I would like to fit into it in the future. I've developed a network which I can rely on in the future and also had a lot of fun. The GSK site and staff was very well set up to accommodate students which made the transition even easier.

I felt like my work was important and when I presented it at team meetings, full time members of staff discussed with me and helped me work through the results. Full time staff engaged with me and gave me a lot of guidance about working in science, as well as showing an interest in me as a person.

My supervisor gave me a lot of guidance at the start of my placement, and put me in touch with experts in the techniques I'd be using when he couldn't help me himself. My manager introduced explained the basis of my project fairly well. My supervisor gave me a lot of freedom as I got more confident, and usually this made my skills grow quicker, although sometimes I felt out of my depth and felt under supported in comparison to other IP students.

The amount of work varied over the year. I struggled to have enough to do at the start of the year. Although this was expected it would have been nice if my supervisor had discussed this with me and tried to help me use my time most effectively. Once I had freedom to organise my own experiments I was able to schedule things the way I wanted and give myself the perfect work load. The only downside of this was that I never had deadlines to work to so it was very self motivated, and in order to push myself and achieve what I aimed to, I had to work faster than I was expected to.

I was given the responsibility of working on something no one else was working on. It was exciting to interpret my own results and choose how to progress my project. I used techniques not previously used in my department and was trusted to interpret the results myself. The only issue was that my project was not a priority in the department I worked in, so I was never given the responsibility of meeting a tight deadline.

I have learnt a huge amount about lab work, the work I did in the labs at university makes no comparison. I used a very wide range of techniques so I feel confident to go to interview for a wide range of lab positions. I also learnt a lot about the work environment and future job options by working at GSK. I learnt a lot through the lectures on site and from team meetings about other people's work. I learnt a lot of skills from my colleagues and went to workshops about employability, experimental design etc. I feel much more confident headed into my dissertation year, knowing I'll be able to contribute to the team I'll be working with.

The people in the office were welcoming and I made a lot of friends, both with IPs and full time members of staff. The occasionally there was negativity concerning work loads from full time members of staff which effected moral, but usually it was an upbeat place to work. The labs and office were all shared so you could meet and talk to different people every day. We went for a lot of meals as a departments and had fun Christmas parties and volunteering days.

The site was very well prepared to accommodate students and there was a lot of infrastructure for the placement students. For example a society to help students from other sites get in touch and a mentor scheme to meet leaders from other business areas outside the lab. It all ran very smoothly.

I received a lot of training in the first few weeks to make sure all students were working to the same standards. I then received 1 on 1 training in most the techniques I used. I also attended employability work shops run by GSK and was allowed to host a journal club and do presentations to improve my science communication skills. I also was allowed to attend a conference which helped me network and learn about other areas of science.

Staff get good facilities and the sites are very well catered for. The labs are also very high tech and opportunities are very good to develop and learn. There are good graduate and post PhD schemes available which are exciting and the organisation has a scheme to help science placement students access other areas of the business.

Yes, there were over 100 students so there were good opportunities to meet people. The was a society which organised events like a Christmas party and boat party on the Thames. The departments all have at least a few students in and mine had 14 so you work closely with students every day. People tend to live in student groups (arranged on facebook) so that's another opportunity to meet people.

I lived at home so I didn't have to worry about the cost of housing but I don't think people struggled too much. It's obviously south east so prices are higher than some uni towns. Socialising outside of London was not too expensive, with places set up for students, but going into London for nights out was expensive, since the first train home after midnight was 7am at the weekend.

There is one club/bar in Stevenage which does happy hour which is cheap. After 12 it's overpriced and fairly cheesy but with good company its okay. London is 20 minutes on the train, so that is an option but the first return train after midnight is at 7am on weekends. Usually students opt for house parties which are good for meeting people.

Yes there are sports teams and classes on site and across sites. I became a STEM ambassador and helped out in a few science events. There is a park run on Saturdays and good gym facilities that are pretty affordable, as well as the work gym which is open weekdays.