Industrial Placement Student Review

Amazing supervisor and colleagues with many opportunities to improve in practical skills relating to immunological and epigenetic research. For our department, a sizeable group of IP students were recruited for the year, which prevented the first few weeks of placement from being too daunting! There were some points where initiative or confidence to ask questions was very important in order to progress, so would recommend being prepared to step out of your comfort zone in order to develop.

As to be expected with a placement year, the first few months felt a bit dependent on my supervisor and colleagues with what felt like comparatively simple research. However, my co-workers always gave advice and positive feedback on my work which allowed me to develop to a point where I could conduct or alter experiments independently and understand the results generated. By the end of my time here, I was able to give guidance to other students (and colleagues!) and present data that others were genuinely interested in and valued.

At the very beginning my supervisor gave me a lot of support during training and familiarising myself with the work I need to do. Even if I perhaps worked slowly or didn't do a task quite right, they would provide feedback and advice on how I could solve the problem on my own. As a result, I felt I was very capable of independent work after a few months with them, but also knew I was able to ask them questions at any time.

Fairly busy - time management with experiments and report writing/paperwork and other administrative tasks was quite difficult at first. However, after adapting to the workload, the volume and efficiency of work generated definitely gives you a sense of pride at what you have accomplished. It also gave me a lot more to talk about with my placement report, particularly with my own personal development.

My placement project had fairly significant responsibility in that the results generated could affect the direction in which the work continued afterwards. And after the first few months, the work became slowly more and more independent with the expected standard also increased. However, this was all manageable and gave the sense that the work I was generating would actually contribute towards a greater picture.

This placement was absolutely brilliant in helping me develop practical and academic skills for my degree. This was from being able to clearly present experimental results and critically analysing the actual data from scientific articles, to confidently carrying out new experimental methods or networking with fellow scientists. In this one year, I feel that I have developed more as a person than I would have if I had just stayed on to do my next academic year straight away.

It is usually kept quite quiet in order for people to focus, but background noise and some chatter is also acceptable. We're allowed to listen wear headphones and listen to music etc. whilst at our desks which is great. We also work in what is known as 'SMART' offices, where you don't have an assigned desk and can move around. It makes the atmosphere quite chill as the layout is meant to encourage discussion with those around you.

Much more organised than my university was. We had a 2-week training course with our department when we started, with the training all carefully planned (including paperwork!). My placement project was also in place before I started and my supervisor already had ideas of experiments for me to conduct while I developed my confidence in working independently. There was also lots of seminars, training days and work events that I could attend throughout the year which were well-advertised and planned.

Lots of personal training and development. We had a two-week training course when we started and there were many seminars and personal development days throughout the year for all staff. In my own experience, I was able to attend a half-day elementary course in drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics in order to improve my understanding of the pharmacological data that myself and others were working with.

The placement itself appeared very competitive and from my perspective at the company, entry into scientific roles does appear to be at a similar if not higher level of competition. I would definitely like to work again in my department, especially as it is one of the few places that incorporates my interest in both immunology and epigenetics.

The social scene between students within my department was particularly great as there was a group of about 15 of us. We all grouped together to get birthday hampers and cakes for everyone's birthdays, had lunch together, and also went out for food and activities. We had a great time with our colleagues too who were incredibly friendly and we had regular lunches out, a Christmas party and I will definitely miss them! The only negative aspect may have been the social scene with IP students site-wide as there weren't too many events for us all - the boat party was good though.

Much lower than at university - this might be because Stevenage itself is a bit of a commuter town and isn't as picturesque as the surrounding areas. However, food is a good price and there are a good number of affordable restaurants and activities (e.g. Air Hop, Crazy Golf etc.).

Not that great. There's one club in the centre of town and it's not that great. However, Stevenage does have some good transport links into London, some of which take only 25 minutes. There are a fair number of pubs though which also serve good food and apparently a fancy cocktail bar (Cinnabar) in Old Town.

Not entirely sure. There are a fair number of gyms in the surrounding areas and a lot of shops. However, other than that there isn't very much other than Air Hop and Crazy Golf. There is Fairlands Valley which is a nice place to walk or bike around and I continued training in taekwondo whilst I was here which was great to have.