Industrial Placement Student Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my year-long placement. I have developed many skills throughout this year, and I am much more confident in my abilities. I would recommend a placement at GSK to any interested students, as the opportunities you have are much greater than any you will find at your university.

I definitely felt values by my colleagues. My opinion was taken into account when deciding the direction of the project, and towards the end of my project as I found my own niche people would come to me for my advice. The department also had a strong social aspect, and we would meet outside of work regularly.

My supervisors were brilliant. They would happily make time for me if I had any questions or needed any support, and even if I didn't approach them they would regularly check in on me to make sure I was happy and was progressing. They were also very supportive at the end of my placement when going through my options for after university/

How busy I was could very much fluctuate. Some days I would be very very busy and other days were more relaxed. I never felt too overwhelmed though as I always had plenty of support around me. And, if I had less to do there was always possibilities to pick up extra responsibilities.

A lot of responsibility! My supervisor had a lot of faith in me and gave me a lot of responsibility from the start. I was very nervous about this at the start of my placement, but I do not think I would have gained such confidence in my abilities without this level of responsibility.

The skills I have learned this year will be invaluable to my future career. The confidence I have gained in the lab, and the techniques I have learned, put me in very good stead for my dissertation. I have also had the ability to develop skills outside of the lab, such as presentation skills and scientific writing, which will be useful in any career path I follow after university.

The office had a great atmosphere. I worked in a small office of only 10 people, so everyone got to know each other really well and had a lot of laughs. We would also often go out for lunch to a local pub as an office when there was a reason to celebrate.

We visited GSK before starting our placement and met our supervisors and got to know about our project, and on the first week of our placement we underwent an introduction to cell culture course to get us all up to the same speed. SRG were also very organised, and would give regular and clear communications regarding holiday and pay.

GSK invests in their students greatly. They make it clear from the beginning that if there is anything you are interested in to let them know and they will try to incorporate it in your project, or give you an opportunity to try it at the end of the placement when your project is winding down. They invest a lot of time and money into your development, so a years placement at GSK will put you in a great place for any career path your choose, even outside of science.

I am uncertain as to whether I will apply to work with GSK again, which is a shame as I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. The only negative is there are very few opportunities to enter the company straight after graduation, as most roles require a postgraduate degree (masters of PhD), and I am not certain that I wish to spend more time in education.

There are over 100 placement students at the Stevenage GSK site, so there is something going on most weekends as most placement students live in the same area. There is a team of people who arrange social events throughout the year, the best attended ones being the Christmas ball and the summer boat party.

The rent I paid was reasonable for the area of the country, but higher than I am used to being at university further north. Train tickets from Stevenage to London or Cambridge is very cheap, which is good for the weekends as there is very little to do in Stevenage itself.

There is very little nightlife in Stevenage, there are a small handful of pubs that can be quite nice, however a train to Hitchin (a neighbouring town) is very cheap and they have a lot of nice bars. However, you are not to far away from London and the trains run until quite late.

The site has a gym, for which the membership is subsidised, and they run a lot of team sports (such as netball and football) after work. There are also various different clubs off site, such as local running clubs and a local choir, which is a good way to meet people outside of GSK.