Industrial Placement student Review

My placement this year was based in the Screening, Profiling and Mechanistic Biology department at GSK, Stevenage. My placement year has been an enlightening experience. I have acquired a great deal of skills and have met an amazing cohort of people. I have thoroughly enjoyed learning new things and getting a clearer understanding of what working in the pharmaceutical environment entails. I have also enjoyed working as a valued member of a great department.

I could not have asked for a better and more supportive department. My department was quite large (approximately 50 people) and although I have only worked with a small number of these, I would feel comfortable going to any member of the department for support and advice. Even as a young and fairly inexperienced member of the department my ideas and input were always valued.

My supervisor was extremely attentive and supportive throughout my entire placement. We had 1:1 meetings every week where all my work was discussed and any issues were raised. At the start of my placement, I was quite reliant on him for most things however I very quickly became more and more independent and very soon he was confident in my abilities. I think a good supervisor is very important during a year of placement and unfortunately I know some students that did not receive the support that I did.

This varied substantially throughout the year and some weeks were busier than others. At the start of the placement, due to a lack of training and because my project had not fully started there were days that dragged and when I felt like I did not have much to do. My work load peaked midway through my placement when I had many more responsibilities and was confident in carrying out lab wet work independently. Towards the end of my placement work was focused on my project write up and finishing things off in preparation for leaving GSK.

I had a lot more responsibility than I thought I initially would. By mid October I was responsible for running a weekly production screening assay. This was a 4hr biochemical assay which involved screening compounds weekly. This required laboratory skills and also the ability to use a sophisticated Mass Spectrometer. I was responsible for carrying out the assay, compound ordering and the data analysis that followed after the assay. The analysed data was then sent to the relevant programme team.

I believe a full year's experience working in the pharmaceutical industry within a laboratory setting will prove invaluable to me for the future. Not only will I be able to use the scientific knowledge that I have acquired but also the interpersonal and soft skills I have developed have been extensive. I also believe I will be ahead of many of my peers in my final year of university and this will prove advantageous to me.

My office consisted of approximately 10 people throughout the year and this fluctuated week to week. I had another industrial placement student within my office as well as an apprentice and so I did not feel like the only young person. I was very lucky with the people in my office as they were always willing to help or just have a good chat with!

The Industrial Placement programme has been established at GSK for many years and so the overall placement was organised very well. Training for most things was extremely well coordinated and carried out very well. There was a bit of uncertainty regarding what my project was going to be based upon and this changed to what was initially suggested when I got the placement. I feel like I would have been in a better position when I came to project writing if I had known straight away what my project was going to entail.

There were numerous development opportunities throughout the year at GSK. From taking part in a 10 mile run for charity to spending a week in a camp for children with special needs I could not have asked for more! Personal training was also well organised and of a high standard although I feel like some training received throughout the year was done at an inappropriate time.

Being such a large organisation, there is a large scheme set up for industrial placement students wanting to carry on work at GSK. I am still not fully clear on what I want to do so did not opt into this scheme. This being said, I feel like I would have a big advantage having spent a year working at GSK should I wish to return and apply for a job here in the future.

I have been fortunate enough to make an incredible group of friends this year and I fully intend to stay in touch with a lot of my friends here. Moving away from university is a daunting prospect and so making friends with fellow students and going out at the weekends made my placement much more bearable than it would have otherwise been.

My placement was based in Stevenage and being near London it was not the cheapest of places. Having said this, the cost of living was not nearly what you find in London! Socialising destinations were limited and Stevenage on a whole was not the most thrilling place to live. I went elsewhere on a lot of weekends.

Very minimal and not great. There is one nightclub which I went to once and will not be returning to. There are a few reasonable bars in Old Town which were again not the best but as long as you're going with friends you enjoy spending time with its fine! Hitchin is a nearby town which has better nightlife.

As previously mentioned I was involved in a Tough Mudder run where I raised money for Save the Children charity. The money I raised was matched with GSK. I also took part in an Over the Wall camp which is an amazing charity that I would never had heard of had it not been for emails received while on placement.