Industrial Placement Student Review

It was a great year. The company does a good job of getting the most out of the IP students but also giving them some time and resources to do extracurricular stuff which helps with networking and integrating into the office environment such as the Christmas parties, science fairs and more.

My supervisor and everyone on the team made me feel that my work was contributing something meaningful to their team despite the fact that much of the year is obviously getting to grips with the way things are done in the company and in the lab. The spirit in my team was a lovely atmosphere to be a part of.

My supervisor was different to the person I was interviewed by and supposed to be supervised by. However, the new supervisor was good. There is support for managers and supervisors to learn how to be good at helping their students professional development so the company induces a good management ethos.

I was kept relatively busy to begin with but the induction process is inevitably a little slow. It takes about 1 month to be able to start doing any real work in the lab but once that starts it's really full on and towards the end of the year there was a lot of stuff to get ready for presentations etc.

I was not given my own specific project per se as I was actually mostly helping several people with each of their projects. It felt nice to be trusted to collect data for projects by other people but also I think it would have been nice to be able to take ownership of my own project.

I am changing field slightly in my further studies so specific technical skills aren't necessarily translatable. However, many of the skills which you don't learn at uni such as preparing for meetings within a company are good preparations for any future endeavour in a career in science, especially in industry.

I loved the atmosphere in my office. Everyone treats each other with not just respect but genuinely enjoys working in the office and that comes across really easily to anyone coming in to the team. That is definitely one of the highlights of my year at AZ and I have made friends and connections I will take with me.

During my time at AZ, which was MedImmune when I joined, there was lots of reshuffling. Partly due to the change in company name and partly because my group was transitioning and growing. This meant that the management changed during this year so the organisation was under pressure but still was good.

I had regular meetings with my supervisor to discuss my professional development. Progress and hard work was rewarded as well with the company reward/voucher system! I was also offered the opportunity to speak to different people in other parts of the company about work more related to what I will go into next year.

I would love to come back and work for AZ at some point in my career. The only reason I have not applied for a graduate position Is because the company doesn't have a position in Australia which is where I would want to be. I would recommend anyone to the graduate scheme also.

Many of the students team up and live together during the placement year. As we come for a induction day all together it is a good chance to get to know the other students and plan if you want to live together. I already went to uni and lived in Cambridge before the placement so I had a social life but the other students did lots together all year.

Cambridge is a relatively expensive place to live. The company itself is a bit further out of the city so if you wanted to live closer to work then it would be cheaper. However a lot of people like to live in the city because its more interesting and has more going on, in which case rent is quite expensive!

Cambridge is not known for a good night life! There are of course a few clubs, maybe 4 or 5 and they do lots of student nights etc which can be fun. However, compared to most other university cities or to London there is not much of a night life scene.

Despite not much of a night life there are loads of other things to do. The company also has a scheme which is called AMAZE and is meant for social stuff or activities like free punts of kayaks and sporty stuff as well as concerts etc. This is great and makes it affordable as well!