Associate Clinical Data Scientist Review

I really enjoyed my placement, it helped me to develop a variety of skills and gain invaluable experience in an industry I am considering going into in the future. Although sometimes stressful, the work was overall very enjoyable and I now know what aspects of it I'm interested in.

Every single colleague I spoke to was very thankful for my work and expressed their gratitude for everything I'd done. They were also happy to entrust me with big tasks and to take on great responsibility within my role, including leading training sessions and running meetings.

My manager and I had regular one to one meetings in which we discussed my personal development and talked through my current task list/workload. This enabled him to give me advice on how to do certain tasks. I also had support on my study work from a supervisor.

The first 6 months were a little bit quiet and I didn't have that much work, but after discussing this with my manager I took on more responsibility and ended up being very busy for the second part of my placement. It fluctuates a lot in clinical development!

I was given the opportunity to lead multiple teams within my placement, manage an important website and be the lead data management contact on three studies. My supervisors and manager entrusted me with tasks such as running meetings and training sessions, creating guidance documents and leading various projects.

I developed a number of skills throughout my placement that will be helpful in the future, with the key ones being confidence and communication. GSK really focus on skills development and how you will use these in your future degree/work. My newly found confidence will be particularly important in future jobs and in my third year when completing my dissertation.

The atmosphere in the office varied. Many of the placement students sat together so we were able to chat and get to know each other, which was nice. There were also puzzles available around the office as well as sofas and a variety of seating arrangements. It was a comfortable office, the free tea/coffee and occasional cake made it even better!

Each year you can see how GSK's placement student organisation improves. Although there was a little confusion throughout the year about consistency between what managers allow, our onboarding went smoothly and overall the year was a success. We had numerous talks in our first week to introduce us to the industry and some of the non-project opportunities we could get involved in, which was really helpful.

One of the best things about GSK is that they really focus on developing you as a person. I developed a variety of skills throughout the year thanks to my study work and non-project opportunities, allowing me to lead teams, present to large groups of people and improve my organisational skills. However, we also got the opportunity to learn more about the industry by visiting other sites, speak to people in a multitude of departments and even visit other organisations we work with.

During my placement, three previous placement students joined the company as either permanent staff or contract workers! I have discussed future employment opportunities with my manager including the graduate programme and direct entry roles. The department are keen to encourage placement students to return and I have a number of contacts who I can ask about job openings in the future.

At GSK there is a placement student run club which acts like a university society. Each site has a site ambassador who organises social events for their sites such as meals, drinks, escape rooms and other activities. There are also a few country-wide events for placement students such as the Christmas Ball and Summer Boat Party. These were great fun and allowed us to get to know students at other sites. At my site there were 10 placement students. We all sat together at lunch and regularly met up in the evenings and weekends, which meant I developed a strong friendship group and really enjoyed the social side of my placement year.

London is expensive! Rent can be the most expensive in the country and going out can cost a fortune. However, with good budgeting it can be done and it is worth it. Although activities, food and drinks cost a lot more than other cities in the UK, there is also a lot more to do and you never get bored. A combination of student loans and your salary should be able to just about support you throughout the year. Transport is fairly well priced though, compared to other places in the UK.

In the specific area I worked there was not an awful lot of nightlife. However, I lived further towards central London, where there were lots of bars, pubs and a few clubs. The variety of pubs and beer gardens were great for summer evenings after work and we quickly spied out the best bars in the area playing great music and doing good 2-for-1 drinks deals.

Alongside social events, I also got involved in a number of activities outside of work including fundraising for our partner Save the Children at Christmas, helping to manage the GSK stall at the Big Bang Fair in Birmingham and a team building day in London. We had the opportunity to attend Over the Wall camps, spend a day volunteering (in whatever form we wanted) as well as give careers talks at local schools and run interview practice sessions. These were great opportunities for doing things outside of your normal work structure which was great fun.