Council Internship Review

This internship was quite exciting to me as it was very different. Although I was not doing lab work or research, I got to work on a council where we oversaw all the research that was going on in London with regards to Science and we got to see the new developments happening.

I did feel quite valued by the other members of the council as they trusted me to write up reports and take responsibility in terms of the different projects that we were doing to collate and review research by different groups in London and some other groups across the Uk as well.

I was given a lot of support and guidance by my supervisors and my management team. Before hearing about new projects, they would briefly outline the concepts that I was going to hear and what this Science was really about and this helped me to understand the projects more, in my opinion.

On a daily basis, I would say that I was quite busy as there were reports to write on different projects and it was hard work collating and reviewing research continually but it was enjoyable to say the least so it never felt too much like work. It felt more like reading up on interesting topics.

I was given quite a lot of responsibility during my placement. As stated above, I had to write reports that collated and reviewed all the work that was going on in London within specific branches in Science and I felt a great deal of trust by being allowed to do such.

I think that I definitely developed my knowledge of modern Science while working there as I was introduced to so many new concepts and I was introduced to new branches of Science as well. Furthermore, I improved on the invaluable skill of reviewing information and writing up reports which will be useful in my degree and beyond.

Generally, my office was quite work-oriented so everyone was really focused on the work and wanted to do it to the best of their ability. However, during lunch breaks, it was a lot more calm and there was a chance to socialise and get along with the other members of the council.

The overall work placement was set up quite well in my opinion, as they had clear roles for me and they had clear deadlines for me with regards to all the tasks I was doing so I felt like they planned for me as if I actually had a job in the company, which was good.

In terms of personal training and development, I definitely learnt a lot more about Science and gained new knowledge but I also now understand more about the teamwork that goes into Science and how projects must be reviewed and go through many different stages to be accepted, which was quite interesting to me.

I would definitely love to work with this organisation in the future but it would definitely be unlikely as it is just such a competitive field and there will always be other people more qualified for the role. However, it has inspired me to work on the other side, doing the actual research.

There was indeed quite a good social scene amongst me and the colleagues working on the council and this was quite nice as there was a real companionship here, allowing for teamwork in all aspects of the work, which was really good for allowing effective work through the reviewing of different projects.

I did not live out when I was working there but I rather travelled into work on the mornings I was required. The journey was not that short but given that I did not have to make this journey every day, it seemed feasible to take. There were many cheap opportunities for socialising near the office.

There was most definitely a lot of nightlife opportunities in the area that I worked and of the few that I visited, they were up to quite a high standard and this was really nice as they were also reasonably priced as well and there was always something different to do.

There were plenty of opportunities to get involved in outside of work. We would sometimes visit labs with researchers to oversee the projects that were going on and this was quite fun as it was a good learning experience as well. Furthermore, there were plenty of social activities to engage with as well.