Industrial Placement Student Review

I have really enjoyed my placement so far and look forward to completing the last few months. I have spent time in the lab and working on data in the office, so there has been a good mixture to the working day. I have really enjoyed being focused on my individual research project.

I have felt very valued by my colleagues. When I first started everyone was very welcoming and took the time to make sure I was comfortable with what I was doing in the lab. If I was to only work on my individual student project I might have felt a little isolated from the day-to-day running of the department, but I have been able to also help with high priority screening for AstraZeneca which has been very rewarding.

I have been very well supported by my supervisors and been able to go to them with any questions I have had. They have taken the time to teach me new lab techniques and data analysis. Despite them having other projects to work on they have been very engaged with my project and helped me progress my experiments.

Some days have been very busy with lab work which has sometimes been stressful, but this has been rare. Some days have been purely working in the office doing data analysis which can be a bit boring if the day isn't broken up with other activities. However, on the whole, work has been spread out well and is helped by planning out tasks ahead of time.

I have felt very responsible for my project work. The overall cascade of screening has been guided by my supervisors but I have been completing much of the project lab work and analysis. After learning the required experimental protocol I have been able to continue with the further work independently.

The experience that I have gained from the placement will help a lot with my final year project and work after university whether it is a PhD or working in industry. Lab work with cell assays and different machines is desirable with future employers. The writing of my report has improved my scientific writing and analysis of research papers.

The atmosphere is very friendly and I felt very welcomed by everyone. People often eat lunch together and relax in the seating areas outside the main office. These areas are also good for informal meetings as well. We have a rota for making cakes every week which lots of people get involved with.

The placement was very well organised and included a day where we met all our possible supervisors about 6 months before we started at AstraZeneca. We were able to ask the placement students that were already there questions which was very helpful. The training good and everyone was happy to help.

AstraZeneca has student projects that are often novel and helpful for the company. The projects are well funded and I never felt like I was being held back investment wise. The company has also put a lot of time into training me and organises events for placement students to further their knowledge of the company and ways to improve your transferable skills.

I would really enjoy working for AstraZeneca at some point in the future. They do not offer jobs at the end of placements but obviously working for a year in the industry is highly beneficial for making an application as a research scientist. They do have a graduate scheme running which sounds appealing.

Due to being based at Alderley Park, where most AstraZeneca employees have moved away from, there is now very few people working there compared to a few years ago. However, our department is close knit and we often do social events together. The chemistry campus in Macclesfield has a much larger placement student base and we have been able to interact with them out of work.

Macclesfield is much cheaper than living in Cambridge as some placement students do. However, Alderley Edge is quite an expensive area to live for being outside of Manchester.

Macclesfield is a relatively small town but does have quite a few pubs and one not very good club. However, Manchester is a 20 min train away and is worth exploring.

There are AstraZeneca sports clubs and related events at larger campuses but Alderley Park did not generally have these. However, because AP is made up of a lot of small labs/businesses the science park does organise events that include everyone working there. For example, fun runs and farm days (as there is a working farm on the grounds of the park).