Industrial Placement Student Review

Greatly enjoyed every moment I had either doing lab work or outside of lab work.

Every senior scientist I had met were all extremely kind. They all answered any questions I had and helped me a great deal with settling in and learning new skills.

My supervisor was amazingly helpful in every instance. He reassured me that any questions I had I could ask him and he would reply as soon as possible. My Manager and supervisor both helped me a great deal with learning Immunology by providing research papers/Text books/Journals so that I could understand the topics discussed in meetings.

On a daily basis with scheduled lab work, I would spend most of the day experimenting and planning for the next experiment. Other days would include data analysis and experiment write ups which were not mentally straining and I would say that lab work and data analysis gives a good work balance.

After I had understood and proven I could execute protocols and use the correct lab techniques, I was able to plan and execute experiments without much supervision. This felt like a great deal of trust between me and my Supervisor/Manager and I felt like the responsibility to perform the experiments and generate reliable data had greatly increased my confidence.

I felt like the general skills such as Time management, organisation, focus, attention to detail etc. had been tested on a daily basis and improved over time. The lab training using various techniques had made me really feel like a scientist and I am confident that I will be able to critically analyse data as well as execute experiments with a more open mindset. I intend to pursue a PhD after this placement and I believe it will benefit me in the future.

The office used the Hot desking system and the students sat close with each other as well as their supervisors. Talking in the office was allowed and a friendly atmosphere was always present since conversations about science or how people were doing created a social workplace. Being able to go into the lab and come out of the lab and onto your desk quickly made work extremely productive.

The placement was very well planned out, the initial training gave us adequate knowledge of what the company was about and the general risks related to each experiment and equipment's used. Additionally, observing how senior scientists perform experiments allowed visual learning which greatly helped me when I had to do my own experiments. The time given for our projects also was long enough to write a full detailed report containing many experimental repeats.

I had no previous knowledge of Immunology before starting and my Manager and Supervisor were well aware of this. To help me understand the work they guided me with Text books, Journals and research papers to get me up to speed with Immunology. They had spent a lot of their time helping me learn which I am extremely grateful for.

Working as a scientist as GSK is very appealing as the work environment and also the importance of the work being carried out is to be desired. I believe GSK treats each employee very well and the office environment very much shows how everyone is happy at the company.

Socials were planned out by either students or by the IP student supervisor, this was always a friendly and fun get together and I never felt like it was awkward between students.

Cost of living was not as high as expected, there are fairly cheap flats and houses when split with 2+ people. Social places were not expensive and very reasonable.

I did not experience the nightlife in Stevenage but Stevenage does not have much to offer. However it is only a 15 minutes train ride to London where the Nightlife is much more exciting.

There are many activities outside of Work and activities planned by employees at work. Badminton and Basketball were usually planned every week and anybody could attend. There are many gyms outside of work in Stevenage, but if you are looking for a more weightlifting/powerlifting/bodybuilding focused gym then Rise gym is a very good place to try out.