University Industrial Placement Chemistry Analyst Review

When conducting university work for my final year research project (10 weeks + 3.5hrs per week): - Experiment planning - Organising meetings - Literature research - Conducting experiments (majority of the time) - Training to do this in the labs When conducting work on projects at the company: - Working collectivelt and as an individual on various different drug projects at different stages of development. This involved alot of different techniques and using these to perform routin analysis. Huge emphasis is places on experimental planning and organising your time to be maximally efficient - hugely beneficial for your career prospects. - Opportunities frequently to present your work to others in the industry and at conferences. This work can be on various projects etc.

Massively. Skills in many different instruments gained usually not able to access at uni due to costs etc. Supported by all employees to build up high levels of competency accross various analytical instruments and techniques dependent on department and project focus assigned to a team. Confidence in presenting work and science communication. Really efficient in my experimental planning and optimising my time during the lab. Industry specific knowledge has been the most valuable in this sector. Excellent opportunities to develop softer skills on various online courses and volunteering events.

After the initial training period and having demonstrated that I am able to work well on analytical lab-based tasks, yes I was given alot of responsibility and have been trusted to get on with my own work, raising querstions to my supervisor if neccessary.

From University: - Alot of support from my mentor away at university. From placement supervisor: - Depending on the person, my supervisor was excellent. Really keen to help expand my knowledge of different areas in the industry. When it came to stress from university work there wasnt much they could do to give me more time without escalating to their manager who was also unclear as to the due process if placement student requires more time to do work. Support of hidden disability: - Massive support. I have sleep disorder and was provided with my own small space where I could go to rest. I was able to talk openly about my condition with my supervisor and collegues whom all knew. Overall: - General consensus of placement at AstraZeneca was that literally everyone i had met was more than willing to help me, with several collegues on several different occasions expressing to me directly that they care about my personal and career development with them being mroe than willing to schedule time out of their day to focus on helping me and providing me with advice.

A close community of like-minded individuals whom all share the same passion for science and helping patients. This in itself might sound slighty colloquial however I cannot stress how true it is. Everyone I have met on site has been so helpful and keen to both share their knowledge and expertise, whilst also to help guide me with my own personal and career development. There is a no-blame culture and any mistake that is made (which always happens now and then - humans are not perfect) such as broken glassware or incorrect procedure is treated as a collective learning opportunity and nobody is singled out and there is no behind-back talk of "so and so did this, how shocking" variety.

I have really enjoyed my research project. I have enjoyed all the amazing ooportunities to present my work internally and at external conferences. I've really liked the volunteering day out with my team, and the one the placement students all did together. Those were really good team building experiences. The christmas party was excellent!!!!

Yes

This is working environment. For university work, although your given 10 weeks to do your project anything outwith such as your university report/thesis will be in your own time. Also any other work submissions - my university required a lit review be submitted for final marking by December - plan your time. There is an unwritten expectation that you have to do this in the evenings and at the weekend. This is somewhat the case. Plan your time well and please dont be scared to schedule a 1:1 with you line manager & supervisor when you begin to feel stressed and overwhelmed. They are there to help you. Also, make sure you make misakes. Throw yourself into the uncompfortable zone. Whether it be a new technique that you dont want to mess up, or your first team presentation - make mistakes! This is key to QUICKLY learning and becoming confident in a particular task or activity, and is somthing that has been brought up during my reflections with my supervisor saying that I should have been more confident to get things wrong.