Industrial Placement Student in Respiratory Biology Review

I loved working here. Because there are so many students you get the feel of university life without any of the exams or coursework! There are quite a few social events organised by the company so you get to know the permanent employees well.

In the begining of course you feel a bit of a nuisance as you don't really know anything but really quickly things change and you feel like the work you're doing and the results you're generating are important to other people's jobs as well.

My supervisor was brillant, we had regular catch-up meetings to check things were ok and he was more than happy to arrnage for me to try other things, not necessarily related to the project to expand my experience, but in general it does vary from person to person. Even if you have quite a hands off supervisor there are still lots of other people who are willing to help you.

It really vaired. I had weeks that were very very busy, with lots of results coming in and lab work to do, plus report writing and meetings to attend and then it would all tail off and I'd have a week of just background reading or writing up experiments.

By the end I was given complete responsibility to design my own experiments and try new things but this did take quite a long time and I wanted to be more independent from the begining.

This years laboratory experience has been invalubale for my third year dissertaion and will continue to be useful when I do on to do a phD as I'm already very confdent in some of the most widely used techniques. The weekly writing up of experiments has also been good experience as well as in my future job I'll still have to keep records of everything I do.

This again really vaired but I was lucky because three of the permanent staff were supervisors in my office so there were three IP students as well as a PhD and a Masters student so we had the youngest and most chatty friendly office. We regularly brought in cakes and biscuits for each other whenever we'd been on holiday and we decortated it at Christmas.

From the GSK side it was as well organised as it could be but this year they've been using a recruitment agency to emply all the IP students which has made getting paid and booking holidays more confusing. There was also a lack of information for a really long time, pretty much right up until the Familirisation Day in June so no one had really any idea of what they'd be working on.

They do invest a lot of time teaching you how to work in the lab but of course it is to their benefit as well because IPs generate a lot of the laboratory data so they want to make sure you're accurate and safe.

They're not employing graduates at the moment, at least not in Biology R&D. They do occasionally offer PhDs linked with nearby universities but only if the project has safe/is at the right moment in development.

Yes, we go out most evenings in the week even if it's just to each others houses or the cinema and at weekends when people are here we do things like go into London or go to the seaside. Colleagues not so much, the occasional lunch for someones birthday, a few drinks at a pub and work socials are the main things.

It's expensive if you're used to Northern prices but if you've lived in the South/near London before you won't be surprised. I pay £350 a month for a very nice shared house (bills not included) and a pint is between £3-£4. Taxis very expensive!

No nightlife. Well there's one club but it's not adivsed to go there! There are a couple of very nice pubs though if that's more your sort of thing and a good cocktail bar. House parties are what mainly happens though, although sometimes people get a lot of money together and go to London for a big night out, it's only 20 minutes to Kings Cross Station.

Some people have joined nearby university sports teams, others just found local clubs to join and there are plenty of gyms which offer loads of classes.