Bioscience Undergraduate Industrial Placement Student Review

A lot! Really glad I opted for a placement year. Ive learnt more skills and developed my confidence in the lab even more than I thought I would. I've also developed a real passion for immunology (linked to my project) which has given me direction for my final year project and future career/ academic options.

Very, every member of my lab gave up their time to help me develop my skills and gain experience working in the lab. They all take an active interest in the success (!?) of my project and have given me invaluable advice in terms of presenting my data, writing a concise report and giving good presentations.

I was given a huge amount of support from day one. My supervisor, Pete was more than happy to offer advice whenever I needed - this was on top of our regular 1:1s. All other staff in the lab were always on hand to answer my questions/ help out - they were also pretty good at letting me figure things out on my own which has helped build my confidence a lot!

My time on placement was nicely divided between helping out with sample analysis within the lab and completing my individual project work. I was able to ask for more time to spend on my project when I needed to as well as still being able to gain many more skills from completing the sample analysis.

I was given some responsibilty for sample analysis and data input/ validation - this came after a couple of months training and I was confident in analysis. I was given just the right of amount of responsibility - in that I never felt stressed or worried about work I was doing! In fact, it was quite rewarding knowing I was responsible for some of the data included in safety studies.

The skills I've developed have been vast. Not only am I way more confident working in a lab in general, the experience I've gained (e.g. using a flow cytometer, carrying out immunoassays, qRT-PCR, haematoloy analysis) will definitley be of benefit at some point in the future. The time I've been able to spend on independent research into my project area has allowed me to build knowledge of a topic I hadnt studied during my degree so far - this has allowed me to gain a final year project place in this area (something I might not have gained if I hadnt spent a year on placement). What's more my placement has given me experience of work within a large, global company and has taught me how to act professionally and interact with colleagues at all levels throughout the organisation.

Very relaxed! - which made my first couple of weeks so easy. I feel like one of the team and will be quite sad to leave the lab (I'll definitley be keeping in touch with them all though!). While we did have fun and a good natter, the work ethic was strong - we often all clubbed together to help out if someone had a tight deadline to work to!

Super organised. Part of what me choose to apply to AstraZeneca was their track record for placement oppurtunities. They've taken students for years now so really know how to give them a good experience and support them throughout the year.

My supervisor and team made every effort to highlight opportunites that would be of use to me and as placement students we're never excluded from any meeting/ conference etc - in a way you get almost identical development opportunities as their permeneant staff.

From my year here I know that AstraZeneca are a great company to work for and their move down to Cambridge is exciting. Howevr, my experience has encouraged me to aim for further qualifications (pHD etc.) on top of my degree as I think these would be of benefit if I came back to work for a company like AstraZeneca.

Yes! From the very first week we were given time within work to meet fellow students from across the entire company. The AZ Fresher's network (which I joined the committee for) worked really hard to organise as many events as possible throughout the year - both work-related and social- so students could meet up and have fun. Having good interactions with other students is important on placement so you're not left feeling like your the only one - you can chat about things that have happened/ share any worries you have!

Living in Macclesfield was moderatley priced - similiar to student prices I'd experienced in Manchester. The majority of the population are over 50 but despite this there was still plenty to do and Manchester wasnt far by train. The only downside we encountered was the struggle (sort-of) to find furnished flats/ houses to rent for the year. Most were unfurnished - which isnt ideal when you've just finished 2nd year and only want the place for the year. Finding a suitable place is do-able though - we got really lucky with our flat and love it!

Definitley not as good as the Manchester city centre I was used to, but Macclesfield is still afun night out. There are a number of good bars and pubs and the Revolution is pretty good on a FRiday and Saturday night!

Yes, most of these did stem from things organised by people at work though!