This year, our students have already secured placement roles at organisations including RB, Renishaw, AstraZeneca and GSK. We caught up with some of them to find out what they're most looking forward to about their placement, why they chose to spend a year working in industry, and the support they received during their placement hunt.
Amy Ricketts
Placement organisation: (formerly Reckitt Benckiser)
"Next year I will be completing an industrial placement with the world’s leading health and hygiene company Reckitt Benckiser, working for the global regulatory affairs team. My role will include working alongside safety and clinical trials teams to ensure compliance is met at all stages of product development, through understanding international market specific requirements and national health authorities.
"I applied for this role as it allows me to apply my scientific skills and knowledge within a fast-paced business environment, and will provide me with a greater understanding of the various non-lab based roles available once I graduate. In the long run, this placement will make me a more employable graduate, hopefully having improved both my professionalism and my knowledge of the industry.
"I’m really excited to utilise the skills I’ve developed through my degree and work experience, and be given the opportunity to collaborate with international stakeholders, produce my own regulatory dossiers and learn more about the role in general."
Max Price
Placement organisation: (formerly Reckitt Benckiser)
"The placement that I have accepted is a lab-based role at Reckitt Benckiser, where I will be working within their new state of the art research and development centre as part of the pain analytics team. I am extremely pleased with my placement offer as I have not only gained an amazing opportunity with an incredible company, but have also learnt so much about my own skills and attributes that I utilised during the recruitment process.
"During the application process, I received plenty of support regarding my CV, applications and even information on what to expect from an assessment day. The careers team gave me advice on how to make my applications stand out, and I also appreciated the many company presentations organised by the University, which first introduced me to Reckitt Benckiser!
"The placement itself will allow me to develop skills outside of education for the first time, giving me the necessary experience for when I finish my degree! I am eager to spend lots of time within a lab-based environment understanding the skills required to excel in this area of work, and to meet professionals who can help me to develop these skills. Overall, I am exceedingly satisfied with my decision to undertake a year in industry and recommend it to anybody who is thinking of doing one as well."
Helen Rafferty
Placement organisation:
"During my Medical Affairs Associate placement at GlaxoSmithKline I am most looking forward to providing medical support for regulatory approval of various new consumer healthcare products and drugs. I believe this experience will allow me to use my previous learning from the two years I have spent studying Biomedical Science at the University of 91Ö±²¥ and learn how to apply this in a workplace environment.
"I received a lot of support during my placement hunt from the University of 91Ö±²¥, I would not have applied to my current placement without the help of one of the careers staff, Sarah Mirfield. Sarah helped with every step of my application process from encouraging me to apply to putting me in contact with previous placement students to assist with my Assessment Centre interview."
Olivia Turner
Placement organisations: and
"I will be undertaking a dual placement year, whereby I will be spending the first half of the year with a non-clinical safety company called ApconiX. My time at ApconiX will be spent partially in a lab-based environment investigating the toxicology of new molecules, and also in a pre-clinical research-based role. The second half of my year will be spent with Aptus Clinical which is a Clinical Contract Research Organisation. During my time there I plan to follow the progression of current clinical trials and take part in data collection and analysis.
"The reasoning behind structuring my placement in this way was due to my respect for the drug development process as a whole. I believe it is important to gain understanding of each of the separate stages to appreciate the final outcome.
"I am most looking forward to spending time in a professional scientific environment to improve my research and experimental skills. I am also keen to begin making connections within the industry."