Chemical Synthesis Placement Student Review

I really enjoyed my placement, I was provided with lots of different opportunities to develop my personal and technical skills.

Everyone on my placement were very friendly and helpful, following the induction period I felt like part of the team. I was able to interact with a lot of people throughout the site and across the company. I received a lot of exposure to senior members of the company and colleagues from America.

My supervisor is a very knowledgeable person with a lot of years of experience in the industry and organic synthesis. He proved a valuable source of information and support. He was always supportive when I needed help, and even towards the end of the placement he provided the same amount of support as when I started.

Due to the nature of the group I worked in, I was very busy, about 95% of my daily work was spent in the lab, with the other 5% focused on typing up results or reports. However I managed to fit in other duties in between reactions. My time management definitely improved over the period of the placement.

Typically I was given the same amount of responsibility as my colleagues within the department, however because my supervisor was the owner of most of the projects he was calling the shots.

At the start of the placement I was trained on everything technical and during the placement right up to the end there were opportunities to further develop my understanding of the chemistries and business. I was given opportunities to develop my presentation skills through poster presentations, monthly presentations and technical presentations. I developed better understanding of the procedures I was carrying out and different reactions that other people were doing.

I was lucky enough to have an office of students, so the atmosphere was always good, it also helped that the department consisted of very nice people. Overall I really liked the team that worked within the Chemical Synthesis Department and I enjoyed working with them.

Application Process was very smooth and incredibly quick. The induction and training was organised well however was quite intense. The overall placement and interaction with my University was also very good.

There were lots of opportunities for development, however most of it was individual development through the day to day duties.

As a student there are always opportunities within the organisation, but networking is very important to find out about them. There is potential for a job after leaving only if there are vacancies. Especially as the site is now expanding there will be more in the upcoming years. There's also opportunity to carry out a PhD with the company which can be fully funded.

There was a good atmosphere within the student group, it was very beneficial to have them around. I dont think I would have had the same experience without them around. We had lots of things organised during the year from things organised by the company or by the student group.

Cost of living is relatively low in Derby, the social scene is as anywhere else.

With Derby being a student town there is a wide range of things to do and places to go. Also being near Nottingham helps with a wide range of things to do there.

There were lots of opportunities, but most had to be encouraged due to the students busy schedules. Being near the peaks is also really good for places to see and things going on.