Research Scientist Review

I really enjoyed my placement year, as I was able to put all the theory I had learnt at university to use in industry. I learnt what industry was like on a daily basis and the placement definitely helped decide my career/education decisions for the future.

The colleagues in the department and my team got on well with me. They were very inclusive, many of whom were happy to explain what their own projects involved and occasionally let me help out on their projects. There was definitely a sense of team spirit throughout the whole department, and team activities took place for team bonding e.g. team lunches. Occasionally, there were times where I did feel like I was treated as a "student" instead of a "colleague" during meetings and discussions with colleagues. I was fortunate to work with colleagues in different GSK sites throughout the world on some of my smaller projects. I really felt valued working alongside these colleagues as I was praised on my efficiency, and pro-active approach to solving issues and communicating any issues that occurred.

My supervisor was very approachable. Since I had not fully known what I would be doing as a project until the first week I started the placement, I had a lot of questions. My supervisor answered these patiently. At times I felt a bit lost, especially when my supervisor's own work load was very high, and I felt a bit hesitant to ask questions as I thought it may distract and irritate him. My supervisor set up weekly meetings with me to discuss university work and any issues I had. These meetings were very useful for career guidance. I did feel it was sometimes hard to get constructive feedback about my work performance throughout the year.

During the first two weeks, I did not have much practical work as this was spent training and shadowing colleagues to increase lab confidence. When I started my project, I had much more work to do, and always had something to think about – which was good. I was still able to balance university work with my placement work well. After my project and university work finished, I was not too busy as I had very little practical work and office work to do.

At first, when I was in the lab, I was only shadowing different members of staff, however I gradually took on more and more of a practical role until, after about two months, I was independently running experiments. I was allowed to approach members of staff independently and discuss with them how to further improve my project. Occasionally, I never felt that I was completely on my own. This could be seen as a good or a bad thing, depending on how independent you are! I liked the fact that if ever I was not confident of something, help was never far away.

The skills and training I received during my placement will be invaluable in my final year for both the practical project and the theoretical learning side. Many lab skills learnt on placement will be transferable to many potential projects in final year, and the research skills developed will help with self study. I gained insight into new fields of chemistry that I did not have much experience about before. The experience from learning about these new fields has helped me decide PhD topics I want to study after my degree. Away from the lab/science background, working in a large, global company provided a brilliant experience as to how these types of company operate and how you as an employee are integrated into this. It will be applicable to any kind of global company in the future.

The general atmosphere was great! The office was divided into two departments, so there was a mixture of scientific backgrounds, which made it great for networking. We had cake day once a week for the office, as well as tea breaks where most of the staff got together for a quick chat. There was only one other placement student in my department, which made getting to know more students difficult.

I felt that more work could have been arranged for me during the last few weeks of my placement. There was occasionally disagreement within my department and between various other departments in the company over the direction my project should take, with, at times, no clear decision made at the end of the meeting, which made me a bit unsure of what I would be doing in future.

We were allowed to take part in Journal Club sessions with other students which would involve presenting and commenting on the findings of a research paper, to improve our critical analysis skills. I went to several seminars and talks by members of the company and external speaks - this was useful to gain insight into business areas of the company, the type of research GSK delve into etc. I was able to shadow colleagues from other departments to gain an insight into their work, which helped with PhD topic decisions. I was also able to partake in 'Development Days,' which are used to enhance knowledge and skills for GSK staff, this was useful for my project as I was able to see how my project benefits other teams. More generally, team building days were organised throughout the year, to help us get to know other members of the department.

Given the general employment climate, graduate job opportunities within R&D are quite slim. Further study (PhD study in particular) would potentially improve these employment prospects. I think GMS and the corporate side of the company are more likely to have more graduate job opportunities. However, I would very much enjoy working for the company again, particularly in a managerial/research role, because I really enjoyed the placement.

The majority of placement student events occurred in London, which may have been a trek for many students from Stevenage after work. These events were usually on weekdays after work, which meant students could not spend too long at these events due to work the next morning. I would've liked more events scheduled for students at different sites, as the main events seemed to be based in London. Fantastic social scene with some of my fellow colleagues, as we had monthly team lunches outside of work and a weekly lunch with several colleagues. I got to know my team better through the team lunches and made some greats friends I will definitely keep in contact with after my placement. We had department Christmas parties, where I got to network with colleagues from different sites.

I lived outside of Stevenage for the year, so cannot comment on the cost of living. Socialising in Stevenage, I thought was reasonably priced for placement students. The leisure centre nearby had all sorts of activities to do at reasonable prices, which made socialising with other placement students easy to plan. Heading to London is another option for students, however, this might be more expensive.

There aren't that many night clubs in Stevenage if you enjoy clubbing, however, there are several nice pubs located all around or just outside of Stevenage. The leisure park closeby provides good entertainment for students too. London is nearby, which probably has more entertainment for students, but it is rather expensive.

There were no work-related activities outside of work in the Stevenage area. There are canoeing clubs etc. but these are based in Ware/other parts of the country - inconvenient to get to unless you've got a car! Students occasionally plan events, but these events weren't frequent enough.