Intern Review

I really enjoyed my internship at Shanghai Jiaotong University. I was based in a research lab in the School of Pharmacy, working alongside professors, post docs and PhD students. Therefore, it was a great opportunity to find out what doing a PhD might be like. I was given an independent project to plan and carry it myself as well as invited along to team building, training and visit days. The lab and department had a lot of high tech queipment available for all of us to use, with no need to book slots or queue for the nmr machines. The only negatives were that the lab itself was quite untidy (and safety was a little lax, so you had to make the effort yourself to wear PPE and work in the funehoods), the campus was a long way from the centre of Shanghai (around 1.5-2 hours by metro) and the accommodation provided was very basic.

Everyone was very welcoming and made an effort to talk to me about their work. I was given a project that would contribute towards future research in the lab, rather than just something to keep a summer student busy and out of the way. Also, the lab always invited me along to events, including networking dinners, tours of our collaborators labs, team building sessions and training days.

I was given a lot of support at the beginning of the internship, in particular from a PhD student I was allocated to as a shadow/ mentor. He worked very closely with me for the first couple of weeks giving advice on my project plans and showing me how to carry out experiments in the lab. However, after a few weeks the professor and most post docs and PhD students left for a conference in America - and because most of them were adding a holiday in afterwards, his meant that for the second half of the internship I was left alone with just two other students in the lab.

Because my experiments involved a fair amount of waiting around while the reactions happened, I did have a fair amount of free time. Of course, I spent as much of this as possible doing background reading, writing up my report, or shadowing other students in the lab. However, at times I did find myself without a lot to do, and there certainly wasn’t any huge pressure to get loads done or meet a particular deadline. However, this is a common issue with a lot of research internships.

I was given a lot of responsibility in terms of having my own project to work on independently in the lab. Additionally, the professor often discussed directly with me about ideas for future projects to hear my thoughts and suggestions, demonstrating how he valued my input and wanted to give me responsibly for planning and evaluating projects. However, there weren’t strict deadlines or goals I had to meet - if my experiments had all failed it wouldn’t have been considered a major set back. Again though, this is common with a lot of lab research placements due to the unpredictable nature of research.

As a chemistry student, this internship was directly relevant to my degree and definitely helped me feel more confident in the lab. I also learnt new techniques such as NMR, HPLC-MS, and using SciFinder - many of which came up during my final year at university so I had a head start on other students. Additionally, I had to carry out a short literature review and write both formal reports and summaries for non specialist audiences. These are really useful skills for my dissertation and future career. That being said, I wasn’t really directly trained in each of these skills, just provided with the opportunities to develop them and practice myself.

I have to admit, the lab atmosphere was a little unsociable and the PhD students had a habit of taking a one hour nap in the office after lunch, which took some getting used to! Also, the fact that they all went off for a conference half way through my internship did mean it got pretty quiet and empty after this point. However, there was a great atmosphere among the other international students interning at Shanghai Jiaotong University that summer. We went on lots of weekend trips, met up sometimes for lunch, and hung out in the evenings. This really made the summer enjoyable for me.

It was pretty well organised because it was a summer research internship program arranged by the university in a similar was to a summer school. When I applied, I discussed project plans with my chosen supervisor, however these were a little vague and changed quite a lot over the summer. I did feel a little like there wasn’t a fully fleshed out plan of what I would be doing, but this did give me the flexibility to tailor my project to my own interests. As of next year however, they are introducing a lecture and training series to support students on the internship program as well as structured presentation sessions.

I was invited along to team building sessions such as networking dinners and fun activities with the other students in the lab. Also, we went on field trips, for example to visit collaborators at the Chinese Protein Research Centre. At the start of the internship however, there was not a structured induction/ training day, which would have helped us settle in and develop useful skills such as presentation and report writing.

To be honest, there aren’t any future career opportunities as such, particularly given the difficulties getting a Chinese work visa. If I wanted, I could apply for a PhD at the university perhaps - and there were opportunities to contribute towards research and network with professors which would have facilitated this.

The other interns came from all over the world and were very interesting/ fun to be with. Of course, we were spread across different labs and departments, however everyone was provided with accommodation in the university international dorms where we could hang out in the evenings and got to know each other (although rather annoyingly the guys and girls were put inseparatr dorms, with restrictions on visiting hours). We often met up for lunch/ dinner, and went out into Shanghai some evenings. Most weekends, we went away either on a trip organised by the university or independently in small groups. There are loads of places to visit near Shanghai and the public transport in China is very convenient and cheap, making it very easy to travel at weekends.

Living costs in China are incredibly cheap compared to the UK, although Shanghai is definitely at the more expensive end. Living in university accommodation on campus was very affordable though, at around £5 per night, and within a short cycle of the labs. Getting into the centre of Shanghai by bus and metro costs under £2, although taxis get more pricy because of the distance and traffic. Food on campus was very cheap, at around £2 per hot meal, and there were also a selection of affordable local restaurants nearby. Some of the dorms also had cooking facilities, although no one used them because eating out was so cheap.

I’m not really into partying so can’t comment much. We went out in Shanghai one night, it was free entry and unlimited free drinks at most club nights so very popular with the international students! Getting into the centre of town from the university was a bit of a pain though, with the metro line closing at around 10pm. Near the campus there were no bars or clubs that I knew of, Chinese students don’t tend to go out much so it is quite different to being near a university in the UK.

Outside of the lab, we had events organised through the department, such as networking dinners and lab tours. I have to admit though, the lab in general wasn’t very sociable and didn’t hang out much outside of work. At weekends, the university organised some trips to interesting places around Shanghai, which was a great way to get to know the other students across all the university summer programs and travel cheaply.