Research and Development Intern Review

I have enjoyed my experience here to the most. I was able to apply my knowledge from university in a real working environment, and probably learned a lot more technical and practical skills than I did in through my degree. I also made a lot of friends, and had a great social life with colleagues.

I felt that I was part of the team.

The communication between team members was very helpful. All staff are very friendly, and are keen to help beginners like myself. My supervisors were extremely patient, when training and teaching me new skills. I have gained confidence in interacting with others and working as a team through my experience here. Asking questions is a skill I was lacking before, and now is my go to technique when I am stuck. The feedback received for my work was also very friendly but constructive, and it always helps me develop my skills, especially in project management. Other skills like troubleshooting, I have always struggled with, and now starting to develop due to the support from my team, along with my observations of their technique.

The projects that I was involved in were not built around me, instead I took part in as many as I could, which meant that at some times, I ad 4 different projects to complete, which was very busy, and other times I may had 1 in my main role as an R&D intern. When it was less busy in my department, I tried to fill my times with intern projects such as STEM events, where we, as interns would organize school visits/ talks and work experience for A level students on site.

In my department ( R&D) a lot of experience is needed to handle certain roles independently. In the begging, I was given tasks where I would develop my laboratory and analytical skills. However by the end ( currently) I was given an individual project to lead, where I am expected to interact with various departments on site, plan my own experiments, present the data generated to senior international members of the R&D team.

The laboratory skills developed over my placement are not comparable to the skills they teach at university. My day to day interaction and work in the lab is a lot more engaging than the occasional experiment at university, where we work in groups, which limits my work in the lab even more ( sometimes I would not even get any hands on role). Organizing my data and paperwork has also developed Team work through intern projects like STEM events. Organizing talks and site tours take s a lot of work and detail, which improved my confidence in planning.

Most people are usually very busy, as in most offices. On a normal day it would be quite. There are a lot of calls made as well, so sometimes the while office would be quote loud However on some occasions like Christmas/ Birthdays... everyone would gather for cake or such, donations would be made Charity collections through cake sales are very popular on our site. There are also occasional manager cookouts, which again is very social.

There were many opportunities in terms of intern projects, like STEM, charity funding etc.. However there were some opportunities that did not accept many applications, such as the European program, where the ratio of acceptance to the amount of interns was very low. Also I aske for some feedback on my application and received a very general, short response. I believe there should be more interns take on for such projects.

My team has very knowledgeable members, scientist with a lot of background, and I was lucky enough to have one-to-one training with many staff. The data I gathered was used in publishing and some research, which definitely made me feel like part of the team. They ensured that the training and information I received was good enough to use for the company. My site was also very generous when it came to outside training, for example; I received full reimbursement for a training days on different sites. I did not experience any limitations in terms of skill development from my team on site.

I would love to be considered as a future employee here on site. The atmosphere here is very nice to be around, and everyone is very helpful. The benefits offered by the company are very generous and is a bog help in life. There is always so much to learn, it never stops especially in my department.

Very good social life amongst the interns and some other similarly aged colleagues. We organized loads of social outings, including and intern trip to Hungary. We had similar interests so it was easy to make good friends. Also the previous interns made it very easy ton integrate in the workplace. Cardiff is a very good city for socializing, we participated in Salsa, escape room, ice skating, bowling...

Cardiff is cheaper than London ( I am from London) so it was easy to save up, and enjoy my stay at the same time. All other living costs were low, and transport is very easy to use. The rent was very reasonable, although the quality of house share was bad. Most of us went through student agencies, who usually have very small respect towards their clients. It would be smart to organize something specifically for interns in , to avoid the student life. Possibly a Facebook group.

Cardiff is a university City, so the nightlife mainly caters for students. There are a large variety if things to do. Concerts, bars, nightclubs... It is generally quite safe here, and there is easy access to public transport at night. It is also relatively cheap, compared to London. There are also very good restaurants, and pubs for a more relaxed night, with very easy routes to get there.

There are many sports clubs like rugby, kick box, netball in the city, but there are also some teams through the GE site in Cardiff. There is also a band from our site and they do gigs quite regularly. There are also some salsa classes and self defense classes which the girl interns participated in, and was very fun, and good way to meet new people.