Industrial Placement Student (BioPharm) Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement from the day to day work to the social life. GSK provide excellent placements where students get to complete independent meaningful projects and the whole way through are fully supported.

On the whole everyone in my department was very welcoming and grateful for the work I was doing. My department was very sociable and a department wide team build in my first week ensured that I got to know people quickly.

My supervisor was fantastic throughout the whole year. We had weekly 1:1 meetings but interaction most days. Whenever I wanted to go through something my supervisor would make the time and answer my questions or concerns thoroughly.

There wasn’t really a ‘normal’ level of busyness. Some days I felt like I didn’t have enough to do, particularly at the start, but this was balanced by some madly busy times which made the quieter days very welcome. This was very normal but I think it is important to say it often takes a while for jobs to get properly started.

I was given a comfortable level of responsibility. I was responsible for my own experiments, experiment write ups, presentations and data but everything had been run past my supervisor first.

The skills I developed will be invaluable while completing my degree. This is not only the lab skills I developed but how I developed as a person in confidence and ability to manage my time. I also have a in depth understanding of industry which will help when applying for jobs in the future.

The atmosphere in my office was open and collaborative. There were always people talking, mostly about work, and often people laughing. If I had a question I would go over to the person at their desk. People often brought in food to share and sometimes we even got Dominoes for the whole department.

The people in my department were amazing, SRG (who actually employ placement students) were good and mostly responded quickly to my emails.

I think I had all the training that was necessary for my projects. My department was also good at allowing us to have development days. For example, they paid for my travel expenses to visit GSK House for a day.

I think employment opportunities are good. GSK definitely value placement years and I think this will put me in a great position to get a PhD or a job with GSK.

Yes! Although Stevenage as a place is not ideal, there are over 130 placement students, most of whom live in Stevenage. IP Unite also organised social events like a Christmas party and a boat party on the Thames. There was also a good social life among colleagues, particularly surrounding the netball club at GSK.

I don’t actually know as I lived at home. From what friends have said I think it was quite expensive for an average area. Having said that the travel links into London are fantastic. Drinks are London prices.

Good pub scene, no clubs but pubs and bars were lively enough. Very close to London so easy to go for a big night out.

I mainly got involved in sports clubs with GSK. This included netball, badminton, kayaking, climbing and gym classes. I also joined a local netball club in Stevenage.