Industrial Placement Student Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my placement and can say it has provided me with invaluable experience in many areas. My lab skills have improved dramatically and I have experienced what it is like to have a full time job. It has also helped me to learn to create professional relationships and network.

I felt extremely valued by my colleagues, particularly to my supervisor and my team. I was often asked to present my data to the team and wider department and felt my work was useful and in line with my team's projects. I also felt supported and guided by my colleagues throughout my placement.

My supervisor and line manager arranged weekly or bi-weekly meetings to discuss my progress, how I was settling in, my plans for my project and my results. I always had support in the lab and other scientists were always happy to help me with experiments or to answer any of my questions.

how busy I was varied week to week, but overall I was pretty busy. Depending on what experiments I was doing I could be in the lab most of the day almost every day! There were only a few weeks at the start of the placement which were mostly research and office work, and after that it was straight into the lab for the rest of the placement!

I was totally responsible for the progress of my project and my area of research was important to the team. I learnt a lot about handling responsibility and making progress. I was also often responsible for maintaining or helping with colleagues' experiments if they were not at work or ill.

I can already tell the skills I have learnt on my placement will be so valuable for the rest of my degree and beyond. I am much more confident in the lab now and feel much more prepared for a career in science. My experimental design skill have also dramatically improved and I think these will really help me to excel on my return to university.

The office was very friendly and I settled in very fast. Everyone made an effort to make me feel part of the team and valued, and everyone was polite and chatty. The office could be quite quiet as people work hard! But in the lab and in the break room everyone was very chatty and it was friendly atmosphere in general.

I imagine this might vary with team/supervisor but mine was excellent. My project aims were set out from the start and my progress was tracked well. The company also made the effort to hold events for the placement students to network and learn more about other areas of the company, and about options for PhDs and career paths!

The company organised many events for the placement students (and grads, apprentices etc) to help us develop employability, networking, presentation and other skills. They also provided us with plenty of opportunities to network with and associate with people from all positions in the business to educate us on career options and employability etc.

I'm not sure about direct employability, but I can say that they have made an effort to really help us learn about employability and career paths within the company. Also they have some very good graduate schemes and post doc positions which they have recommended we consider after university too.

I imagine the social scene could have been better but it was limited for 2 reasons. Firstly the sites in Cambridge are quite spread apart so in some sites there are only a few students, however things were organised outside of work. Most of the issue was due to COVID-19, there were lots of events such as BBQs and picnics planned for the summer months but obviously that didn't go ahead. The social events that did happen such as the Christmas party and Christmas meals were great fun and really helped you bond with everyone.

Cambridge is a pretty pricey area so the costs were pretty high. There is a big Wetherspoon's in Cambridge though so that wasn't too pricey. Rent prices were also kind of high compared to where I go to Uni (Yorkshire), which came as a bit of a shock but it was all very affordable with the pay from work.

There weren't many clubs in Cambridge that I could find but there were lots of bars and the huge Wetherspoons which was always great! Drinks out were quite pricey in most places in Cambridge but they have some nice cocktail bars and lots of pubs all over the city too.

Most of the activities outside of work were not related to work and more just in the city itself. I know a few people who joined sports clubs and I know there was a running club as part of work too. There were after work events organised for the placement students too such as a pizza night and a murder mystery night.