Biopharmaceutical R&D Industrial Placement Student Review

Daily tasks: lab work (including cell culture, solution preparation and assay development), data analysis and presentation, 1:1 and team meetings, literature research Daily interactions: placement supervisor, placement students, departments across the organization Responsibilities: completing mandatory trainings, managing lab experiments and data analysis, presenting work to project teams, weekly timesheet submission, attending meetings and symposiums (internal and external), liaising between university and workplace supervisors

Training coursing completed include: Biohazard Awareness, Data Protection, Ethics of Human Biological Samples, Lab Health and Safety, Inclusion and Diversity Personal/professional skills: Time-management, verbal and written communication, teamwork, data analysis and interpretation, problem solving, computational skills, lab skills Industry-specific skills: drug profiling/quantitative pharmacology experiments, assay development, use of specialized data analysis/computational software

Yes. All work/projects carried out by placement students contribute to impactful projects. Students are independent in their work and are given the opportunity to learn new lab skills and get involved in projects teams/the wider organization on a day-to-day basis.

Placement students each have their own supervisor(s) for the duration of the year, who are their point of call for project-related and general placement advice and guidance. Experiences with supervisors and wider teams varied between students, but in general the support and communication between students and their teams was good.

The culture at AZ can be summarized as welcoming, inclusive, positive and innovative. The companies work and aims are focused helping patients and driving translation of scientific ideas novel medicines.

My work was interesting and I learned many skills and scientific concepts that I would not have learnt at university alone. My team and AZ as a whole were welcoming and willing to help me learn. I would have liked to have had more of a say in which project I would be working on. I also think more should have been organized by AZ to connect placement students with each other throughout the placement.

Yes

The application process is lengthy and intensive, but good preparation makes it easier. Research the company thoroughly before applying and make sure you have an up to date, relevant CV. During the interviews, make sure you show enthusiasm and willingness to learn, and make sure you come prepared (e.g. know your CV, understand what the role requires and what AZ does, pre-prepare questions).