Industrial & Summer Placements
Industrial Placements
Some universities have year long industrial placements built into their bioscience degree courses. Under the watch of an assigned supervisor they allow students to build upon skills learnt through their degree as well as learn new ones which can help them in the future.
Universities may help their students look for industrial placements, especially when they are built into their course.
GlaxoSmithKline run an industrial placement scheme.
AstraZeneca offer an industrial placement also known as a ‘sandwich’.
Merck, Sharp and Dohme offer a number of industrial placements for undergraduates looking to gain experience of working in the pharmaceutical industry.
Summer Placements
Even if work placements are not integrated into your degree you can still apply for summer internships which can range in length from 1-12 weeks over the summer.
Some summer placements are unpaid, others offer to repay travel expenses whilst a few are paid. It depends on how big the organisation is, how long the placement is for and what type of work you will be doing. Unpaid placements are still good opportunities for students to gain new skills, network and show future employers that they are dedicated and committed to their degree subject and (more importantly) have the relevant work experience to back up their claims.
Your university careers service should be able to provide you with more details of companies which offer internships over the summer. Some Member Organisations and Supporting Members of the Society of Biology also offer placements and information about them can be found below.
The Royal Society of Biology (RSB), in partnership with Defra, runs the Plant Health Undergraduate Studentship Scheme , which allows students to undertake a 8-10 week paid summer studentship in plant health.
Cancer Research UK runs a Graduate Scheme.
IAESTE is a scheme backed by the British Council which arranges paid international work experience placements. These normally last for 12 weeks over the summer with initial registration for the scheme open from September to December of the academic year.
The Wellcome Trust runs a series of paid summer internships for undergraduate students in areas such as science funding, policy and public engagement.
Queen’s University Marine Laboratory run placements for undergraduates, recent graduates who are interested in gaining more experience in marine science.
The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute run three month placements between June and September for first degree level students (including medical and veterinary students) who are seeking research/work experience.
Unilever offer 12 week summer placements in Supply Chain, Research & Development, Customer Development and Human Resources. It is for undergraduates in the penultimate year of their degree.
Labs at the John Innes Centre offer undergraduates the opportunity to work on research projects during the summer for around 8 weeks. It is particularly useful for undergraduates who may be considering taking up a PhD studentship.
Merck, Sharp and Dohme offer summer placement opportunities for undergraduates looking to gain experience of working in the pharmaceutical industry. To be considered for a student placement at MSD, students should: be studying for a degree that is relevant to the placement they wish to apply for; have achieved at least a 2.1 in the first year of the course, have obtained good A-level grades or equivalent; and be able to demonstrate a range of interpersonal and communication skills, drive and initiative.
University of Michigan
University of Michigan, Department of Biostatistics is running a funded summer placement scheme for undergraduates on big data, human health and statistics, it is called "Transforming Analytical Learning in the Era of Big Data: A Summer Institute in Biostatistics".
Step provides paid work experience for undergraduates and recent graduates, generally in smaller businesses across the UK, giving you the opportunity to gain practical experience and develop work related skills all companies, large and small, are looking for in their graduate recruits.
British Society for Research on Ageing - Summer Studentship
The BSRA provides grants for undergraduate students to get hands-on research experience during the summer, related to the biology of ageing. The BSRA welcome applications from supervisors (and/or directly from students who have found a suitable supervisor) in UK universities who are already working on these kinds of projects and are willing to share their experiences with undergraduate students for skill and career development. More details can be found on the BSRA website.