Associate Scientist Review

I am a laboratory scientist working in the adaptive immunity department, therefore researching into inflammatory diseases. I carry out project work 4 days a week and study towards a bioscience degree 1 day a week. My typical day includes planning and performing lab work, writing reports, reading into the literarture and attending team meetings.

I have learnt lots of new skills during my apprenticeship, both personal and professional skills, such as report writing and I have developed my technical laboratory skills in many techniques. I have also developed existing skills such as presentation and communication skills, as well as broadening my scientific background knowledge.

I enjoy my programme a lot as I enjoy working along side studying as it allows me to put into practice what I am studying for my degree. I like the applied degree as it ties in well with my job. I also enjoy that there are lots of apprentices I work alongside.

My programme is fairly well organised as there are quite a lot of apprentices on my programme so GSK are familiar with the process. It could however be more organised with the university in terms of providing us with more information on EPAs and organising regular reviews to check in on our progress.

I receive a lot of support from my employer, both in terms of my education and development. There are lots of colleagues available to help with my university course and it is always easy to find someone with expertise in what I am studying. I also get a lot of support from my manager, mentor and colleagues with my development and they are always encouraging development opportunities.

We do receive some support from our training provider, i.e we are able to email our university tutors if we are having issues with the course and they reply quite quickly. However we do not receive much support with our EPA and I have not had a review with the university for over a year and have not had a reply from many of my emails.

I feel my qualification helps me perform better in my role as being an applied degree, the learning ties in nicely with the work I am doing. The assignments are also relevant a lot of the time. It also teaches me some laboratory techniques that I am using in the lab.

There are many extra curricular activities to get involved in, such as sports events e.g. I am part of the netball team and we also have a gym on site. There are also many socials, both apprentice and team socials that are held regularly (pre-COVID). We also have lots of summits, seminars and professional networking events.

Yes

There are many benefits offered at GSK and they are a good company to work for, always keeping your best interests in mind. It is also good to get a degree paid for and an apprenticeship allows you to have on the job learning which for me works better. I would recommend.

I would advise people to look into the work experience scheme run at GSK if they are thinking of applying as this is a good opportunity to see what life at GSK is like and the kind of work they could be doing. I would also say prepare well for interviews and have a good CV.