Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology
Placements and careers
Placements
We offer a fully-supported, one-year professional placement with a prestigious employer after your second year. Placements provide professional skills and experience in bioscience research, administration or management and they are invaluable in helping you to find a job or further training after graduation. We offer more placements than any other life sciences department in the UK. About a quarter of our placements are based overseas (Europe, USA and Australia).
Why take a placement?
- Placements often lead to a permanent job with the placement company
- Earn a salary
- Employers favour graduates with employment experience
- Experience working in the professional world
- Proven enhanced final year performance
- Develop time management, communication and team work skills
- Invaluable experience of the recruitment process
Support
Our dedicated Placements Team will support and guide you through the recruitment process, developing your skills for applications, interviews and organising employer-led workshops.
During the placement you will also have regular contact with the Placements Team, a Placements Tutor and a workplace supervisor, as well as a visit from a member of staff, in most cases.
What kind of job could you do?
Our placement opportunities include top UK pharmaceutical companies (e.g GlaxoSmithKline), UK research institutes (eg National Institute for Medical Research) and US universities (including labs at Ivy League universities).
Some of our placement employers have included:
- Cancer Research UK
- Astra Zeneca
- Lilly
- Pfizer
- Kew Gardens
- BP
- Montash University, Australia
- Dartmouth College, USA
- St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, USA
We cannot guarantee that a particular placement will be available or that you will be able to earn a particular salary; applications for placements can be very competitive.
Careers
Our graduates are highly sought after in the graduate market place and many go on to research careers through further study.
Typical employers include:
- universities
- pharmaceutical industries
- veterinary and medical services
- animal nutrition and fisheries research
- food manufacture
- preparation and preservation industries
- the water industry
- microbiological and agrochemical industries
- environment and conservation industries
- biotechnology industries
- agricultural medical and chemical laboratories.
