The social aspect of the University

I chose Bath because it is a campus university. The Chemistry Department itself is also quite small and the Chemistry Society encourages the students to talk, interact and socialise with one another. The University is very good at social integration and there is a lot of support, places to eat, sports clubs and societies to join. It’s just a really nice, laidback, chilled environment and I can’t imagine to have done my undergraduate degree anywhere else!

My placement

My highlight at Bath would have to be my placement year. I spent a year in Southampton working for a chemicals company. I got to see what industry is really like and I had a very supportive supervisor, who was hands-on with the research. There was also a social element with the people around me. For people who aren’t sure whether they want to go into industry or whether to try something else, I think doing a placement is the best thing. For me, it confirmed that I wanted to go into research development. Bath is well-known for its placements and there is so much support within the Department in terms of helping you find a place to go, supporting the application process, and preparing a good CV.

Plans for the future

After I graduate, I plan to go on to do a PhD for four years on what I did on placement or something related to that, and I’ll be working on photovoltaics and optimising how they work under indoor lighting. I never thought that I would be doing a PhD, I was just seeing where things take me. For me, placement was the big decider where I thought that I could see myself working in research and development, and doing a PhD felt like the right way to go.