What Our Students Think

Southampton is world renowned for its research within the Faculty of Biological Sciences and as a Russell Group university, the lectures, tutorials, seminars and practicals I have received as an undergraduate at Southampton have included relevant and up to date information and skills that I can apply to my work currently and adapt to use in future work.

Studying in Southampton is an amazing experience. My course and the way it has been taught has been engaging and the university as a whole creates a great environment to learn in.

One of the highlights so far in Southampton has been the first-year field trip to Spain. It was an absolutely incredible opportunity and not only taught me fieldwork and species identification skills, but also allowed me to get to know my course mates and lecturers better

I’m enjoying the variability and choice of my modules. I love that I have such flexibility when I pick what I want to study and I have the chance to learn about things I hadn’t considered before. I’m currently undertaking an interdisciplinary module called Engineering Replacement Body Parts which I am loving.

I would definitely recommend Southampton, it’s been really good and the facilities are really great. It’s small enough to feel like home but big enough for you to spread your wings.

I chose to study at Southampton because of its state of the art facilities and prestigious academic reputation. In particular, what captured me the most was the friendly atmosphere of the campus as this was significant element on my academic motivation.

Being around such world-leading professors in the laboratories is incredible, it’s a close-knit family in biological sciences and staff are working on so many world-changing projects.

In 2015, with the help of staff and students, we designed three innovative solutions which helped over 41,000 people in Kenya to improve their livelihoods. I have been involved in developing the soap from day one and it has been a wonderful chance to use knowledge from my degree in a practical way, all the while improving the lives of people in the communities we work in.

I consider the University of Southampton the perfect environment for an International Student studying Biological Sciences. Top researchers and fantastic laboratories are the perfect blend for any student seeking a career in scientific research.

My placement year was the real highlight. I was at Astra Zeneca in Cambridge, one of the country’s biggest pharmaceutical companies. I did geno-medicine, modelling cancer to find better treatments, it’s one of the latest technologies and I was fortunate to get all that laboratory experience.

I did a placement year at Sanofi, a global pharmaceutical company, in their new product planning and business development team.

My favourite memory here was the 2-week field course I went on to Spain. I really enjoyed working in a field environment and it gave me a taste of what it is like to be a field scientist.

Southampton offers so many opportunities for biological science students. You can focus your degree according to what you’re interested in, whether it’s the molecular side of zoology or the ecology and conservation side as I did.

I have enjoyed my experience in a scientific environment alongside amazing academics and been lucky to see the cutting edge science first hand.

My degree allowed me to explore my curiosity and take it wherever I wanted to - whether it was an animal behaviour lab, evolutionary developmental biology, a project on bioethics, Spain, New Forest or Belize.

I chose Southampton as compared to other universities, the biological sciences building, and facilities seemed very modern and impressive. Students were very satisfied with the course and I liked how I had the opportunity to choose my own modules so I could personalise my degree to my interests.

I decided to take a Biomedical Sciences degree due to it not being concrete, it is a degree that delves into an ever-changing form of knowledge. Our knowledge on specific aspects of science is always being challenged by new discoveries and that was what mainly attracted me to this degree.

The highlight was going on the Spanish field course for ten days in the first year. It brought the whole cohort together and we bonded as a year group.

I’ve really enjoyed myself here not just in terms of my degree but also living here, Southampton as a place, the options I’ve had and the friends I’ve made.

After I graduated I took a gap year to work, save money and decide what I wanted to do next. I ended up deciding to apply for MBBCH Graduate entry Medicine and I got accepted into Swansea University.

I loved the Spain trips. We flew down to Andalucía and we spent twelve days learning really useful fieldwork skills. We really enjoyed the local wildlife and the diversity that’s there. I got hands on experience with insects, plants and the local marine life. I enjoyed the first year trip so much that I applied to be a demonstrator, going back to help teach the first years as a second year student.

Studying at Southampton is inspiring as you are given a real insight into the research being carried out at the University. The student community is incredibly welcoming. There are so many events and you are able to integrate with students from a wide range of courses.

The many transferable skills I have gained from studying Biochemistry at Southampton have enabled me to secure a graduate position at the professional services organisation PWC.

It has definitely been a good three years; probably the best three years of my life! After graduation, I’m starting a PhD course here at the University of Southampton. My ambition is to stay at the university and teach. I have met so many great researchers and outstanding lecturers at the same time and they have been and they still are inspiring and so I think in the future, I hope that could be me.

I chose Southampton because of the freedom of the degree. During my Zoology course I have embarked, not only on Biology but on Marine Biology as well as Anthropology modules. You make the scientist you want to be!

As well as my ten month placement in the Gardens, I got the chance to go to Borneo on a field course as my supervisor is also a lecturer at Aberystwyth University. I jumped at the chance to get involved and even got to see orangutans out there

I attended three summer internships at University Hospital of Athens, where I worked as a research assistant. This experience gave me the opportunity to learn how a real laboratory is run and gain further valuable laboratory techniques to enhance my knowledge around the field of research.

The University's laboratory summer internships are an invaluable source of skills and information. I did such an internship on inflammation and it’s influence to neurodegenerative disease, which gave me a very good insight into the scientific side of research.

In 2015, my dissertation took me to Mexico to study the distribution and abundance of jaguars and pumas in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. The trip, organised by Operation Wallacea, brought together students and scientists from all around the world and aims to train the next generation of conservationists to understand how conservation research is completed.

I studied everything from plant biology to animal development and neuroscience it’s been incredibly broad which I really liked.

The whole experience was absolutely insane and incredible at the same time – one of my biggest passions has always been wildlife presenting, Sir David Attenborough and Chris Packham were huge idols off mine growing up, and so the opportunity to get a taste of that world was absolutely phenomenal. It was exciting to see the public engage with zoology and the wildlife around them, something that’s so important to me, and knowing that we made that happen was an amazing feeling.

One of my projects involved investigating the paleohistory of Madagascan grass pollen using an electron microscope and looking at what it can tell us about vegetation landscape. I was delighted to be named first author on an academic paper with my colleague Dr Paula Rudall, the Head of Micromorphology at Kew.

I was lucky enough to pursue a 4-month placement in one of the university’s research labs over summer in second year. It changed my perspective on further independent study as I am now eager to begin a PhD, which I was previously unsure of.

Studying Pharmacology has given me the essential skills required to be an effective member of a team in both a research and non-research environment.

The staff are amazing! They are really knowledgeable in their respective fields and really approachable. They are all such genuinely interesting and lovely people and it is nice just to chat to them about their research and interest areas as well as learning from some of the top researchers in the country.

I thought going to Spain in the first year was a unique experience and not many universities offer the opportunity for first-hand experience in designing your own research project in a beautiful country!

I had an Internship at the end of my second year at the University’s Cancer Sciences Centre at Southampton General Hospital - that was when I definitely knew I wanted to specialise in cancer research.

I spent a year in industry at GSK in Stevenage looking at ways to monitor liver and kidney fibrosis.

I am enjoying the fact that everything we learn is coming directly from the front line of science. A lot of the content is research from our world class lectures and researchers at the university. This means that we are completely up to date with what is happening within the subject.

The lecturers have been very supportive, helping me to develop my interests and the course has been extremely enjoyable.

One of the highlights of the year was a three month placement working at the University’s neuroscience laboratory. I wrote up my research into the causes of Alzheimer’s Disease and presented a poster at the annual conference of the Southampton Neuroscience Group.

I love learning about biology and the lecturers make the lectures so interesting that I sometimes feel as though I am just watching a David Attenborough documentary rather than watching a lecture.

My favourite parts of the course have definitely been the independent lab projects in third and fourth year because you get the opportunity to work in a real research environment and try cutting edge techniques. The lectures I’ve attended throughout my degree have also been an incredible opportunity to learn and be inspired.

As a Russell group university it is great to have lecturers at the forefront of current research. The staff who I have been in contact with have an approachable nature.

Throughout my time with GSK I was exposed to doctors, scientists and statisticians who were very supportive and helped shape my career goals

Studying at Southampton was definitely one of the best decisions I've made. I've had countless experiences and made many lifelong friends along the way.

I would recommend other students to do placement years or summer internships during their degree as I felt I developed new and existing skills during the year and had real-life industry experience when applying for roles after my degree.

My subject knowledge has increased dramatically with far more challenging content being delivered by the lecturers than what I covered in my A-levels.

The Biology course here provides students with constant stimulation and a new piece of inspiration in almost every lecture.

There really has been countless opportunities to get involved with a variety of things that have not only enhanced my CV but also given me worthwhile and memorable experiences.

I ended up spending most of the summer chest-deep in rivers looking for mink and watervole tracks, we monitored the river Avon all the way from Fordingbridge to Christchurch. The mammalian research at GWCT also included work with squirrels and hedgehogs.

The University of Southampton has a fantastic Biological Sciences Department with modern teaching labs and a wide range of modules to tailor your degree.

The field trip to Spain for Biology, Zoology and Ecology students was brilliant.

The newly built Life Sciences Building means we have a very modern, well equipped teaching and learning space which contributes a lot to the learning experience.

Among the highlights of the last four years was the chance to do two dissertations, the first was about aggressive behaviour of crickets, then this year I researched the temperatures ants can survive in.