Sharing the excitement of placements around the world
Final year Masters of Chemistry (MChem) students have been sharing their experiences of placements with their fellow undergraduates at a special two day Symposium at the University of Southampton.
Fourteen students described what they did during their year off campus; some secured places in leading companies in the chemical or pharmaceutical sectors, others undertook specific projects in universities with strong Chemistry departments around the world. This year’s students seized exciting placement opportunities in places as varied as New Zealand, Canada, Sweden, the USA and Hong Kong.
Dr Simon Gerrard, Deputy Director of Undergraduate Admissions, is a firm believer in the value of industrial or academic placements as he himself spent a year at Glaxo SmithKline (GSK) during his studies. “I am delighted that our students benefitted from their time away from Southampton, both in learning new aspects of Chemistry and enjoying the chance to develop valuable professional contacts and make new friends.”
Jordan Horsford exchanged Southampton for South East Asia with a placement at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University examining the use of herbs in traditional Chinese medicine: “The Government wants to know more about these herbs, their bioactive compounds and what’s in them. I used analytical chemistry during the project and valued the opportunity to develop my skills,” he explains. “During my time in Hong Kong, I made friends both with local people and lots of other exchange students. It was one of the best six months of my life.”
Stephanie Chapman went to the UK Catalysis Hub at Harwell; her project involved using metal oxide nanoparticles to facilitate the reaction of methanol to formaldehyde and investigating if surface area affected the reaction: “I learned so much, a placement takes you out of your comfort zone and lets you try out a completely new area of research for a few months,” she explains. Stephanie is now preparing for a PhD in catalysis at Southampton in the autumn.
The MChem four year programme with a year’s placement is just one of a range of exciting and challenging Chemistry degrees at the University of Southampton.