An attractive option available to MChem students involves a one year industrial placement or an exchange with one of our partner universities overseas, undertaken during year 5 of their degree. Approximately 70% of the class will take advantage of one of these opportunities. Wherever you do your research project, your work is assessed throughout the year and contributes to your final degree classification.
The benefits resulting from these experiences in terms of both academic and personal development and future employability are very substantial.
- Gain valuable work experience that provides future advantages. A year in industry or abroad broadens your horizons and builds on the communication, teamwork and lab-based skills developed during your first 4 years.
- Earn a salary on industrial placement.
- Work outside the UK in locations such as Japan, Singapore, USA, Hong Kong, Belgium and The Netherlands.
- Typically, 70% of our MChem students undertake a placement or exchange.
The Industrial Research project is a full 12 month period of employment within the research or development function of a wide range of companies or research institutes. The placements are assessed and contribute to the final degree classification. The majority of students remain in the UK, but every year a number of opportunities overseas are available. Our overseas industrial placements are particularly popular. Companies recruit our students through a competitive interview process.
Our Students Say
The best thing about going on industrial placement was being able to work with a wide variety of researchers from different backgrounds. I got to work with people who had experience in mining engineering, applications engineering and also season synthetic organic chemists.
Our Students Say
The amount of information I was exposed to throughout my industrial placement was amazing. One of the big things is to be ready to take on more responsibility. When you go in to an industrial placement you have a team depending on you and it is really nice to have the opportunity to start pulling more weight and relying on you for different results.
Our Students Say
I think being immersed in to a working environment straight off the bat and getting to know the company was really cool. We weren’t just interns, we were able to be fully involved with what the company was. You learn so many lab organic skills that you wouldn’t get otherwise and from an undergraduate degree you see nearly as much as you do when you are in lab 9-5. The confidence I gained in scientific discussion. We had to do so many presentations and poster presentations to established scientists in the department and by doing that you gain confidence in yourself and you become a more significant voice.
Our Students Say
The best thing about an industrial placement is having the opportunity to get out of the classroom, see what chemistry is like in the real world, the world of business and in industry and seeing how chemistry is such an all-encompassing subject in the real world and seeing how it is applied in real world environments.
Our Students Say
The most important thing and what I enjoyed the most was to wrap my head around one project for an entire year. I learned to see the overall picture and how to break down everything to very small problems and solve each of them individually. When it all comes together you see the whole process of what you went through and how you tackled those different questions so that in the end you can see the entire implications of your work.
Our Students Say
Where do I even start! The best thing about industrial placement was to get involved in so much of the versatile science that was going on. I was always involved from the very start, from setting up the entire experiment, the data acquisition stage and doing some data analysis, so it was incredibly rewarding to see through all this process.
Our Students Say
It was the exponential curve of learning that you experience. It is completely different to when you compare the teaching labs that are actually here and when you compare then when you are actually in the industrial setting. You will learn so much independence and responsibility and the chemistry that you’re exposed to is just a completely different level.
Our Students Say
It is also great in your free time that you have the money that you get paid to explore the country that you are in. So on the weekends we got to travel all around Switzerland and even all around Europe. What is really important is that you choose a project or a theme which you like to investigate as that is the most important thing. The year in industry gives you an important insight in to how industrial research is like compared to academic research
Our Students Say
Working in the lab was my first experience of working full time and spending long periods of time in the lab. I really enjoyed it, had a great team and it was an amazing year. My advice would be definitely do it, I absolutely loved it. In terms of technical skills and my chemistry knowledge has been massively expanded.