Category Archives: Philosophy

Student Case Study: Education Incubator

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Name of Student: Holly Frostwick 

Degree Subject: FCH Mathematics and Philosophy 

Job Title: ChatGPT Intern 

Company Name: Education Incubator 

Description of Organisation:  

The Education Incubator aims to be innovative in all aspects of its work, providing a space for staff and students to build communities around new projects that deliver lasting change at the University of Exeter. 

The ChatGTP project will assess the potential benefits and challenges of the proliferation of AI text generators for higher education. It will draw on the experiences of staff, students and the broader University of Exeter community to determine the nature of any new problems confronting the university and innovative strategies to make the most of the potential these new tools offer while minimising the threats. 

Type of Internship:   

Student Campus Partnership (SCP) | Employer Engagement & Student Employment | University of Exeter  

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship? 

Key responsibilities for me included managing social media (Instagram) for the project, writing blog posts, helping set up workshops, as well as reviewing recordings of workshop. Also, I will be part of the report writing.

What was your biggest achievement on your internship? 

My biggest achievement was creating and managing the project’s social media. This allowed me to develop my graphic design skills; being part of the project’s workshops made me more confident in my abilities, as well as helping widen my perspective on this area; I will be part of writing the resultant report for this project which I anticipate will also improve my confidence in my written communication as I develop my abilities for technical writing. 

Skills Learnt:  

  • Communication 
  • Teamwork and Collaboration 
  • Ability to Work Under Pressure 
  • Organisation 
  • Time and Workload Management 
  • Degree Specific – report writing, copy writing 

Attributes Developed: 

  • Confidence 
  • Work Ethic 

Your message to other students considering a similar job role, organisation or sector? 

This was a great experience to work in an area I’m really passionate in. The workshops which the project ran provided a great opportunity to speak to loads of people about their opinions, and as a result deepened my understanding and opinions. 

Employer Case Study: University of Exeter

Name of Organisation: University of Exeter

Name of Employer: Nicholas J. Moberly

Job Title: Senior Lecturer

Internship Scheme used: Student Campus Partnership (SCP) | Employer Engagement & Student Employment | University of Exeter

Feedback:

“Our intern worked as a research assistant on a psychophysiological experiment, helped to recruit participants to recruitment target, test them and also trained another intern to run the experiment and process psychophysiological data. Intern also processed, collated and archived all data.

The internship provided a very valuable experience in working with an enthusiastic and conscientious student to deliver a research project in a timely manner. This allowed me to complete work on a timescale that would otherwise have taken many more months, and therefore to deliver a research grant efficiently. The intern had already worked on the project (as an undergraduate) previously and so were able to continue where they left off and further develop their skills, while increasing their skills in people and time management. I hope that they have found the experience as useful and interesting as I have.”

Graduate Case Study: Widening Participation and Direct Recruitment Graduate Ambassador

Name of Student:  Imogen Wade-Palmer

Degree Subject: BA CH Philosophy and Theology 

Job Title: Graduate Ambassador (Widening Participation and Direct Recruitment)

Company Name: University of Exeter

Type of Internship:  Graduate Business Partnerships (GBPs) 

  1. What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship?

As a Graduate Ambassador, I worked in both widening participation and direct recruitment. This involved delivering presentations for schools and colleges to inform students about their Higher Education options. I represented the University of Exeter at Information Fairs and UCAS Exhibitions, as well as helping with events on campus such as Open Days and Offer-Holder visit days.

  1. What outputs and outcomes did you deliver for your employer?

I represented the University of Exeter at Information Fairs and UCAS Exhibitions, as well as helping with events on campus such as Open Days and Offer-Holder visit days.           

  1. Skills Learnt 
  • Decision making
  • Networking
  • Teamwork and collaboration
  • Focus on goals and outcomes
  • Time and work load management
  1. Attributes Developed 
  • Increased my knowledge of the sector
  • Improvement of skills for the workplace
  • Creative thinking
  • Perseverance
  • Confidence
  1. Your message to other students considering a similar job role, organisation or sector? 

“The internship was invaluable in helping me to develop the skills required to secure a training contract to be a solicitor. I am now back in full time education completing an MA in Law and look forward to starting with the firm in 2020.”

Publishing Intern – Impress Books

What were your main roles and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

During my month as an intern at Impress Books I was mainly in charge of the Impress Prize, this meant that I had to check that the applications and payments were properly received as well as read through the manuscripts to evaluate them in order to choose a winner. I also took care of the company’s social media, organises a book giveaway and blog tour as well as the amazon orders. I helped with the interior design of a to-be-published book.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I have gained the confidence to evaluate manuscripts in Prize submissions.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I have considerably lightened the workload of my superior by taking care of the Impress Prize, Amazon orders and social media.

What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Communication, problem solving, leadership

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Initiative, creative thinking, professionalism

Church Intern – Grace Church Truro

What were your main roles and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

My internship involved theology study and assignments, leadership development training and working with a partner charity of Grace Church, Christians Against Poverty. My key area of responsibility was as a Christians Against Poverty ‘Job Club Coach’, helping those who have been out of work to find their way back to different jobs.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

My biggest achievement was working as a CAP Job Club coach, aiming to help people from low social-economic backgrounds find their way into jobs – it was a challenging and rewarding role.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

Personally I benefited hugely from the theology training and leadership development. I gained a clearer understanding of the types of roles I am interested in taking in the future.

Social Researcher and Analyst – University of Exeter

What were your main roles and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

My main role was to undertake research into volunteer motivations and collect together information to be shared with the team at BWRP. This research would then inform my creating of a volunteer questionnaire which would digitally record the opinions of the volunteers about their experience at BWRP. I was then fully inducted as a volunteer at the project, to gain insight into the structure and possibility for future improvement for the induction. I then undertook a week as a volunteer whereby I undertook tasks such as going on timber collections and helping out in the yard.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

My biggest achievement was meeting lots of new people in the sustainability field, and gaining lasting contacts and connections with them.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I was able to complete a report on my findings, along with collecting a lot of feedback from volunteers about their experience. This has helped them to make improvements in the future.

What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Time and workload management, focus on goals and outcomes, research

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Confidence, logical thinking, independence

STEM Outreach Assistant (Female Role Models Scheme) – University of Exeter, Penryn

What were your main roles and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

I have been developing current lessons in the box and produce new lessons, and, planning, researching and developing a ‘Green Powered Doll House’ project for big scale events. This project is a brand new project for 2017/18 academic year. I was assisting the line manager at preparing lessons, finding materials and in general and providing a summary report regularly.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I have gotten a lot better in communication both verbally and through email. I have also strengthened my project management skills, organisation skills and subject related skills. One of the outcomes that I am most proud of is the launch of the ‘Green Powered Doll House’ at Royal Cornwall Show 2018.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

My line manager mentioned that I have made a big difference in what they can offer through the college in the creation of new and exciting resources which schools can slot easily into their curriculum. It has filled a gap that she didn’t have time to do to such a high quality herself which has really helped the team.

What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Leadership, organisation, decision making

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Perseverance, logical thinking, creative thinking

Insight, Intelligence and Communications Intern – Southampton City Council

What were your main roles and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

I conducted a preparatory briefing on the Brexit White Paper which is circulated to senior staff and councillors of Southampton and completed a task concerning the mapping of public sector and third sector services that tackle serious violence in Southampton in order to inform the council’s decision to bid for Serious Violence Strategy funding. I created a local needs assessment that included current statistics regarding violent, knife, and hate crime, domestic abuse, reoffending rates, comparing the data nationally with statistical neighbours and per individual wards. Additionally, the needs assessment included data on looked after children, deprivation areas and school absences to coincide with the strategy’s youth prevention priority. I reviewed an annual report that records the progress of the actions that respond to the Youth Justice Strategy. From this report I deduced whether the action will remain for the forthcoming year or whether full progress had been made and thus a new action would take its place.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I realised my potential within the policy team and have definitely decided this is the career for me. Specifically, I actually aided the team with their work, especially with the creation of the local needs assessment and thus my internship was beneficial for everyone!

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I efficiently completed each task quicker than expected thus, freed up the teams work to do other tasks.

What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Problem solving, strategic planning, focus of goals and outcomes

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Confidence, cultural awareness, logical thinking

HR Administrator – Fugro GB Marine Ltd

What were your main roles and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

Uploading vacancies to our website, intranet, and job boards, organising the recruitment mailbox and ensure hiring managers receive all incoming applications, arranging interviews and tests, as well as inductions, by liaising with candidates and managers, receiving all right to work documentation, CV’s and new starter forms and filing these appropriately, drafting letters to employees and new starters for salary reviews, contractual changes and promotions, navigating and where required, updating, company processes for recruitment and resignations, coordinating leavers, including confirming any final payroll deductions and booking exit interviews, creating contracts for new starters and inputting contractual changes to our systems for current staff, handling rejections, offers, queries, and the day to day requests for the HR Department.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I learnt a lot of information about the HR sector – developing skills in contracts, documentation and the importance of attention to detail in relation to this, and generally improved the formulation of processes and strategies to aid efficiency!

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I have eased the pressures on a very busy HR department, allowing HR Advisors to actually complete their advisor work rather than administrative tasks. I have also noted necessary changes to previous procedures in admin, making processes more user friendly and less time-consuming.

What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Communication, organisation, focus on goals and outcomes

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Commercial awareness, motivation, personal awareness

Marie, Survey Project Officer

Degree: BA Philosophy and Sociology 2017

Job Role: A Survey Project Officer undertakes data collection, inputting and profiling. Working with academics, graduates and postgrads they support survey completion and promote the Destination of Leavers from Higher Education survey.

Marie’s Experience: I am very interested in pursuing a teaching career, and the GBP is giving me good experience in preparation for this. It is helping me become used to managing a workload full time in a professional environment. I would definitely recommend GBPs to other graduates. They provide a great chance to try out different kinds of work on a temporary basis and in a supportive environment, or to develop the skills necessary for your desired career.