Category Archives: Health Care

Student Case Study: The University of Exeter

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Name of Student: Alice Sharp 

Degree Subject: Medicine (BMBS) 

Job Title: BMBS Student Intern 

Company Name: The University of Exeter 

Description of Organisation:  

The Department of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences is an internationally recognised centre of excellence for biomedical and clinical research and teaching with a focus on understanding the mechanisms and treatment of human disease. 

Their research delivers direct benefit to patients, the NHS and the pharmaceutical industry, with the aim of understanding the underlying cellular, molecular and genomic basis of disease and applying this knowledge in innovative ways that lead to improved treatment and a better quality of life for patients. Scientists and clinicians in CBS work closely together to ensure that our research is directly targeted to clinical need. 

Type of Internship:   

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

 What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship? 

Looking at a set of year 1 LSRC sessions and seeing if they included: equality, diversity and inclusion. Also, looking at and suggesting ways that the following can be included in those set of year 1 LSRCs. 

What was your biggest achievement on your internship? 

Contributing to changes in the medical school curriculum to make it more inclusive and to stimulate conversations around these subjects. 

Were there any challenges and how did you overcome these?  

I was given a lot of anatomy sessions, given the content of these sessions it was hard to think of ways to make them inclusive as the focus was on learning the structures in the body. 

Skills Learnt:  

  • Ability to Work Under Pressure 
  • Organisation 
  • Time and Work Load Management 
  • Strategic Planning 
  • Researching 
  • IT 

Attributes Developed: 

  • Perseverance 
  • Motivation 
  • Cultural Awareness 
  • Creative thinking 
  • Independence 
  • Confidence 

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

“During my internship as a 3rd year medical student, I had the invaluable opportunity to contribute to the improvement of the year 1 curriculum for medicine. It was an enriching experience that allowed me to apply my theoretical knowledge in a practical setting.

Throughout the internship, I closely examined the existing curriculum, identifying its strengths and areas that needed enhancement. Collaborating with senior faculty members, I actively participated in discussions and proposed innovative ideas to refine the course structure and content.

This internship provided me with a deeper understanding of medical education and allowed me to make a meaningful contribution to the development of future physicians. It reinforced my passion for teaching and inspired me to continue striving for excellence in medical education. “

Student Case Study: Oxford Heartbeat

Name of Student:  Zain Ahmad

Degree Subject:  Medicine BMBS

Job Title: PR & Comms Intern

Company Name:  Oxford Heartbeat

Type of Internship: Access to Internships (A2I) 

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship?

– producing written material for company website, including blogs, and articles
– interviewed staff for a “Day in the Life” series on the website
– produced long form social media posts for LinkedIn and Twitter
– conducted market research for medical devices in the US and EU

What was your biggest achievement on your internship?

I produced a market research report on stenting across the UK and US markets

Were there any challenges and how did you overcome these?

Challenge was adapting to a non-healthcare environment and developing my commercial understanding

Skills Learnt: 

  • Teamwork and Collaboration
  • Communication
  • Focus on Goals and Outcomes

Attributes Developed:

  • Commercial Awareness
  • Confidence
  • Initiative
  • Professionalism

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

Working for Oxford Heartbeat was an amazing experience and I am grateful that I was able to work with such a great start-up team. I was impressed at how qualified the staff were, and for me this created lots of opportunities to learn. I’d be speaking to the business development manager with a Biomedical PhD background in one moment, and then talk to a developer with a PhD in Machine Learning!

I learnt a lot about commercialising Medical Device products in the NHS, and this is a perspective I would not have gained in my normal degree programme. I’d encourage anyone interested in healthcare and tech to pursue a start-up internship. My only complaint was that I could only work for one month!

 

Student Case Study: Wellbeing Services at University of Exeter

Name of Student:  Nina Warren

Degree Subject: Sociology

Job Title:  Wellbeing Intern

Company Name:  Wellbeing Services at University of Exeter

Type of Internship:  Access to Internships (A2I)

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship?

Offering the student perspective and feedback on the many elements of the service (providing stakeholder feedback), undertaking research for projects and campaigns within Wellbeing, working with other staff members on projects, and researching and speaking with other university Wellbeing departments to compare and share ideas for service improvement

What was your biggest achievement on your internship?

My biggest achievement was probably the research report I produced on supporting Chinese international students at UK universities. I did a lot of reading around this and spoke to a few other universities, and the report I produced was thorough and I received feedback from several colleagues that it was interesting and enlightening and had a few requests for them to send on the report to other colleagues. This was my favourite piece of work as I found it fascinating and enjoyable and the end product was clearly valued by my colleagues, which really increased my confidence, too. Overall, my main personal achievements were an increase in initiative and independence, and increased confidence.

Were there any challenges and how did you overcome these?

Mainly I would say working remotely was difficult for me and on days when I was tired I could become more easily distracted at home than if I had been working in person. I overcame this by scheduling catch-up meetings whenever possible, as these meetings kept me motivated, on-track and accountable, and broke up the day.
I also set myself to-do lists that included very small and manageable steps, so that rather than feeling overwhelmed by seemingly large tasks and therefore feeling demotivated, my work felt much more achievable.

Skills Learnt: 

  • Organisation
  • Researching
  • Time and Work Load Management
  • Strategic Planning
  • Communication

Attributes Developed:

  • Creative thinking
  • Independence
  • Initiative
  • Confidence
  • Professionalism

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

My internship experience has been (and still is, as we have agreed to an extension of my internship!) really enlightening and helpful for me. It has increased my understanding of university Wellbeing services, an area I was interested in exploring as a career, and has confirmed to me it that student support is a career path that I am interested in taking. I was made to feel so welcome and relaxed by the staff at Wellbeing and from the get-go I felt valued and encouraged by everybody I work with. This helped me to relax into my work and reduced the pressure. I was given the space to grow and work at my own pace, which was motivating and enjoyable, and has helped me to produce work that both I and my colleagues are proud of. It has been an excellent experience. I am excited to have secured a part time extension with the team.

Student Case Study: Court House Care Home

Name of Student:  Lauren Freer

Degree Subject: BA Geography

Type of Internship: Green Consultants Scheme

Company Name: Court House Care Home

Job Title: Green Consultant

Description Of Company: HC-One is a care home group. HC-One’s mission is to be the first choice care home for Residents and Colleagues in each of the communities we serve. We hope to achieve this mission through providing the kindest possible care to Residents. Founded in 2011, our objective is to make a real difference to the lives of older men and women in communities throughout the UK. With over 300 care homes, we’re proud to provide positive, personalised care and support to more than fourteen thousand Residents who live in our homes, encompassing memory care, nursing, residential and specialist care. At HC-One, we’re pleased to work with, train and develop more than twenty thousand caring Colleagues who deliver round-the-clock care and support.

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship?

My key duty and responsibility were looking at their clinical waste and other waste such as their recycling.

What outputs and outcomes did you deliver for your employer?

I produced and wrote a brief on my findings and spoke about the loose ends I had found. I also provided a list of adaptations the business could take on board to improve their sustainability.

What was your biggest achievement on your internship?

I learnt a lot about waste and how important it is to distinguish different types as this can impact the sustainability level of a business. I also thought putting together the brief was an achievement as it consolidated all of the work from the week.

What did not go so well on your internship? How did you overcome any challenges?

I found calculating the carbon footprint too difficult and needed to speak to professionals who helped me.

Skills Learnt: 

  • Ability to Work Under Pressure
  • Organisation
  • Decision Making
  • Researching
  • Time and Workload Management

Attributes Developed:

  • Initiative
  • Perseverance
  • Professionalism
  • Confidence
  • Motivation

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

“I would definitely recommend applying for a job role similar to the one I undertook as I was able to gain a glimpse into a professional atmosphere. It was interesting to see how the professionals dealt with tasks and how they made decisions based on their business’s goals and aspirations. The job provided valuable experience that I will definitely take forward into future jobs.”

Student Case Study: SageTech

Name of Student:  Hannah Woodward

Degree Subject: BA Geography

Type of Internship: Green Consultants Scheme

Company Name: SageTech Medical Equipment Ltd.

Job Title: Green Consultant

Description Of Company: SageTech is a medical equipment company that has developed a comprehensive way to capture, extract and purify volatile anaesthetic gases to PhEur monograph standard.

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship?

The key aim of this internship was to improve SageTech’s corporate social responsibility (CSR). I looked into gaining B Corporate certification for SageTech and also investigated its engagement with the Sustainable Development Goals. Due to SageTech being a relatively small company without extensive policies in place, the corresponding questionnaires insinuated that the company was only 17% aligned with the SDGs; since SageTech’s technology is designed to reduce the NHS’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, I deemed this to be an inappropriate representation of the business. After further discussions with the client, the chosen method for improving SageTech’s CSR was to investigate the possibility of joining a carbon credit scheme. I looked at numerous options, including the UK government’s new cap and trade scheme that was implemented this year post-Brexit. However, ongoing communication with the client led to the decision that I would work on creating a methodology that would be required for SageTech to join the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), a voluntary carbon credit scheme.

What outputs and outcomes did you deliver for your employer?

I created a presentation for my client that outlined what information would be required from SageTech in order to join the VCS. I generated this after looking at previous accepted templates from other companies that joined the scheme. This presentation and all my sources were sent over to my client, who passed it on to the relevant team to begin putting the information together in the required format.

What was your biggest achievement on your internship?

Helping a company like SageTech improve its reach was a significant achievement in my internship. SageTech’s technology is revolutionary for organisations like the NHS, which emits extensive of volumes of anaesthetic gas annually. If more hospitals install the technology to tackle this, encouraged by schemes such as the VCS, GHG emissions could be reduced significantly. The ability to join a carbon credit scheme would promote the technology on an even greater scale, encouraging investment and the potential for implementation internationally.

What did not go so well on your internship? How did you overcome any challenges?

It was challenging to not be able to access SageTech’s offices, as it limited contact with the client. However, through multiple Zoom calls and email correspondence, I was able to overcome this due to how helpful my contact at SageTech was. Finding a sustainability solution for an inherently environmental company in the first place was a challenge and required me to think outside of the box from my Green Consultant training. Coupled with communication with the client, an appropriate solution was found, and the project was a success.

Skills Learnt: 

  • Ability to Work Under Pressure
  • Organisation
  • Decision Making
  • Researching
  • Time and Work Load Management

Attributes Developed:

  • Initiative
  • Perseverance
  • Professionalism
  • Confidence
  • Motivation

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

“It is always best to be confident and to not be afraid to ask questions, as it ensures that you are on the same page as the client when it comes to producing a piece of work or conducting research for them. Communication is key as it inherently establishes confidence in both parties. Suggesting your own ideas will demonstrate your ability to show initiative too, so it is important to back your own thoughts rather than being scared of being wrong!”

Student Case Study:  Colab- Resilient Women’s Project

Name of Student:  Jane Curmi

Degree Subject: BSC Sociology and Criminology

Job Title:  Resilient women project intern

Company Name:  Colab – Resilient Women’s Project

Type of Internship:  Access to Internships (A2I)

Description of Company: As an integrated cross sector wellbeing and innovation hub our goal is to improve lives by improving the context in which support for change occurs, as well as delivering meaningful and relevant services. Supporting people with complex life situations and multiple disadvantages, such as mental ill-health, homelessness, domestic and sexual violence and abuse, substance misuse, (re)offending and poverty we focus our support around recovery, belonging, rehabilitation and wellbeing.

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship?

Support the facilitation and delivery of a range of initiatives, working with the team to support women in the Criminal Justice System and those with complex needs, support resilient women’s project navigator scheme to offer direct pathway planning to women in the Criminal Justice System, support the delivery of resilient women financial abuse project training sessions, supporting the women’s sex worker project, take part in team meetings, learning opportunities and presentations, write findings and recommendations for future development as part of my placement requirement.

 

What was your biggest achievement on your internship?

I was asked to support the women’s sex workers project; the resilient women’s project was awarded Tampon Tax funding to undertake a further scoping exercise which would include gaining the views of women themselves and were awarded a really small pot of funding. The aim is to inform health and other social policy makers of what the needs are and how women want them to be addressed, with a view to looking at how to further support women in this situation. I was asked by the project manager to look over evidence that was already collected to familiarise myself with the project. I done this and I also spent some time researching recent literature on the subject, then worked out a plan of how the project aims could be met. I researched links that could be involved in the Exeter area and composed various emails and sent it to links that could have some knowledge of women sex workers in the Exeter area. this received a response from SWARM in London who gave me a contact link in Exeter University. I arranged a meeting with my manager, the contact and I. This meeting was successful and provided the resilient women’s project at Exeter University.

What did not go so well on your internship? How did you overcome any challenges?

In general, my internship was very successful, the only thing I can say that did not go very well was when I was co-facilitating a course and a women turned up half way through the course and asked to take part. I felt that on instinct I should let her join the group. however, when reflecting afterwards I should have asked a senior member of staff as the women who attend these groups have multiple complex needs and I felt I may have let someone join and the situation could of changed and I would not be able to handle it. I discussed my feelings with my manager afterwards and came to the conclusions that in the future when a women turns up and the course has already started that she not be allowed to participate for the safety of the other attendees. This made me reflect on making quick decisions, I will in future be aware what the of making quick decisions and what the repercussions of that may be. 

Skills Learnt

  • Ability to Work Under Pressure
  • Organisation
  • Strategic Planning
  • Customer Service
  • Leadership

Attributes Developed

  • Creative thinking
  • Confidence
  • Initiative
  • Perseverance
  • Motivation

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

“Colab is a dynamic place to work, I have thoroughly enjoyed my placement and I have been given work opportunities and experience I would not normally have access to. This internship has provided me with the experience I need to complete my studies and further my career.”

Employer Quote:

“Jane has been an exemplary student whilst working with the project.  She slotted into the team really naturally and went above and beyond the objectives set when needed.   I would like to thank Jane and the University for enabling this really interesting internship to take place.”

Student Case Study: University of Exeter: Child Health Group – Institute for Health Research    

Name of Student:  Rebecca Bates

Degree Subject: Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery

Job Title: Research Assistant

Company Name: University of Exeter: Child Health Group – Institute for Health Research

Type of Internship: Access to Internships (A2I) 

Description of Company: The Child Health and Wellbeing Research Network brings together researchers across the University of Exeter that conduct research in the area of children’s health and wellbeing. The network spans many of the University’s colleges and represents 13 different groups, all with related work in this important field of enquiry. It was formed to ensure that strong collaboration and inter-disciplinary thinking and skills are at the heart of the research conducted, for the benefit of children and young people.

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship?

My key duties and responsibilities during my internship were research data analysis, report writing, proofreading and preparing a conference presentation.

What outputs and outcomes did you deliver for your employer?

I presented our research at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health’s annual conference. I also began work on national paper grown from the data analysis done on local data (I will be an author on the former, and lead author of the latter) – up to two PubMed papers can be taken into account during the Foundation Application process (the process you must undertake to be allocated a job after medical school), and being able to work on two so early will mean that I will have these reviewed and published by the time I am applying.

What was your biggest achievement on your internship?

Situation: Annual conference of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

Task: Presenting the research and data I had been working on

Actions: Preparing presentation, trial run with research team for feedback,

Result: Successful presentation in which I “didn’t seem like a medical student”, including two contacts made after which will hopefully lead to research links. This will also be relevant all the way through to my specialty applications as I have now presented at a national conference.

What did not go so well on your internship? How did you overcome any challenges?

I was very lucky in that no major challenges spring to mind, and any small queries and blips were well handled by my supportive supervisor – even down to worrying about the cost of travel to the conference resulting in this being covered by the team.

I had been worried my ADHD would preclude me from being successful in research but the structure the team provided meant that I was able to meet crucial deadlines such as being prepared for the conference and succeed in a way I could not have imagined at the start of my degree.

Skills Learnt 

  •  Ability to Work Under Pressure
  • Organisation
  • Time and Work Load Management
  • Strategic Planning
  • Focus on Goals and Outcomes

Attributes Developed 

  • Personal awareness
  • Cultural awareness
  • Logical thinking
  • Creative thinking
  • Independence

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

“My internship has helped me truly accept that there can be a place for me in research, as someone with ADHD – a dream I thought I’d have to give up when I first realised that not everything comes as easy to me as it does to others. It also meant I could afford to take the time to get my presentation right, and play a significant role in the writing of the paper, based on my data analysis – meaning I could see it through from beginning to end. I am so grateful for the opportunity and hope I can find a way to afford to continue this journey.”

Student Case Study:  Mental Health Intern

Name of Student: Emerald Hughes

Degree Subject: BA Archaeology 

Job Title: Mental Health Intern

Company Name: Young Devon

Type of Internship: Access to Internships (A2I)

Description of Company: Young Devon is the largest young people’s charity in the South West. Our mission is to make Devon a better place for all young people. Each year we work with over 2,000 young people, building quality relationships to help them thrive.

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

I had a variety of roles including supporting my manager in the development and running of a social media campaign called Minds That Matter. This included building a website and creating social media/website content, as well as scheduling posts and attending project meetings. In addition to this I took up the role on Mentor, and currently have two mentees who I will continue to work with following the completion of my A2I internship for free as I enjoy this role greatly.

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

I created a website and a vast amount of social media content which is ready to be put out over the next month. I collected a series of mental health stories from young people which are being placed online periodically.

  1. What was your biggest achievement on your internship?

My success with my mentees, this has really helped with my career prospects and has allowed me an invaluable insight into working in mental health. I believe this has helped me understand the difficulties of working with vulnerable individuals.             

  1. Skills Learnt 
  • Teamwork and collaboration
  • Communication
  • Ability to work under pressure
  • Time and work load management
  • Strategic planning 
  1. Attributes Developed 
  • Confidence
  • Personal awareness
  • Cultural awareness
  • Motivation
  • Professionalism
  1. Your message to other students considering a similar job role, organisation or sector? 

“I would not have been able to afford to have given this time voluntarily and therefore receiving help from the A2I fund was of great value to me. The application process was simple for both me and my employer, and once my employment had begun there was little else to worry about. My internship has really helped better my career prospects and given me a great insight into the field. Since graduating in 2019 I’ve gone on to be employed full time at Young Devon. The internship that I had there gave me a great foot in the door and I’ve now been working there for almost a year and am loving the role.”

Research Assistant – University of Exeter

Full Frame Shot of Abstract Pattern

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

I was tasked with exploring a model of single hair follicle dynamics with focus on hair growth and its primary factors. This role had a number of central goals:

– To verify previous results in the MATLAB software package Matcont, seeking accuracy and precise conclusions.

– To write code that enables results to be easily repeatable.

– To further explore the model parameters and develop insight into how they relate to future refinement of the model, and what it reveals about hair follicle dynamics

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

I greatly developed my familiarity with MATLAB – something I’ve only really used at a surface level before. Spending extensive time debugging code written by myself and others has helped me to improve my ability to write functional scripts. I also gained a greater insight into the day-to-day reality of research. I am now more familiar with the process of learning and building towards a defined, specific output. With this has come a greater appreciation for the unpredictable ebb and flow of progress when trying to breakthrough a barrier in understanding.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I hope that my verification of past results is a useful resource, one that strengthens confidence in the assumptions upon which the model is founded. With this done, in a repeatable piece of code, it supports further divergence from the prototypic case to a more advance and detailed model (or a model with a different focus). New results regarding the parameters of the model provide a more complete picture of how the model may react to change/stimulus. With these in hand, conclusions can be drawn about which parameters are key influences, those in which change elicits dramatic variation in model dynamics.

What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Teamwork and collaboration, focus on goals and outcomes, degree specific – coding for dynamic modelling

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Perseverance, logical thinking, independence

Research Assistant – University of Exeter CEMPS

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

I assisted my professor in putting together a presentation for a research consortium. This involved researching the area of injury biomechanics for the built environment and age friendly cities, an exciting area that I wish to pursue further. I made visual diagrams to help non-experts understand the subject, reviewed literature and identified possible research areas for grants. I then attended the research consortium where I met academics involved in the subject from a range of universities and made some good contacts. I was also involved in the design and manufacture of a headform drop tester. I made models and drawings on Solidworks and then used the mechanical workshop to make my design.

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

I learnt the process of putting together research proposals for grants, and how to create a presentation for a research consortium.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I helped my professor structure research ideas into a presentation to apply for grants. I started work on an ongoing project for the design of a headform drop tester, providing an initial prototype and engineering drawings to be developed further. I also identified relevant literature for the project.

What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Teamwork and collaboration, research, networking

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Cultural awareness, logical thinking, creative thinking