Final reflection

The science and employability module has included many different subject areas, and has better prepared me for my future career path.

 Before the start of the year I was unsure on what I wanted to do once I had graduated from university. However I now have a better understanding of what I want to do. I will be taking a year to improve my CV through volunteering work and hopefully travel to do this volunteer work.

 I have found the module very informative. Whether this be from the detailed and vital information given on CV writing and interview practice, or the concepts of business that are used in all areas in life.

Seminars  

The seminars that I have been to this year have expanded my knowledge on different areas of study in the bioscience community.

They have also opened my eyes to the new discoveries and exciting results found everyday by scientists. The topics have widened my interests and reminded me of the importance of conservational efforts in order to save many species on this planet form extinction.

However, conservation wasn’t the only topic I learned about during these seminars. I also learned a lot about early human evolution as well as ice sheets in Britain and Ireland. As my interests are varies I made sure I went to seminars in a variety of different fields.

The talks I enjoyed the most were the seminars on illegal wildlife trade and primatology and human evolution by Stuart Marsden and Susana Carvalho respectively. This was because both of the seminars changed my viewpoint on the matter.

Before I had only ever thought of animal exploitation as negatively impacting the animals in ecosystem and the primatology seminar opened me up to new ideas in early human evolution.

The seminars allowed me to explore my options when considering future job options and make me feel as though a career in scientific research could be an option for me.

The lectures

The lectures presented by Clare Brass were useful in summarising core advice when preparing for an interview and writing a CV.

As now feel as though I can write a comprehensive CV with appropriate language style. I also feel as though my CV will now be well structured and contain all the elements needed for a good CV.

I have had mock interview practice before, however I had always been unconfident with my approach and delivery when in an interview.

With the help of the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action and Result) of answering interview questions I now feel as though I can answer any interview question with confidence.

The lectures presented by Chris were also useful as many companies in all different kind of fields include aspects of business concepts.

 I think a basic understanding of business terms and concepts is important and would be desirable for many employers.

The workshops

I found the first workshop lead by Clare to be valuable as I have never had any experiences with an assessment centre.

The workshop was well organised and although the most important aspects of an assessment centre was included throughout the day, group activity and interview practice, it would have been nice if other aspects of the assessment centre had been included too. For example the presentations.

Receiving feedback from peers in my group was also valuable as they were marking me based on whether my answer followed the STAR format.

It was also helpful to watch people in my group give interview answers as when giving feedback on their performance you can also learn.

The Dragons Den event was a completely new experience as I had little to no understanding of business planning before the event.

However I did find it useful regarding learning the simple format of a business plan.

Although useful in learning basic business terms, I probably enjoyed this event the least as I was out of my depth in terms of knowledge. I also have no intention of setting up a business in the future as part of my career path.

The blogs  

I have enjoyed writing these blogs as it has allowed me to explore scientific concepts in a new way and has also allowed me to write about a variety of ideas in various subject areas that I’m interested in.

A blog is a form of writing that I have never used before, so it is interesting to be sharing thoughts and ideas on different scientific fields in a different form. The more casual format is a massive difference compared to a scientific report for example.

Using word press has been easier than I originally though and I would definitely use the website to create a blog again.

Final thoughts    

Overall I have found this module very insightful into the different ways scientific thoughts and ideas can be expressed.

The seminars I have attended of studies held by leading professionals in the field has also really inspired me to pursue a career in scientific research.  

The module was very enjoyable ad well organised. I enjoyed the alternative format for showing my thoughts and ideas and would definitely recommend any other bioscience undergraduate students to take this course and attend some of the seminars.