It’s always rewarding to showcase the career paths of alumni… today we are delighted to shine the spotlight on career paths from #EdLifeSciences alumni. Kyla Atkinson, Link Careers Consultant for the School of Biological Sciences, has summarised the recent Alumni Insights Careers Showcase events where alumni were keen to pass on their insights.
The Deanery of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Biological Sciences recently hosted two evening online events where current students had the fantastic opportunity to hear from alumni about the varied and interesting career paths they have taken after leaving university.
Our first panel of speakers entered employment following or shortly after their first degree. Our second panel of speakers entered employment following the completion of further study. Read on to find out more about their roles, and what they enjoy most about them.
Alumni Insights Careers Showcase 1
Lucy Graham (BSc Pharmacology, 2022)
Current role: Regulatory Graduate Trainee, Roche
Lucy is on a two year graduate programme (18 months in a regulatory function, and a 6 month rotation with Roche in the area of documentation) which sees her working with global and cross-functional teams to lead the preparation of clinical and safety documents for submission to regulatory authorities. Roche is a global biotech company and leading provider of innovative pharmaceuticals and diagnostics.
Highlights:
- Working with global teams
- Completing her first document
- Getting to know graduates and other colleagues
Neil Taylor (BSc Reproductive Biology 2020)
Current role: Associate Practitioner of Biomedical Sciences, The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust
Neil undertakes a range of medical and diagnostic screening tests in his current role in the area of health care science. Daily tasks include equipment maintenance, quality control, stock management and running equipment and tests (PCR’s – polymerase chain reaction) as well as processing samples.
Highlights:
- Working with a wide variety of interesting samples
- Working with blood-borne virus tests
- Experiencing new technology first hand
Sunna Haidar (BSc Biomedical Sciences, 2020)
Current role: Data Analyst, Mirador Analytics
Sunna recently joined Mirador Analytics in August 2022 and primarily works with health, clinical and privacy related data. Daily tasks involve using RStudio, Python and Linux Command Line to assess risky variables in the data sets coming in and writing scripts for these.
Highlights:
- Working with different types of technology
- Working with colleagues in different departments
Alumni Insights Careers Showcase 2
Ana Bermejo (BSc Immunology, 2019, MSc(R) Biomedical Sciences UoE 2020)
Current role: Research Environment Project Officer, Wellcome Trust
Ana’s daily tasks are very varied and include: clinical trials compliance monitoring, being involved in institutional funding for research culture, project management and grant management. Communicating with academics is integral to the role as is publishing external reports.
Highlights:
- Variety of the role
- Collaborative working environment
- Fulfilling project work
Mimi-Evans Agnew (BSc Medical Biology UoE 2015, Graduate Diploma of Law BPP 2019, LLM Legal Practice, BPP 2022)
Current role: Solicitor, General Medical Council
Mimi is involved in a wide variety of cases including: dealing with allegations of poor professional competence, allegations of serious misconduct as well as concerns regarding the health of practitioners. Strong communication skills (both written and oral) are essential in this role, as well as assertiveness, problem solving/negotiating skills and excellent time management skills to name a few.
Highlights:
- Using problem solving skills regularly
- Varied and interesting work
- Having tangible impact in the role
- Excellent learning opportunities
Andrew Lee (BSc Neuroscience UoE 2016, MSc Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)
Current role: Associate Principal Biostatistician, AstraZeneca
Daily tasks Andrew is involved in include: assessing safety reports, planning analyses to assess drug efficacy, coding and data analysis, and presenting results to senior leadership.
Highlights:
- Lots of opportunities for growth and development in pharma
- Work has real world and tangible impact
- Good salary
- Inspirational, innovative colleagues
Kyriaki Neophytou (BSc Molecular Genetics, 2017, MSc-R Hosts, Pathogens and Global Health, UoE 2017, PhD Immunology and Infection Research, UoE 2022)
Current role: Postdoctoral Researcher in Immunology and Infection, University of Edinburgh
As a Postdoctoral Researcher, some of Kyriaki’s daily tasks involve: designing and executing experiments, gathering and analysing data as well as publishing scientific articles. In addition, Kyriaki also supervises students and trains colleagues.
Highlights:
- Carrying out independent research
- Collaborating closely with others in the field
- Publishing scientific articles
Top Tips from our Speakers
- Really take the time to reflect on your skills and what you enjoy doing on a daily basis
- Try not to worry about having time to apply for opportunities, or putting excess pressure on yourself
- Highlight your transferable skills (communication, teamwork, organisation, creativity and many more…) and be confident in putting these across in applications and in interviews
- Speak to others and do your research on the careers and opportunities that interest you, attend careers events and lead with curiosity
- Think about the factors that you can control, and concentrate your energies there, instead of on factors that you can’t control
Next Steps
- Visit our sector information pages and learn about a wide range of career areas
- Explore our graduate’s stories in our Life Sciences – Graduate Profiles including Ana Bermejo’s career story
- If you are interested in finding out more about how to get into the opportunities showcased here as well as others within this sector, use the Prospects job profiles to see what each role involves, how to get into it, what salary to expect and who the major employers are
(Image credit: Gino Crescoli on Pixabay)
