Working with the Biochemical Society: student placements Open Access

The Summer Vacation Studentships are open to undergraduate students in the middle summer(s) of their degree and are offered in four areas: research, programming skills, public engagement and science communication, and scientific publishing. For the first time, students were hosted by the Society itself, and the students undertook 6-week projects within the Education and Publishing teams. It was a fantastic experience for both the students and the staff at the Society and led to some impactful outcomes in both areas.

Two students from City University of London undertook 4-week projects in the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Governance teams at the Biochemical Society, also for the first time. Both projects delivered some truly valuable outputs, which the Society will use to progress the 2022–2025 strategy, and gave the students experience of working in the charity sector on a dedicated project.

Read on to hear from three of the students, who discuss their experience of working at the Society and what impact the placements have had on their future study and careers.

I have just begun my fourth year of an integrated masters in biosciences at Durham University. My key interests and therefore the focus of my degree are the molecular biosciences and biochemistry.

This studentship appealed to me because I want to pursue a career within the biosciences but am not sure about lab work or research. Public engagement and science communication seemed to provide the perfect blend of scientific knowledge, creativity and public communication that I was looking for, and I wanted to learn more about what this would involve.

I completed a variety of different tasks during my studentship including developing education resources, writing social media posts, coming up with student-focused content for The Biochemist magazine and reviewing an online course for society members about public engagement and policy. It was great to gain experience in multiple areas of the society.

Working on the Ideas Card resource was definitely my favourite part of the studentship. Ideas Cards are one- to two-page experiments designed for use at home or in schools to help demonstrate essential biochemical concepts to students. I got to come up with my own experiments and find creative ways of communicating scientific information in an understandable and engaging way. I also got to test some of the experiments out at home! It is exciting to think that these could help inspire students into biology.

I initially found writing social media posts quite challenging. I was mainly promoting the education resources and there was often a lot to say in very few words due to the character limit. However, it became much easier after some practise and is a valuable skill to have learnt.

I have heard from various people that during a studentship or internship there will likely be a lot of tasks that could be considered more mundane. However, I was pleasantly surprised that the tasks I was asked to complete were all interesting and enjoyable and I was able to feel like I had really contributed to the Society’s work.

It was very beneficial to learn about what public engagement and science communication involve and how essential they are to science, helping confirm that I would be suited to a career in this field. The studentship has also helped me develop many skills, including both written and verbal science communication, that I can take forward and apply to many aspects of my future career.

In November, I attended the Celebrate Science Festival in Durham with my supervisor to run one of the engagement activities that I worked on during my studentship. I was excited to participate in some in-person public engagement and put some of the changes I suggested into action. For the rest of the year, I will be completing my Master’s which involves conducting research about the neuroscience of food choice in Drosophila.

I’m studying for an MSci in Biochemistry, entering my fourth year at the University of Bristol. After a lab-based summer internship and my third-year research project, I realized a lab environment wasn’t suited to my skills. I still wanted to use my knowledge of biochemistry, so I explored other options – particularly in the fields of scientific publishing and communication. I stumbled across the Biochemical Society Summer Vacation Studentships and knew I wanted to apply. I wasn’t too sure about what academic publishing involved when I started, so the studentship was an exciting opportunity to discover the field.

My work focused on research commissioning within the esteemed Biochemical Journal. I had to firstly understand the scope of the journal by looking through previous issues. I then found potential authors to contribute to the journal by looking at various sources. I initially looked at competitor journals with a similar scope, looking at authors of the published articles and diving deeper into their research focus and publications. I then explored other sources, including speakers at research conferences and biochemistry faculties at various universities.

A strategy of the Society is to increase contributions of US institutions, so this was a focus of mine. The Society also wants to increase contributions involving mitochondrial research, so I found many authors who specialized in this area. I also looked through collections to see if there were research areas missing, based on knowledge learned from my degree. Another activity included drafting tweets to promote new and previous trending articles for the Biochemical Journal X account, which I particularly enjoyed.

The most challenging part of the studentship was drafting review titles for potential authors, as I had to grasp their recent research focus well enough to synthesize it. Through my studentship, I gained a strong understanding of the publishing life cycle, including the steps it takes to finally publish an article and the roles involved. I discovered the Society’s progressiveness, as it aims to majorly increase its open access output, partly due to a desire to increase research accessibility. This experience has opened a door for a possible future career in academic publishing, and I will explore further roles within the Biochemical Society too. My mind has also been opened to working for charities like the Society, as well as other charities that prioritize science and health research.

After completing my studentship, I will complete my fourth year of study including a research project investigating proteins involved in neurodegenerative disease.

I am a law student currently studying in my third year at the City University of London. I was in admiration when I came across the placement opportunity through my university, to work with the Biochemical Society as an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Assistant. I am a massive advocate for equality, and therefore I saw myself being really motivated by the role. Moreover, upon searching through the Biochemical Society’s website, the immense amount of charity work, outreach programmes and various grants that are available made it clear that my values were closely aligned with those of the Society.

During the placement, I was in charge of creating an informative resource regarding the incorporation of EDI into an organization. This took place over the span of a month and consisted of the research and analysis of various online sources, such as reports and articles. My favourite part about the placement was that it enabled me to learn new information and become more knowledgeable on different aspects of EDI. Additionally, I really enjoyed creating new ideas for the project with my supervisor, as it encouraged me to view things from a different perspective that I may not have considered whilst working on my own.

The most challenging part of my placement was deciding what pieces of information were the most relevant for incorporation into the project; however, this was completed efficiently and simultaneously enhanced my abilities.

The placement went above and beyond my initial expectations for it, which were already high. The project was even more fulfilling than expected, and the entire experience itself was extremely enjoyable. In addition, the placement has contributed massively to my self-confidence in my abilities and has encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone.

It has also assisted by adding to my skill set, with skills such as data analysis and time-management, so that I am more prepared for future jobs. After obtaining my degree, my next steps would be to undergo a training contract and complete the Solicitors Qualifying Examination, leading to one day becoming a solicitor in a magic circle law firm. My ultimate goal is to become a highly qualified international human rights lawyer, and I have the confidence that this goal will be achieved.

The Summer Vacation Studentships will be open for applications in spring 2024. For more information please contact [email protected].