Earlier this year, the first cohort on our Graduate Development Programme completed the two-year scheme and we wanted to catch up with them to see where they are now.
Emer
Emer was a Graduate Phenotyping Technician doing behavioural and metabolic tests on the mice, who last year told us that her experience up to the halfway point of the programme was making her think about doing a Master’s or a PhD in neuroscience. Well, she is now doing an MSc in Neurobiology at the University of Amsterdam!
“I am currently working at Amsterdam UMC Alzheimercentrum, where I am investigating the use of FDG-PET scans to distinguish dementia patients based on their underlying pathology.
“Working at the MLC gave me insight into the area that I wanted to specialise in, leading me to pursue further education in neurobiology research.”
Jack
Jack was our Graduate Sustainability Officer, leading on coordination of the MRC Harwell Green Group, the reduction of single-use plastics, and implementation of the LEAF (Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework) programme.
“Since leaving MRC Harwell, I have taken up a new position as a Sustainability Specialist at Bridgnorth Aluminium. My new role has a strong focus around life cycle assessments, CBAM, and annual sustainability reporting, amongst other responsibilities.
“Despite now working within the manufacturing industry, my time at MRC Harwell has been instrumental in my early career development as a sustainability professional, having gained many transferable skills that I can apply in my new role. These skills range from an enhanced technical understanding of project delivery & development, auditing and effectively conducting/developing new staff inductions to more generic qualities such as using soft communication techniques to deliver effective change and build new relationships. It was an incredibly rewarding experience being a part of the graduate scheme and will long be remembered.”
Deborah
Deborah was a Graduate Research Assistant working in our sperm and embryo archiving team. She told us last year that what she wanted to do next was “figure out life”, but that she was leaning towards working in a fertility clinic, as she’s always been torn between that and research, and that’s what she’s doing now!
“I am working at Guys Hospital now as a Reproductive Technician and Ovarian Tissue Cryopreservation Technician.
“I learnt a lot of things working at the MLC. The hands-on experience helped me build a stronger technical foundation, but just as importantly, it taught me how to communicate effectively, collaborate in a team, and adapt quickly to new challenges. I was able to build my confidence in teaching and presenting my skills in different settings.
“Most importantly I got the chance to work and be part of an amazing team.”
Victoria
Victoria joined us as a Graduate Data Wrangler, processing data coming from the MLC and performing quality control checks and statistical analysis, and has extended her contract with us!
“Being part of the graduate scheme at the MLC has been a fantastic experience to develop my skills as a data scientist. I’ve built a strong foundation of technical and analytical skills by working with complex datasets and ensuring their quality and integrity. I’ve also greatly improved my communication skills through regular collaboration across multidisciplinary teams, enabling me to contribute meaningfully to our shared goal of advancing disease research.”
Christy
Christy joined us as a Graduate Research Assistant within the CRISPR lab within the Molecular and Cellular Biology group and has also extended his contract with us!
“The graduate scheme at MRC Harwell has been a fantastic opportunity to develop my skills as a scientist and learn in-depth about specialist topics from a large team of highly talented scientists. I’ve developed my understanding of the use of CRISPR gene editing systems, and of the generation and quality control of mouse models for research, and developed my soft skills, such as communication and organisation. I have also felt supported in exploring further career progression whilst in the role, the discussion of my next career step was brought up early on in the graduate scheme and these regular discussions have helped to shape my time here so I am ready to take the next step in my career progression.”
We wish them all the best of luck in their future careers and look forward to seeing what they do next!
