With industrial or professional experience

You will spend the third year of this four year programme, on a placement with one of our partner organisations in the UK or overseas. Placements provide valuable work experience that will help you clarify your career objectives and give you an advantage in today’s competitive employment market.

We have a very successful programme of laboratory and field research placements with over 200 partner organisations all over the world including pharmaceutical companies, research institutes, hospitals and nature reserves. We have recently expanded our range of placements to reflect the growing range of science careers outside of the laboratory in science enterprise, education and communication. We are unique in providing such a wide range of placement types.

Potential placements now include:

Industrial/professional research experience

You undertake a research project, usually in an industrial or international research organisation. This provides a fantastic opportunity to undertake significant ‘real-world’ research and decide whether a research career is for you.

Education

You take placements in at least two different educational environments. You will gain experience of teaching and learning in different age groups and environments, preparing you for a career in a range of education sectors as well as providing you with transferable skills you can use in other fields.

Enterprise

You can take advantage of Manchester’s thriving biotechnology industry by spending a year working in a biotechnology start-up or technology transfer company. You will gain valuable skills, experience and contacts that will benefit you if you are interested in a career in the growing industry of biotechnology or would like to set up your own enterprise after graduating.

Science communication

You spend a year working in an organisation that communicates science, such as, the media office of a university, a medical writing company or a museum. This experience you gain will give you a head start if you decide on a career in the field of science communication.

Who is eligible to go on placements?

If accepted onto the four year course you can only progress to the placement year if you achieve a specified high standard in first year examinations. Students who apply for the three-year course but achieve the required examination standard in their first year can request to transfer onto the degree with industrial/professional experience.

Where could you go?

We have partnerships with over 200 organisations all over the world including:

AstraZeneca - UK
Aviarios Sloth Sanctuary - Costa Rica
Chester Zoo - UK
Eurofins Agroscience - UK
GlaxoSmithKline - UK
Goegap Nature Reserve - South Africa
Institute for Regenerative Medicine - USA
Kalahari Meerkat Project – South Africa
Mayo Clinic - USA
Medical Research Council -The Gambia
Motac Neuroscience - China
Nathan Kline Institute - USA
National Institute for Medical Research - UK
Newquay Zoo - UK
Novartis - Switzerland
Paterson Institute for Cancer Research - UK
Pfizer - UK
Royal Botanical Gardens Kew - UK
Sanger Institute - UK
Unilever - UK
Valencia University Hospital - Spain

Support

You will be given extensive help by staff in the Faculty in finding placements.
We visit all students at least once on placement and your progress will be actively monitored. You will pay half-fees whilst on your placement year but placements are usually salaried, and some are highly paid.

How to apply

You can apply through UCAS for the relevant four-year programme or request to transfer onto the programme after your first year.