Before starting my PDP I had been applying mainly to placements/internships in the financial industry. Throughout the second semester, I found myself enjoying the laboratory-based research more and more, finding satisfaction in the pursuit of producing some potentially meaningful results. I am now determined to build on top of this experience by applying to research-based internships within the chemical engineering industry and I am also considering undertaking a PhD within engineering.
To anybody starting their PDP I would say that the most important piece of advice to take would be to fully engage with your project, ask your supervisor lots of questions, talk to the PhD students working within the research group that you’re based in – so many of my laboratory experiments were altered and vastly improved after discussing them with PhD students! This engagement with other academics/students at the University really made the project for me!
The support from the department was excellent, my project supervisor, Dr Guido Bolognesi, provided constant guidance throughout the project with weekly meetings and always had time for short online meetings to discuss and issues or queries. As well as this, I was invited to research group meetings and to deliver presentations which I felt helped develop my project significantly over the course of the second semester. The PhD students and the lab technicians were always really helpful and made me feel comfortable in the lab, particularly at the start when I wasn’t sure what I was doing!