My placement experience became so much more than just something to put on my CV. I really grew into myself as an individual and the main thing I gained was confidence. This stemmed from both successfully completing challenges myself and from the belief my colleagues had in me. It wasn’t long into the placement that I was working almost independently despite only developing methods for a couple of months, and shortly after that I was asked to help collect data for two research publications being worked on.

A placement year is also a great opportunity to see what life will look like outside of university including how you choose to manage your work-life balance. It’s also given me insight into the type of role I’d like to work, type of working hours and laboratory-to-office ratio I’d enjoy.

I’ve had the amazing opportunity to be Loughborough University’s first women in science ambassador which I’ve continued throughout my studies. Over the years we’ve recruited more ambassadors and have had support from the School of Science staff to develop the initiative in ways that we as students think will benefit prospective and current students. I’m hoping it will continue to grow once I’ve graduated, and to be able to guide and direct the initial development has been such an exciting and memorable part of my time at Loughborough University.