I did a placement year between my second and third years of study at PepsiCo International which is a global Food Manufacturing Company. This gave me lots of relevant industry experience that will help me to stand out when making future applications. I was given lots of responsibility and managed multiple projects and work streams on my own. I was able to make use of some core Chemical Engineering principles taught on the degree, such as understanding of mass and energy balances and heat transfer processes. I was also able to develop new skills such as understanding of how to conduct different types of risk assessments (e.g., general, covid and manual handling), stakeholder management, logistical management, presentational skills, project management and cross-functional collaboration. Furthermore, it was great to have the opportunity to explore a part of the process industry as it has helped me to further understand aspects that I like and may want to explore further in the future, such as project management, and what I would not enjoy doing.

I am not sure exactly what I want to do after university, but roles I would like to explore include process optimisation and project management. There are several modules that help develop knowledge and skills needed for roles like this including individual and group design projects as well as modules such as Instrumentation Control and Process Design.