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BBSRC Policy Intern, Centre for Science and Policy (February 2015 - May 2015)
BBSRC PhD Student, Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, University of Manchester
"I thoroughly enjoyed my placement at CSaP and I wholeheartedly recommend CSaP to future interns. I now have a much better understanding of how science translates into policy and how important CSaP’s role is in bridging the gap between government and research."
I decided to apply for a Policy Internship as I was keen to learn how science translates into policy but I was also interested to explore a career that was related to science without being based in a lab.
The team made me feel welcome from my first day they were all truly lovely to work with throughout my internship. I was instantly involved with the Centre’s activities and had a teleconference about my main project on my first day, which was to organise an event on ‘Realising genomic medicine: Intellectual property issues’.
This included everything from booking the venue, sending out invitations and managing responses to preparing handout materials for the event. Attending the workshop itself was a brilliant opportunity to hear experts in the field debate the complex issues that surround the realisation of genomic medicine.
During my time at CSaP I contributed to the running of a number of other events that covered a range of topics, including climate and sustainability to planning for our future cities. I also attended a Policy Fellows ‘First Friday’ lunch at the Treasury on the topic of Social Investment. Attending and reporting on events outside of my usual research area was a great opportunity to practice processing new information quickly to write news articles for the CSaP website and newsletter.
Being involved with CSaP’s fourth Annual Conference was a fantastic experience, my role was to organise the lunchtime poster session. This gave early career researchers, including myself, the opportunity to present their research to an audience of policy makers, industry leaders and academics. Taking part in the professional development workshop on Science and 21st Century Leadership was a real eye-opening experience; it made me much more aware of the challenges faced by both researchers and government in the policy making process.
Overall, the internship has been an extremely valuable experience that has allowed me to demonstrate transferable skills in a working environment. I now have a much better understanding of how science translates into policy and how important CSaP’s role is in bridging the gap between government and research. I thoroughly enjoyed my placement at CSaP and I wholeheartedly recommend CSaP to future interns.