My placement allowed me to apply the learnings from my Biochemistry degree including how to approach a real problem logically

“Last summer, I won the RB Future of Science competition to come up with an idea solving an issue of the future. The issue I tackled was over consumption of sugar and salt leading to obesity, heart disease and other problems. I suggested using smell to compensate for reduction in the sugar or salt content of food to maintain taste. As a reward for winning the competition, I spent this summer on a paid internship with health and hygiene company, RB.

“Throughout the summer I worked in three teams: Eye Care, designing an osmolarity calculator, Gaviscon, working on in vitro method development, and the Science and Technology Partnership group where I was assessing ease and ability of using differential scanning calorimetry/thermogravimetric analysis (DSC/TGA) equipment to assess purity of lab standards.

“Each of the projects I worked on were very different but if I had to pick a favourite it would probably be developing the in vitro testing method within the Gaviscon team. Overall though the whole placement was an amazing experience which I thoroughly enjoyed and I think has given me valuable insight into what a job in industry would involve, enabling me to make much more informed decisions regarding my career post university.

The placement allowed me to apply the learnings from my MBiolSci Biochemistry degree including how to approach a real problem logically. Having a general basis in biology and chemistry from my degree also meant I had a good idea how some of RB’s products work which would have otherwise been difficult to grasp straight away.

Isabel Hyde

MBiolSci Biochemistry

“Some things that really surprised me during my placement were how much effort and resource is needed to maintain current RB products before new ones can be made and the quantities the factory produces to supply around the world - it was great to experience this first hand.

“The placement also allowed me to apply the learnings from my MBiolSci Biochemistry degree including how to approach a real problem logically. Having a general basis in biology and chemistry from my degree also meant I had a good idea how some of RB’s products work which would have otherwise been difficult to grasp straight away.

“Spending my summer completing a placement with RB has given me an invaluable insight into what a job in industry could involve and the variety therein. I still don’t have a clear path for what I want to do after university, but it has given me a much better idea of what may inspire me and what I could expect applying for a job in this area.

“As a final note I’d just like to say how grateful I am to have had this invaluable opportunity and how friendly and welcoming everyone at RB was.”