The last five months have been a bit of a whirlwind, but I’ve had loads of fun, learnt a lot and been involved with a huge variety of projects.
The
Science team organise scientific events and public lectures, write policy papers and respond to consultations from the Government, manage our Awards portfolio and much, much more. I’ve been lucky to have worked with nearly everybody in the Science team, and it’s hard to pick out the highlights, but I’ll give it a go….
In September the House of Commons asked for evidence for their Inquiry into Antimicrobial Resistance.
Writing policy is something I’ve always wanted to try my hand at, and I was so lucky to be able to help collate the evidence and write the final response for this inquiry (with a lot of help from the wonderful Life Sciences team!) Not only did I learn loads about a very important issue, I also found out how policy is developed not just within the RSC, but across UK Government.
As November and December dawned I found myself in our beautiful London offices in Burlington House a lot. I got to attend some fantastic events, such as a whole day symposium on Micro-algae, a
Materials Division Schools lecture on Nanotechnology from the brilliant Annela Seddon, and last but not least the
Organic Division Poster Symposium. This was an event I’d been closely involved in organising since the moment I entered the team, and seeing the students and delegates enjoying themselves throughout the whole day was a highlight for me (not to mention trying to delicious canapés that our catering staff at Burlington House provide!)
Perhaps the most exciting project I worked on was a
public panel discussion on Antibiotics resistance – after helping to plan the event, I got to visit the Department of Health to film
Dame Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer for England. We even had
Michael Mosley come to chair the discussion, which was really interesting and received great feedback.
As you can probably tell, I’ve loved my time in the Science team. It’s been very busy at times, but it’s been great fun getting to know everyone in my team, and the rest of the grads. I’ll be leaving the grad scheme at the end of this rotation to start a job in the Education team, managing our
Initial Teaching Training Scholarships. I’m so excited about it, but I’ll be sad to leave the grad scheme and the Science Team, and miss out on the latest grad project – designing our stall at the
Cambridge Science Festival!
Lizi is a Graduate currently working in the Science Team on the Royal Society of Chemistry's Graduate Scheme. To see if we are currently recruiting for the RSC Graduate Scheme click here
Somehow, I’ve made it to the end of my first rotation in the Science team already!
