Exploring Biotech careers

Milton Park recently hosted its first flagship Biotech Day aimed at Year 12 & 13 students (16-18 year olds). The event involved 38 students from four Oxfordshire secondary schools: Carterton Community College, Larkmead School, Wheatley Park and UTC Oxfordshire.

Ran in collaboration with Ahead Partnership, the Explore Milton Park schools engagement programme enables companies to connect with local secondary schools and colleges, to showcase the wide variety of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers.  The programme encourages volunteers from Milton Park companies to share their expertise and knowledge with the students.

Inspiring students

The aim of the day was to inspire young students into biotech careers on their doorsteps. Through inspirational speeches, workplace tours, a design sprint, speed networking and careers panel. The event challenged student perceptions of the opportunities available after studying STEM subjects at A-level and connected the students with role models from a variety of roles within biotech who all work at Milton Park.

Confidence building

The volunteers from Milton Park companies report that being involved in the programme include, opportunities to network and to build their own confidence in working with young people and the sense of purpose that comes with giving back to their community.  It also enables occupiers to  engage with future talent on their doorstep, with a particular focus on supporting young people from disadvantaged or under-represented backgrounds.

Biotech career journeys

During the Biotech Day, students listened to an inspiring talk from Saj at Convatec who spoke about his journey in biotech. This was followed by a design sprint which tasked students to design a toy or game for a primary school aged children to explain the science behind Convatec’s nitric oxide-generating advanced wound dressing. Saj was impressed with the ideas which included a card game, book, board and computer game.

Workplace visits to NEB and Immunocore

Later on, students took part in two tours one to New England Biolabs who talked about Lyophilisation (freeze drying) enzymes for use in laboratories, experimented with liquid nitrogen and students took part in a bead challenge. The second tour was to Immunocore where the team explained about their cancer therapies, students took part in a pipette challenge and had a tour of their labs.

Making an impact

Feedback has been positive. Students taking part in the Biotech Day said “How enjoyable STEM is” and “There are multiple pathways into STEM and many different jobs.” Many students participating were inspired to look into work experience in biotech at Milton Park.

Volunteers commented that it was well organised and an amazing opportunity for participants to learn about opportunities. The highlights for them included “The lab demonstration and the reactions of the students while doing the experiments.” “Engaging and helping to support the next generation of STEM” was a high note commented another volunteer.

Thank you to our volunteers

A huge thank you to all the volunteers who took part from the following companies: Convatec, Evotec, Immunocore, M2M:bio, New England Biolabs, Oxitec, Pathios Therapeutics, Replimune and Revity.