my name is hazel Thornton and I'm
studying biological sciences with a year
in industry I chose Birmingham to study
biological sciences because I thought I
had a great diversity of modules in the
first year I was able to study both a
cellular and the ecology of biology and
then develop my skills in both areas I
was unsure having spent my gap year in a
lab whether I wanted to continue into
that field so it was a great opportunity
for me to develop my skills and
diversify and in the second year you're
able to specify more clearly what you
would like to be involved in I chose a
course where we took a field trip to
Norway and we were able to collect
around data but then also focused on the
molecular side of it so I have been all
around and compass in areas of biology
and in my third year I was able to
specialize in to ecology and have a
greater depth of knowledge in one
specific area I found out about my
placement opportunity from an email from
the Biosciences office and I was able to
contact the organization independently
and managed to get an interview and an
acceptance nearly straight away as it
was in Greece we had to have skype
interviews so it was a bit different to
how I expected it to happen but by
talking to their scientists there we
could develop opportunities and specify
what I wanted to get out of the year and
I was also able to learn more about the
organization was going to work for so I
was clear about what I was getting
myself into what the day-to-day life
would be like and what projects I'd be
involved in so working with archipelagos
it was both a marine and terrestrial
conservation organization so based on
really small islands between 300,000
people we were community-based working
with the community educating them I was
a teen supervisor so in the morning we'd
start out organizing the team into what
projects they'd be covering that day and
ensuring the safety of everyone and then
we'd get on to our own projects whether
it be in the sea or on the land then
we'd meet in the afternoons to talk
about the progress you've made
at the end of the week would make
progress reports to the head scientist
to talk about any problems we didn't
counted their deliverables we'd achieved
and what we expect to cover the next
week I think the most important thing to
think about before applying for a
placement is to understand what you want
to get out of it what sort of
environment you want to work in whether
it be filled or laboratory whether you
want to be paid or not I was voluntary
for the whole year so had to think about
the logistics of how I'm going to afford
accommodation food how I'm going to get
out there and also about where you want
to be in Greece we're on very small
islands so we had to be community-based
and we really involved but other
students have chosen larger cities in
the UK so we're going to think about
where you want to be placed what you
want to get out of the project and what
skills you think you can apply to that I
gained a lot of help from the careers
network I attended CV clinics and talk
through with the careers department
about my CV and how my application
process would go and came back with
revisions and gained a lot of help from
them by undertaking a placement year
I've developed a range of transferable
skills from time management to teamwork
from leadership to solving problems and
beginning to understand and take
responsibility for my own actions I was
involved in many different aspects of
conservation so from the field work and
collecting the data to the data analysis
and then into the final report making so
we were able to follow a project from
the planning to the final execution
which is a great experience I was given
the great opportunity to write a couple
of different scientific papers which
were published in both Greek and
Mediterranean science conferences I was
then given the opportunity to go to the
conference and present the data and to a
wide audience of scientific academics
that meant that I was able to interact
with a lot of more knowledgeable people
and get their experience and feedback on
my own work and also gain guidance and
what sort of career choices I should
make and
the opportunity I can take following my
placement year have a much greater
understanding for the field of science I
want to get into and so I'm praying for
internships and jobs in marine
conservation across the world but also
keeping my options open looking for
masters and PhD is based in the area
follow my extraordinary experience in
Greece I definitely recommend taking the
opportunity to travel board and
experience new cultures and communities