Placements and Research Opportunities | Offer Holder Webinar | May 2025

[Music] Good afternoon everyone. Uh hello and welcome to this offer holder session. Um

if this is your first of our offer holder sessions then um I just wanted to say congratulations on getting your imperial offer and welcome to this uh incredible session on placements and

research opportunities throughout your course. Um, I'm going to hand over to

course. Um, I'm going to hand over to our careers team very shortly, but I just wanted to do a couple of bits of admin before we start. My name is Andy.

I work in the international recruitment team. We're also joined by a few people

team. We're also joined by a few people in the background. If you have any questions at any point during the presentation, please use the Q&A function uh to put those in there. We've

got a team kind of looking through questions and then there'll be a time at the end of the session for uh questions and answers. I will say as well at this

and answers. I will say as well at this point try and keep your questions as general as possible. We are joined by the careers team here and obviously very specific questions about things to do

with departments. This might not be the

with departments. This might not be the best place to be able to get answers to those questions. We'll try our best

those questions. We'll try our best where we can um but try and keep your questions more general to do with um research opportunities and placements as part of a kind of general theme as

opposed to very specific course related questions. We'll try and answer as many

questions. We'll try and answer as many as we can. Um, but obviously this may not be the best place to get those very specific questions answered. You may

want to contact the department either on a later session uh with us or directly via email after the session. Um, this

session is being recorded. So if

anything kind of goes wrong um do look out for an email later for details on how to access the recording. It'll also

be available through the website. Um and

again if you do have any questions after the event then please do get in touch with us. Um we are all very friendly,

with us. Um we are all very friendly, very welcoming. Um so please do ask any

very welcoming. Um so please do ask any questions that you've got. Um even if you think of it in a week's time, do get in touch with us um via email or through the website to ask anything. But that is

enough from me. Um I'm going to hand over to Jason and Laura from the careers team. Um and have a really good session.

team. Um and have a really good session.

Um and thank you very much.

Thanks Andy. Thanks for that introduction and uh welcome to all our uh offer holders. It's great to see so many uh of you on the on the call. I'm

just going to spend a short amount of time sort of outlining generally what the career service can do and how we can support you and then run that into um how placements work at the university

because there are curricular based placements that that is placements that form form a formal part of your your studies and there are extracurricular internships and and placements that the

career service can uh can can help you with. So, I'm just going to go and run

with. So, I'm just going to go and run through that and then I'm going to end uh saying a little bit about the undergraduate research opportunity program that's a longunning uh and

established program at Imperial that uh you may be able to take advantage of as you uh plan your time at Imperial if you do decide to join us. Just very

generally, the career service at Imperial supports all our students from day one from when you arrive and up to three years after you leave the university. We hope that we don't see

university. We hope that we don't see you for in those three years that you do move on to either a successful and fulfilling career or you remain in academia or or research. But we are

there to support you beyond your uh your formal years at the university. Our

services in terms of what we do, we enable you to access free and independent and highquality careers advice and guidance. We have a team of careers consultants. We have a small

careers consultants. We have a small placement and internship internship unit. And we have an employer engagement

unit. And we have an employer engagement uh arm to the career service and that becomes important I think when you are considering internships and placements and how do you source uh these

opportunities. We help you prepare for

opportunities. We help you prepare for your internships and your future career uh by running sessions on the essential skills that you will will will require

in terms of creating a CV, a cover letter that's attractive to employers and opportunity providers. And we also help you prepare for interviews and assessment centers by running mock

interviews, mock uh uh assessment centers and and so forth. Um we'll

enable you to review um job and uh study applications. Uh we run a full uh

applications. Uh we run a full uh service in terms of uh helping you craft that. We know that AI is becoming

that. We know that AI is becoming important to uh students in the application process and we we help you uh on that journey ethically if you like and keep you on the right side of

employer expectations along along that route and we also offer departmental specific support. So each of our careers

specific support. So each of our careers consultants is linked to an academic department and has built up many years of experience working with the students within that department which again links

back to placements and internships uh in terms of when you are thinking about applying for these if they are curricular based um internships. Firstly, I'm going to talk

internships. Firstly, I'm going to talk about the industrial uh placements which we would class as curricular. And what

we mean by curricular is they are actually formal part of your degree program and there will be formal academic requirements linked to any industrial placements or industrial

internships that you undertake and you will discuss these with personal tutors.

You will discuss these with your your department and because of that the responsibility for industrial placements which are linked to your degrees sits with the department who have overall

responsibility for those placements. In

terms of supporting you with that, many departments have specific and tailored support with their industrial placements, with their year and industry type uh type type programs and personal

tutors are there on hand to talk and discuss and prepare for your uh your your placements. And departments also

your placements. And departments also have industrial leaison officers whose primary uh responsibility is making those links with industry, making those

contacts with opportunity to enable you to source and apply for relevant placements and internships uh as as part of your your course. Um so those

industrial contacts and partners sit within the um within the within the departments and many will also run specific employer events and careers type fairs. Bioengineering for example

type fairs. Bioengineering for example runs a big careers fair once a year which enables their students to link with the opportunity providers that are uh offering the opportunities in terms

of the industrial placements. The career

service wraps around all this actually because as I said earlier we do support all our departments and we support uh our students in the endto-end recruitment um um process. So from

sourcing uh opportunity, preparing and applying and then going through to uh having a successful experience and then reflecting on that experience. We have really strong links

experience. We have really strong links with employers. So the central career

with employers. So the central career service um has a has a database of over 5,000 employers. Um we offer something

5,000 employers. Um we offer something like 30,000 uh vacancies a year which cover internship placement and graduate

roles. Many many of our students also uh

roles. Many many of our students also uh undertake extracurricular internships.

So these are internships that are not linked to the degree but are undertaken over the long summer uh vacation um for up to eight weeks or so. So at the end

of the the summer term many many of our students will be going off to work in uh various different roles um over their summer summer summer vacation.

We also help you help you meet with employers through company recruitment presentations, employer skills, employerled skills workshops uh and uh specific career panel discussions. These

are all opportunities to meet with and hear of the opportunities that employers have uh for our students at Imperial.

And the careers fairs that we run throughout the year are our largest onampus employer events. We run um nine careers fairs throughout the year. Most

of these take place in the autumn term so through October, November. And these

are sector specific fairs. So we will run a fair on engineering and technology. We run fairs on consulting,

technology. We run fairs on consulting, finance, life sciences, a general fair, a PhD careers fair, a data careers fair.

And these are events that will enable you to to meet in person with employers and start to build those connections and networks that will enable you to know where to look for opportunity for your

uh placements whether they lie within the departments or whether it's a a general type of of placement that you're looking for as you register at the college. If

you come and join us at the university, the career service has a a career management platform uh jobs live we call it uh and that enables all our enrolled

students to access this jobs board which will enable you to browse for jobs and internships. As I said we have 30,000 or

internships. As I said we have 30,000 or so uh live vacancies on the on the jobs board at any at any time throughout the academic year. Jobs live is also

academic year. Jobs live is also important because it also enables you to book on to our careers events. Some of

our careers fairs you have to book to attend because they're very very popular and we sometimes have to ring fence for penultimate year students or finalists and so forth um at those types of

events. But you will learn all about

events. But you will learn all about this as you join the university uh in terms of uh jobs live and and how to access and use jobs live effectively.

You would also use um jobs live to book one-to-one careers appointments. We run

uh individual careers appointments um daily throughout the academic year. We

only close when the university closes over Christmas uh and Easter. We run um drop-in type 25minute appointments and uh these are on campus and online and

longer 40-minute appointments by referral as well as offering a full CV health check uh online as as well. We have a small placement and

well. We have a small placement and internship unit. So, not only do we

internship unit. So, not only do we offer you the opportunity to link with many many employers, 19,000 students throughout an academic year come to our events, our placement and internship

unit also run discrete uh programs uh for our students uh to enable them to undertake different levels of internship

placement or experiential learning type activity. You can see them there. We run

activity. You can see them there. We run

alumni mentoring schemes. We have an ask an alum system. We run a work shadowing scheme as well as longer White City uhme internships and a professional project

fund. I'm just going to briefly um

fund. I'm just going to briefly um outline uh what some of these are for you in slightly more detail. So our

alumni mentoring scheme is open to all students who are registered at the at the university and it's a great opportunity to provide our students with one-to-one mentoring over five months

with an experienced uh alumni of the university. Um we have a wide selection

university. Um we have a wide selection of mentors available coming from various sectors. You can see there we have

sectors. You can see there we have consultancy energy sustainability pharmaceuticals research engineering and tech. And it's a great way to build

and tech. And it's a great way to build uh career ready readiness, confidence, find out more about a sector. If you

have an industrial placement coming up, it might be an opportunity to sort of ask about ideas of sourcing or getting ready to being successful within within an internship. Uh and often our mentors

an internship. Uh and often our mentors can give application realworld application tips as well. Um they're

open to all students this this scheme and the applications open every autumn term. All of this is uh information is

term. All of this is uh information is available on the career service website which you can see um bottom bottom right there. That's the alumni mentoring

there. That's the alumni mentoring scheme. Um and we get about 200 students

scheme. Um and we get about 200 students a year going through our mentoring uh system and the feedback is very very very positive. Our ask an alum system

very positive. Our ask an alum system again is open to all our Imperial uh students and it's a very um quick way to connect with an Imperial graduate and

just ask them a quick question. Um it's

available all year round. We host it on a platform known as Vigo. Once you join the university, you would have access to VIGO and you would register via the career service if you wanted access to

ask a ask a graduate a quick question.

It could be you've got an interview coming up in a particular sector, you're a bit anxious and so forth. Any hints

and tips? Um we have about 70 registered mentors on the um ask an alum um system at the moment and that's growing all the time and it's I say it's a very it's a

very quick and uh easy access way to ask someone in the workplace uh specific questions that that you may have. Our work shadowing program, this

have. Our work shadowing program, this will be particularly interest to you offer holders, is open only to our first year undergraduates. It's a short

year undergraduates. It's a short placement type program. Um, and it involves spending one to three days in a professional work uh workspace observing a role or a team in action. It's

particularly useful, I think, if you feel that you're lacking a little bit of confidence or work experience and your CV is feeling a little bit bare. you can

use this work shadowing opportunity as as something to add to your CV to to sort of give evidence that you've been in a workplace and and we have a good range of employers from all industries

and sectors based uh in in in the the work shadowing pro program. Um, and it does help with things like uh commercial awareness uh confidence professional networks and so forth. And it does help,

I think, with application forms and having something to say at uh at interview. The applications for work

interview. The applications for work shadowing open every spring. Um, and we had in our in in our most recent iteration just under 200 uh students uh

going out on on work shadowing opportunity for those one to three days.

Finally, before we go on the professional project fund, um we also run internships up at White City. Now,

some of you may know that we have a new and developing campus uh out at White City. Um and and and part of um the

City. Um and and and part of um the development up there is the IHUB, the innovation hub and uh scale space, which has more than 200MES, which are just

small to medium enterprises. So they're

entrepreneurial spinouts, many coming from Imperial who are basing their businesses up at White City. The White

City uh project that that we run is is open to penultimate and final year undergrad students, postgraduates and PhDs. And it offers paid project-based

PhDs. And it offers paid project-based summer internships with these initative initative startups up at White City.

They largely sit in the life sciences and the biotech and AI sphere, but there is there is there is a broad range up there. And this is an exclusive offering

there. And this is an exclusive offering for Imperial um students. And it does challenge our students who perhaps want to experience a smaller type uh work experience rather than the big

corporates. Um and they tend to get

corporates. Um and they tend to get their sleeves rolled up and get involved in many many different projects doing real impactful work because you are working within a within small uh

organization. And adverts to these are

organization. And adverts to these are added to our system on a rolling basis.

Uh and they're growing every year. we we

we had 34 summer internships last year.

We will grow and develop that number uh moving forward. Um and finally um we run

moving forward. Um and finally um we run a professional project fund which is uh open to all returning students. So a

first year returning to second year, second year to third year so on and PhDs. It's an opportunity for you to

PhDs. It's an opportunity for you to develop confidence in sourcing your own graduate level summer internship opportunity with a third sector or charity type organization. And we

provide a bursery for this. The career

service uh has some patrons which give us donations and it enables us to give a a bursery to students to undertake a four-week period of work with that third

um sector type uh organization and applications for that open every spring and we've been running this for for many years. So this is just another example

years. So this is just another example of the range of different types of uh opportunity if you come to Imperial that we can support you with in terms of internships, placements, work shadowing,

uhme type uh activity as you develop through your through your course. I'm just going to finish by

course. I'm just going to finish by saying a little bit about our Europe program. So Europe stands for our

program. So Europe stands for our undergraduate research opportunities program. This is a longestablished uh

program. This is a longestablished uh project and program at Imperial and every year 500 or so uh undergraduate students will take the opportunity to uh

get involved with a Europe. Europs are

particularly useful I think if you're considering um research for a career um whether you want to remain in academia um it gives you the opportunity to get right under the bonnet of real world

research that research that's that's ongoing at Imperial and join a research group uh and get involved with the work that they're doing and it's open to all our undergraduates and that includes

international uh students as well and also every year we do get some um students from outside of um Imperial applying and coming to join the uh the

Europe scheme. Typically they run in the

Europe scheme. Typically they run in the summer vacation and they last between 6 to 10 weeks. Um they they do consider part-time opportunities but on the whole

the preferences for um a 60- week long project and the project areas are wide.

Um and actually it can be quite autonomous. Um um students can come up

autonomous. Um um students can come up with an idea, seek a uh interested academic and try and see if they can work together and uh and so forth or

they can join established research groups within the within the within the university at Imperial which reflects you know the the the range and diverse uh nature of the work that that that

goes on here. Um there is no centralized application for this. Um students are encouraged to you know contact supervisors. There is a good website and

supervisors. There is a good website and my final slide uh which I'll flick on to in a minute has a QR code which will take you to the Europe uh information um

and you and you'll find out you know how to apply when to apply you know find out more detail about case studies and so forth about our Europs the Europs have

been under review in terms of funding and now most if not all um require funding before they will take them forward which is good for students right

that means that you would you should be in receipt of a small bery to cover the time that you are uh undertaking this research opportunity. Um and once you've

research opportunity. Um and once you've got a project agreed upon, you just complete the Europe uh registration form uh and then you would sort of take it forward from there with with a

supervisor. As I say, all the details

supervisor. As I say, all the details are on this next slide here um with a QR code which fingers crossed will link you direct to this this web page. Failing

that, you would just go on to uh imperial.ac

imperial.ac ac.uk/urope. Uh, and that will take you

ac.uk/urope. Uh, and that will take you to all the information that uh that you will require. That's the last slide from

will require. That's the last slide from me. I'm going to um close down. I think

me. I'm going to um close down. I think

we've got time for uh questions at the end. So, I we'll pick them up then. Uh I

end. So, I we'll pick them up then. Uh I

think I'm passing over to Laura now. So,

I'll stop sharing my screen which I which I hope uh will will work and uh hopefully speak to you in the Q&A.

Amazing. Thank you so much, Jason. Um,

I'm just going to be a quick interim whilst Laura sets up uh her presentation. Uh, so I just wanted to

presentation. Uh, so I just wanted to say thank you so much, Jason, um, for all of that. And, um, as Jason just said, please do get any questions that you've got into the Q&A and there'll be

time for questions at the end. Uh, but

I'm now handing over to Laura from our international relations team uh, to talk more about international research opportunities. So we heard a little bit

opportunities. So we heard a little bit about uh kind of undergraduate research opportunities going to hear kind of I suppose the the other side of that international research opportunities whilst you're an Imperial student. So uh

we're up and set so I'm going to hand over to Laura now. Thank you very much.

Hey thanks very much Andy and it's great to be here and hope to see you all at Imperial um in the coming year but I'm as Andy mentioned just going to introduce the international research

opportunities program to you. So you

heard from Jason all about the breadth of activities and opportunities that you get a chance to take part in at Imperial. So I'm going to zoom in a

Imperial. So I'm going to zoom in a little bit on one opportunity and and tell you a bit about that. So the international research

that. So the international research opportunities program is or IROP for short is our international version of the Europe program that Jason just mentioned essentially. So it's an

mentioned essentially. So it's an opportunity to go to a partner university overseas and undertake a research project and gain those practical research experience in a new

scientific environment. So building on

scientific environment. So building on all of the ex the skills and experience you'll gain at Imperial at an international partner overseas. And you

can also grow your international network by taking part in this scheme. So by

doing a research placement in another institution, you'll meet new researchers, students and staff um that all help to kind of develop that network as you go into your future

career. As well as that, you can

career. As well as that, you can experience a new city, a new culture and of course develop some professional skills that um will really help you as you go through your time at Imperial and

beyond. So in communication, resilience,

beyond. So in communication, resilience, adaptability, all of those things that employers are looking for in graduates.

So it is a really great opportunity and you can see a a little reflection on the screen there from a student who went to Tokyo I think two years ago and just talking about the impact of the

experience for them. So IROP is a competitive opportunity. We have about

competitive opportunity. We have about 35 placements each summer but I hope hearing a bit about IROP and that scheme will encourage you to consider exploring lots of other opportunities that are

available at your in your time at Imperial to take part in opportunities overseas and outside of the UK.

So here's a little bit of an overview about the IROP scheme. It is an 8week summer research exchange and it's extracurricular. So Jason's already kind

extracurricular. So Jason's already kind of explained a little bit about what um an extracurricular placement means.

Essentially it's just one that doesn't um form formal part of your degree. So

you're able to kind of take part in the experience perhaps try new things and it's not formally assessed. Um you don't get grades that um affect your degree outcome.

I mentioned that it's about 35 Imperial undergraduates each summer. It's usually

second or third years. That varies by department. Um but not first year or

department. Um but not first year or final year students. So if you're coming into your first year, that's perhaps a great opportunity to look at some other things that will get you in a good

position to make a good application to IROP if you're interested in that. So

that might be considering um some of the schemes that Jason mentioned or Europs or other things like that.

IROP allows you to undertake a research project that is supervised by an academic at the host institution. So

you'll be working with them to decide what kind of area you want to work on and really shape that placement. So it

is an opportunity to get um experience of more autonomous perhaps research environment and really try something that you're you're really interested in exploring. You do get support from the

exploring. You do get support from the iRock team and I'll share a little bit about that later on. And there is also a generous bursery for iRock participants to support the participation and all the

necessary costs of the scheme. So um

that's great that the opportunity is as accessible as possible. There are on the left you can

possible. There are on the left you can see a list of our partners for this coming summer. Partners and the

coming summer. Partners and the departments at Imperial kind of change each year. So the information I'm

each year. So the information I'm sharing today is all about this coming summer's scheme. But as you enter

summer's scheme. But as you enter Imperial, you will have be able to kind of find out the information of the summer that's relevant to you as you come through. So in terms of who can apply

through. So in terms of who can apply for IROP, well there are some general eligibility criteria again this is the information from this summer um that you can see on the screen. So of course

being a full-time undergraduate student at Imperial and also having at least one year remaining at Imperial. So I

mentioned that you can't be a final year student. Um, importantly being able to

student. Um, importantly being able to commit to the full duration of the program which does play take take place in the summer and also just to encourage as many students to have access to these

kinds of international opportunities as possible. If you want to do IROP then

possible. If you want to do IROP then you can't be enrolled on a degree with year abroad or placement abroad at the time of participating in IROP. Um, other than that there are some

IROP. Um, other than that there are some additional department specific criteria.

So each department will perhaps make this opportunity available to students in a certain year of study so they're best positioned to make the most of the opportunity. It might be restricted to

opportunity. It might be restricted to certain degree types or um grades and that is all made clear by the departments in the application and advertising

process. It is as I mentioned a

process. It is as I mentioned a competitive opportunity um so it's really in demand. Um but hopefully that goes to show how how valuable it is as an opportunity. So there's typically

an opportunity. So there's typically about two to four spots per participating department each year. On the screen you can just see

year. On the screen you can just see again just to hopefully give a bit of context or more information about how that kind of breaks down across departments and the numbers that are

available. This are the list of IUP

available. This are the list of IUP exchanges for this coming summer and the departments that are involved. So

hopefully that gives a bit more understanding to to how the numbers spread out. Just a little bit about the IRO

out. Just a little bit about the IRO process if you were interested in kind of thinking about applying to IROP when you join Imperial. It starts in the autumn term of the year that you would

go on on your IRA placement. So the

department's exchanges are advertised to all of the eligible students around about October, November each year and then students apply to the exchange and the form kind of asks you to identify

five supervisors of interest at the host institution. So you really do get the

institution. So you really do get the chance to do your own research into what exciting areas of work are going on at the partner and choose or identify some supervisors whose work you would be

really interested in finding out more about and working with at the partner and through that application process.

You'd also be of course very welcome and encouraged to access all of the resources from the careers service that Jason has already mentioned to help you in putting together a good application

for the program. And then in the winter term we come through to the decisions being communicated to applicants. So

that's about January. And then through kind of that spring term, February, March, students are nominated to a host supervisor and then expected to kind of work with that supervisor to plan the

project that they're going to do the next summer.

And at the same time, as you can imagine, there's various administrative processes that um you need to take to go overseas and do these kind of placements. And you'll get full support

placements. And you'll get full support with all of those from the IROP team at Imperial, but also the host institution that you'll be going to. So, there's

lots of great support to help students go through and navigate that process.

And then from sort of summer, April to June, it's finalizing those pre-eparture processes, visas, getting ready to go.

Um, and finally, the placements begin in the summer. So, that gives you an idea

the summer. So, that gives you an idea of the year-long kind of prep application process to then going abroad in the summer for your IRA

placement. In terms of the research

placement. In terms of the research projects that you would get a chance to do, well, I think I've already mentioned a large kind of emphasis on you really getting to explore the interests, the

areas of interest that you kind of want to go into. So students and supervisors plan the project together and that's a really great opportunity to really experience what doing independent

research is like. So if you are interested in perhaps doing a PhD or you're just curious about whether you would like to do a PhD, we have often had students do this program and kind of

use it to explore what that experience is like and and gain really valuable insight to inform their future direction. whether that is to go on to

direction. whether that is to go on to do a PhD or perhaps something else. It's

also because it's not assessed a chance to explore perhaps a different topic that you wouldn't normally get chance to do at Imperial. Perhaps there's

particular equipment or expertise at the partner that doing a research project abroad would allow you to get access to.

Um, and it also can help you when you come back for your final year project, which many degrees um, involve because you kind of had a bit of that experience of doing independent research and you're

really set up well to go into that final project. As well as that, there's kind

project. As well as that, there's kind of the opportunity to experience a new research culture. Um, you all have got a

research culture. Um, you all have got a lot of experience at Imperial and how things work at Imperial while you're here, but this is a good chance to go and experience a new environment and

really broaden your perspectives and your horizons on what you might want to go on to do in future and get a great different new experience to bring back to Imperial when you come

back. And again, it's a great chance to

back. And again, it's a great chance to expand your network. So all of the people you would meet doing this IRO project, including your peers from Imperial um is a great group of people

to get to know and and as you go through your future career. So I've mentioned it's not assessed, but of course that does doesn't mean you kind of there isn't a structure to it. You do agree a

specific output with the host supervisor. Some people use it to kind

supervisor. Some people use it to kind of do a presentation to their research group, write a report. you can really inform what you would like to do in that in that placement through working with

your supervisor and what your goals might be. There's a little quote here. I

might be. There's a little quote here. I

think this was from another participant who went to MIT in a previous year and I think just to emphasize that outside of the research is also a really important thing to consider. So

going overseas to do a placement whether it's IROP or something else is a really great way to explore and have fun in a new environment um as well as doing all

the important research and gaining those skills. So I mentioned support. I'll

skills. So I mentioned support. I'll

just briefly run through what that it looks like for IROP. So we have an IROP team at Imperial. That's me and one other colleague and we provide support to all of the IRO participants who go

overseas each summer. That involves a few different meetings and briefings throughout the preparation process. We

also arrange Q&A sessions with previous participants and you'll get to know your other fellow IROP cohort peers as well through those sessions. And we also have

drop-in support sessions. So, lots of great support to help people navigate that process and get ready to go abroad.

as well as the support from the host institution as well which is provided more detail in terms of visas, travel arrangements and things that you need to know to get ready to join them for the

summer and then accommodation is also arranged for IROP students through the host institution. So you don't have to

host institution. So you don't have to worry about trying to find your own place to live in that IRO placement. And

in terms of what we request from IR students after the placement is um everyone's asked to do a written reflective report which is a really important stage to just take stock of

what your experience was over the summer. all of the great skills you've

summer. all of the great skills you've developed, perhaps making use of some of the resources from the careers service as well to think through all of the things that you've developed and learned and how you might articulate them going

forward. Um, there are opportunities for

forward. Um, there are opportunities for returned students to join that alumni network and support future students as an ambassador in future information

sessions and and other opportunities like that. So it kind of is an

like that. So it kind of is an experience that carries on when you return from your IRO placement in the summer. And then I'll just finish I'll

summer. And then I'll just finish I'll leave this slide up for a bit. Some more

great kind of experiences and pictures from some of our IROP participants from previous years. And perhaps I'll just

previous years. And perhaps I'll just add that IROP is an exchange program. So

while we are sending about 35 students overseas each summer, we're also welcoming a similar number from our partner institutions to Imperial to do reciprocal placement. So those students

reciprocal placement. So those students tend to find themselves working with Europe students from Imperial. So if you do a Europe placement, you might also get a chance to meet a student from one

of these partner institutions who is joining us for the summer at Imperial.

So I'll leave that there for a few moments so you can enjoy the reflections and um just thank you for for listening and for your interest and happy to take questions. I think we'll move into that

questions. I think we'll move into that in a moment. Hello. Yes, I think we've had a

moment. Hello. Yes, I think we've had a couple of questions in. I don't know if you can see them in the Q&A section. Andy, I picked up a couple that

section. Andy, I picked up a couple that there's two in there. I think someone's asked about um has anyone who's taken part in research or placement been given a permanent job. So, in the I've I've

typed a reply there. Um I can expand on that. The short answer is yes. um

that. The short answer is yes. um

internships, particularly the extracurricular ones that have taken place over the over the summer um you know the 8 8 week 12week ones. Often

employers will use these as a long type interview and that gives the intern the student the chance to experience the culture in the workplace but it also gives the company the chance to experience the student and and and how

they they get on. Do they like the work and so forth. Now it's a two-way thing.

doesn't mean that, you know, if you're offered a graduate role at the end of your internship, you must come to that company. It's just a it's a nice

company. It's just a it's a nice position to be in, right? If you're in your in your penultimate year and then you come back to your final year knowing that you're holding a a graduate job, um

you can just purely focus on your your your final your final year. So, yeah,

many many um companies do use the internship as a long interview, shall we say. they'll at least fasttrack some of

say. they'll at least fasttrack some of the the interns through to their assessment centers and so forth. In

terms of those internships I spoke about at White City, yep, we have two two two students who took uh internships up there that were offered uh full-time jobs at the end of their studies up at

White City as well. So, it's not just the big corporates that are doing it,memes uh are doing it as well. And

and it it saves them money, right?

because if they if they know they've got a quality candidate, they don't need to go out to that for that advert for that that person if they know they've already got them.

Maybe I can just add and echo that and say yes um students that have done IROP have also gone on to do PhDs at the host institution in a number of cases. So I

think everything that Jason said about the value of these opportunities um and what they might allow you to kind of go on to do and as well as just the experience for yourself to explore options and use this chance to think

what do I want to do and try new things while you're at university is a great thing because even if you discover it's not for you that's really valuable experience and useful to take forward into what whatever you go on to do

next. I've just looked at a couple of

next. I've just looked at a couple of answers as well. I think the the answer that Jason's given about Europe in terms of do I need experience to apply to Europe or IROP the same would apply to

to IROP I think exactly as Jason said so strong academic record and showing interest in an area in the area of research I think the only other thing I'd add is for international placements

why you want to go and take part in an international opportunity what is it about doing this outside of the UK outside of Imperial that's that's interesting to you so showing some kind

of enthusiasm about what that brings is also really important for IROP as well.

There's a question around about does any of the information given today change home v international? Um there there's always caveats I think around about the you know the international in terms of

the visa uh requirements and what you can and cannot do in terms of uh working on on your visa. Um the international

student support uh team at Imperial are on hand just to clarify any any any issues that that may arise. It's

incumbent on on on the student and the institution to make sure that um uh our students our international students are complying with their visa. I'm not

qualified to mention anything about visas but broadly speaking that what I've talked about would be generally open to international um students. the

internships over the summer. It depends.

You can only work obviously outside of term time and and and the the you know, you would need to check any restrictions on individual visas. And I would recommend anything around this that if you do decide to come to Imperial that

you are clear about the restrictions that are that are on international students and have a have a discussion with the international student support team who are very friendly, very welcoming. Level five Sheffield. They

welcoming. Level five Sheffield. They

run dropping drop in appointments and they are our institutional experts on anything uh international.

There's quite a general one about any exciting opportunities coming up for research. I mean that's you know that

research. I mean that's you know that that that's a personal thing and anywhere in Imperial there's exciting stuff going on. every day I see something coming through from inside Imperial which is our internal set of

staff uh bulletins about uh the research that goes on at the university. So yeah,

I I I think I could genuinely say that there will be opportunities for exciting research depending on what you're interested in. Um there is research

interested in. Um there is research going on in every faculty and every department within the university. Uh and

I'm sure you would uh for sure find exciting opportunities.

Yeah, I'd agree with that. And I think also while you're at Imperial, there's constantly um sessions, lectures, events, and things to share the research that's going on at Imperial that all of the

college or Imperial community is kind of invited to and able to get involved in.

So, as well as IROP and all the other things, um you'll be well exposed to research that's exciting research that's happening at Imperial. Um just to pick up on the home and international question. So for IROPS that's um it's

question. So for IROPS that's um it's open to home and international students but all of the things that Jason mentioned apply um in terms of just making sure you get that advice from international student support on what

kind of applies to your situation. But

in general IROP is open to all home and international students that are qualify under the other eligibility criteria. Um there is a direct question

criteria. Um there is a direct question about IROP for is the IRO program open to students from the life sciences department. It was not written that this

department. It was not written that this department has places. So this coming summer life sciences isn't a participating department in the IROP exchange but we do as I say placements

and departments uh are subject to change each year. So it's possibly will be on

each year. So it's possibly will be on board in future but currently life sciences isn't involved in that scheme although there are a lot of other opportunities through the department that you should kind of research and and

think about if you're interested in international exchanges and things like that.

There's a can I just pick up a question, Laura, here? There's a there's a jobs

Laura, here? There's a there's a jobs live specific uh question, and the question is, can jobs live also be used to find paid part-time work that we can do alongside our studies to earn some

extra income, or is it strictly used for full-time research-based jobs? There's

two things to clear up here. One, jobs

live isn't just full-time researchbased jobs. Um, it's a jobs board for graduate

jobs. Um, it's a jobs board for graduate level uh full-time roles, internships, and placements. There is no part-time

and placements. There is no part-time jobs per se on jobs live. We

occasionally get some tutoring type uh roles, but we we don't have the capacity or the resource to establish a standalone part-time jobs board. In

terms of part-time work, um there has been a review in terms of uh what the university says and and obviously, you know, in a cost of living crisis, we know students are needing to work uh

part-time and there's many roles within the students union. There is

volunteering um there's um ambassador type roles which are paid um within within the the university and we can support students with a discussion around about you know where to look for

general part-time work and help with the CVS and and so forth but jobs live doesn't carry any um part-time uh work.

The students union were looking into this in terms of whether they could curate a one-stop shop in terms of where part-time uh opportunity may be found.

Um, but it's just also to clear up that jobs live is is is not just full-time researchbased jobs. It is a graduate

researchbased jobs. It is a graduate vacancy board with say 5,000 employers and about 30,000 uh different roles throughout any academic year. I think there's a there's a

year. I think there's a there's a question how does one go about joining some already established research projects? I think um the Europe scheme

projects? I think um the Europe scheme that Jason mentioned is probably the best starting point to to find out about research joining a research project at

Imperial on an extracurricular basis. Um

that's probably the first thing I would mention other than your department and what things they might make available to kind of students within the department.

But um Jason, if you have anything else to to add on that. What what I would what I would say is is if you go on to the Europe um web pages that there is um

a stepbystep guide in terms of you know what they are where the research areas are how to apply and also actually if you've got your own idea an area of research you're interested in how to how

to go about that. So you know there is an established uh way of going about joining these and and it's all handled through the um you know through the

Europe uh program that that that's not a career service program that's a that's a registry type central uh university uh program but you'll get lots and lots of

interesting information and case studies um how to apply they used to I don't know whether the new process did but they also did advertise by faculty and department what opportunities were

available uh and what research was going on that were suitable for a Europe type program. So the information is

program. So the information is there. There was there was a question

there. There was there was a question around about can someone say for example study in medicine apply to Europe for work experience in computing. there

would be nothing stopping you other than the academic requirements of the MBBS uh in terms of I don't know clinical expectations over the you know o over

over the periods of of of holiday if you like or vacation the medics tend to run slightly differently to other areas of the university um and the same would

apply for internships uh outside extracurricular internships you you would have to be clear in terms of what would be permissible and possible within

the confines of your particular academic uh study. I'm going to talk very slowly in

study. I'm going to talk very slowly in case any last minute questions come in.

Um but thank you so much to everyone for all of your questions. Um, and

especially thank you so much to Jason um and to Laura for your time um and for giving all of uh your amazing advice to our offer holders. Uh finally, thank you to the offh holders as well for everyone

for your questions, but also thank you for joining us. Uh those of us that have joined us live. Um and to all of you that are watching this on catchup. Um

again, thank you very much. If you do have any questions or if your question wasn't covered and wasn't answered live, please do get in touch with us. um and

we'll pass any questions on and we'll make sure that they get uh answered. But

good luck to all our offer holders who are sitting exams in the coming months.

Um and thank you very much for joining us today. And I'm going to say a final

us today. And I'm going to say a final thank you to Jason and Laura um just before we sign off. So thank you very much. Um and have a great rest of the

much. Um and have a great rest of the day everybody.

Thank you all and maybe see you uh very soon our offer holders. Yeah. Thanks

everyone. Bye.

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