My virtual internship experience

Posted on: 29 July 2022 by Richard Finch in Student experiences

Biological and Medical Sciences student Meghan took part in a Bright Network Virtual Internship in June.

My name is Meghan Williams and I am a Biological and Medical Sciences student at the University of Liverpool. In September I will be entering the Master’s year of the Integrated Master’s course I am studying, and having just finished my final ‘undergraduate’ year I am beginning to think about my employability and my career following graduation in July 2023.

Over the past three years, my ideas about my dream job have changed- I initially wanted to do research, but the multiple science communications modules I have studied have made me aware of my passion for public outreach. This was only ignited further by the Covid-19 pandemic and the obscene amount of misinformation and scaremongering that occurred.

When it comes to my skill set, I can say that I am very competent in science and biology, as I have studied biology and chemistry from GCSE, through to A-level and then at university. Although this is a big part of science communications, I realised I am lacking in knowledge surrounding policy that is so essential in science communications. I have never had the opportunity to learn about policy, and so when I heard about the Bright Network online internship I was very keen to get involved and immerse myself in the accessible resources.

The internship was extremely easy to fit in around my schedule as all of the resources were made available to me before the two week window for the deadline of a written task was set. I could watch the interesting and well made videos in my own time, before completing the two small written tasks and a reflection.

Bright Network were in constant contact with me over emails, and an app called Guild was used to allow each of the people on the internship to communicate with each other and ask questions. Resultantly, this was an amazing opportunity to network and I have talked to lots of new people, which has been lovely. I felt supported the whole way through.

Furthermore, there are other streams of the internship such as business and management which may appeal to other people.

Overall, this internship experience was easy to complete due to the flexibility of it and it gives you the opportunity to learn something that may be outside of your scope of expertise without any pressure. On the other hand, this may offer you the experience to push yourself further inside your area of expertise and expose you to new facts, companies and people to network with. It is an amazing concept and on completion you receive a certificate to acknowledge your participation, which is always nice after working hard on something. I wish I had known about this sooner. It is an excellent opportunity to gain experience and knowledge in a low-pressure setting from the comfort of your own home, at your own pace.

If you are interested in developing your digital, networking and commercial awareness skills as a final year student or graduate, visit our “Learn a skill” page on the Your Future website.