The Science of Apprenticeships @AstraZeneca in Cambridge #NAW2019

Earlier this week all the AstraZeneca apprentices and their managers from all areas of the business got together for a jam-packed day to celebrate apprenticeships. The day brought together apprentices from areas such as HR, Facilities Management and a variety of different science roles in one room to talk about their roles, projects they’ve worked on and celebrate the huge diversity of apprenticeships on offer. There was even a a quiz at the end of the day with some covetable chocolate eggs as prizes for the winners – a good incentive!

It was really exciting to be given the platform to talk to all the other apprentices and their managers about my project.

As one of the apprentices further along in the degree course of the Level 6 Laboratory Science apprenticeship, I was given the opportunity to talk about the project I carried out during the third year of my course. This was the project I had completed part time over several months and written up into a thesis to pass my foundation degree with the University of Kent. As an apprentice in pathology, my project focussed on developing assays to find proteins of specific cell types within kidney samples to help find out more about chronic kidney disease. It was really exciting to be given the platform to talk to all the other apprentices and their managers about my project.

I also had the opportunity to listen to talks from all other areas of the business. This included one of the Level 3 Business Administration apprentices talking about her work, as well as apprentices that work in the formulations team during drug development talking about their impact within their teams. Not only was this a fantastic opportunity to learn a great deal about other areas of the business, it was also a celebration of the work achieved by the apprentices across the company.

It was truly inspiring to hear about everyone else’s achievements over the past year and celebrate them all during National Apprenticeship Week.

At the start of the day it was highlighted by one of our Vice Principals the huge amount of additional work we have done outside of our everyday roles. This included winning regional and national awards; working with BBC bitesize to create videos; working as STEM (science technology engineering and mathematics) ambassadors; and representing the company at careers fairs for apprentices. It was truly inspiring to hear about everyone else’s achievements over the past year and celebrate them all during National Apprenticeship Week.

After the celebration day, I feel inspired to continue to work hard and engage with the science in my organisation, but I also feel driven to push myself and my peers to achieve more and more. Being an apprentice for the past four years has given me so many opportunities and given me a platform to develop myself personally and professionally, it has truly been the best experience I could have asked for!

Written on behalf of the Institute