Scientist Training Programme – STP Perspectives

Public engagement

Hi, my name is Jas and I am a third year Genomics trainee working in Cambridge. Over the past couple of years on the STP I have been involved in public engagement which is an important part of the programme. During the pandemic opportunities for face-to-face public engagement were limited. However, I was invited to take part in a virtual careers events for a University that I had previously attended. I had the opportunity to talk to Biomedical science students about my experience with the STP. It was really rewarding talking to the students as they clearly were enthusiastic about the event as their opportunities to learn more about their career options had been limited by the pandemic. They had many interesting questions to ask and I enjoyed informing them about my experience on the STP and the application process.

How I failed the STP IACC & then passed

This is a blog post about how I failed my first attempt at the IACC exit assessment in the summer of 2022. It’ll cover:

What went wrong
How you can potentially avoid this
How to prepare for a resit

Most of the advice in this blog I received from meeting with senior scientists, others who had failed and my wider support network. This post is a thank you to those people and I hope sharing the advice they gave me is useful to you. I also want this blog to show you that failing is something that is a normal and natural part of life, which has happened to everyone you know and will happen to you too, perhaps even at the most pivotal part of your career to date.

Adriana’s blog post on the IACC has many brilliant tips and I’d recommend reading it alongside this one as I’ve skipped some of points to avoid duplication. This blog post was correct for the STP IACC 2022. The IACC is going to change over the coming years, please check the NSHCS website for the latest guidance on the STP exit assessment relevant to your cohort.

Reflections from Graduates

We spoke to two successful STP graduates who have been qualified for 1+ years and are working as either registered or accredited healthcare scientists in two busy NHS Trusts. We asked them to cast their minds back to their first year selves and consider two questions with the benefit of their hindsight and experiences.

STP Specialisms | Andrology

Hi, my name is George and I’m a second year Andrology trainee at the Shropshire and Mid Wales Fertility Centre. Andrology is a relatively new specialism so there aren’t currently many trainees or fully qualified Andrologists, and it may not be as well-known as other specialities, so hopefully I can give a bit of an insight into what the role involves!

What is Andrology?

Andrology is the branch of science relating to male reproductive health, so the clinical scientist role covers working with male patients struggling with infertility, preserving male fertility for those who may become infertile in the future, and dealing with sperm donation, which is a vital resource for those who cannot produce or use their own sperm. It is a varied role, so tasks may be different from day-to-day and different clinics may place difference emphasis on each of the areas within the field depending on their clinical workload.

STP Specialisms – Embryology

What is Embryology as a clinical field?

Fertility treatment has been an established medical specialism for over four decades, yet many people are unaware of what it entails, and the role clinical and non-clinical staff play. An IVF clinic combines the skill sets of consultants, specialist nurses, and scientists to assist couples trying to conceive. The latter is where I come in. Hi! My name is Laurie-Anne, and I am a second-year Embryology trainee (Reproductive Science) at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust. I’m going to show you what a day in the life of an Embryologist is like and how we contribute to fertility treatment.

Preparing for your IACC

It has been such a long time since I wrote a blog here it feels a bit surreal. Thank you to everyone that has kept STP Perspectives alive and thriving. I was hoping this could be published earlier but work and annual leave have significantly delayed it. I am still including the IACC write up tips in case it would be useful insight for second years. If you are just interested in interview tips please skip further down. 🙂

What is the IACC?

The IACC, another STP acronym for your collection, is the Independent Assessment of Clinical Competence. It was introduced in 2020 to replace the OSFAs due to the constraints of the pandemic but it may be here to stay. My STP year was the first cohort to sit the IACC as their sole final assessment and I must say it has definitely improved since then. In my final year we got a flavour of the OSFAs as we had our mocks just before all the lockdowns. I am not sure I enjoyed the OSFAs but I was determined to practice and be ready for the real ones. The school came up with this alternative assessment which didn’t need 12 different stations and everyone gathering in London, which might be a bonus for our environment as whole. Since then after passing the IACC and finishing the STP I was also given the opportunity to assess some IACCs so in this post you will get both a perspective from someone who has written it but also assessed it.

STP Support | Loneliness & the STP

This week (9-15th May) is Mental Health Awareness Week and this year’s focus is on loneliness. According to recent figures from the Mental Health Foundation, ‘One in four adults feel lonely some or all of the time’.

Unfortunately this is something that has become a much bigger issue over the past couple of years due to Covid, and we have likely all experienced loneliness to some extent during the pandemic.

The STP: Application, Interview and First Year Structure – Medical Physics

My name is Holly and I’m a first year Medical Physics trainee specialising in Radiotherapy, across Suffolk and Essex. I first heard about the STP in a careers lecture during year 1 of my undergraduate degree and began preparing to apply virtually as I left the hall. Hopefully this post will give a little insight (and hope) for entrance to the STP and what to expect once you reach the flip side

Before too much waffle I just wanted to say when I began my application to the STP, I felt like I may as well have been applying to be an Olympic sprinter (I reckon I’ve ran successfully about a 2km total in my entire life). I applied with an undergraduate physics degree from a smaller university, and my work experience was serving chips, so it goes without saying if I can do it, you certainly can.

Application and Interview

For anyone who is a skim reader, here are my main tips beyond your long-listing:

International Women’s Day 2022

International Women’s Day (IWD) evolved from the universal suffrage movement that originated in New Zealand, and was the catalyst for movements in North America and Europe in the early 20^th century. It is recognized throughout the world in a diverse range of ways, however became ‘official’ in 1975 when the United Nations began celebrating it. To commemorate IWD in 2022 we are shining a light on some current and past STP trainees. We asked them a range of questions to find out what inspired them to pursue a career in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics).

STP Specialisms | Ophthalmic and Vision Science

Hi, my name is Linda and I’m a third year STP trainee in Ophthalmic and Vision Science (OVS) at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust. While we may not be one of the larger specialisms out there, we have a vital role to play in patient care. After all, vision is one of the most fundamental ways we experience the world, and the eye is a window into the brain and body! For those considering starting their journey with clinical science, hopefully I can provide an eye-opening insight (see what I did there?) into the ‘What’, ‘Why’ and ‘How’ of OVS.