STP – 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.

Bioinformatics: It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s magic?

What is bioinformatics?

Good question. Let’s start off with some definitions:

How to write reflectively

Sally Clee, Education Training Manager, NSHCS. Sally.clee@hee.nhs.uk

Why record your reflections:

“It allows for a continuous relationship with self, where you can write and revisit as you please” (The University of Edinburgh).

Writing down or recording your reflections enables you to:

Take a step back from the situation – acknowledge the emotions but not dwell on them
Revisit your reflections
Be forward thinking and outward looking
Take time to focus on what is important – the key learning from the situation

How to “ace” the NHS STP application process

Contributers: Martyna Borak and Sophie Reed (OUH Genomics STP trainees)

My story

Hi, I’m Jess and I’m a 1^st year NHS STP trainee in Bioinformatics (Genomics) at Oxford. I first heard of the NHS STP through a friend on placement and was intrigued. I heard that it was a degree apprenticeship scheme where you study for a master’s degree at the same time as gaining clinical experience which sounded awesome. After doing more research about the scheme on the National School of Healthcare Science (NSHCS) I decided to apply in 2021 for Genomics but was unsuccessful. This led me to do the typical “panic” master’s (when one does a master’s degree because they do not know what to do or want to change career paths) where I gained more experience about bioinformatics and reapplied in 2022. Other people have also applied multiple times (I know someone who was successful on their 5^th try) and some people have done post-docs, but others get in on their 1^st time. In this post, I will talk about my applications process and tips.

STP Support | New Beginnings

First things first – a belated congratulations for gaining a place on this highly competitive training scheme. This is certainly an achievement not to be ignored! You will have had a couple of months acclimatising to the training scheme and your new home. For some of you, this may be the first time you have moved away from home, for others it won’t be, but will still require you to adapt to not only a new job but a new location too. This short post will offer some first-hand tips to aid settling in, now that winter is creeping in and the dark evenings are getting longer.

Let’s take the positives

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.

STP Support | Keeping the balance

This post aims to volunteer some tips for managing your time and workload on the STP… which is no easy feat!! They are the personal views and experiences of a second-year trainee.

A juggling act

During the STP applications process and subsequent acceptance of a training post I was certainly expecting my new role to challenge and develop my time-management skills. However, I didn’t fully appreciate that the role would require the juggling skills of a high-level circus performer.

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.

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).