On the 19th February 2014, CALC ran the fourth annual PSI careers event. Fifteen different companies and organisations descended on the University of Sheffield, along with approximately 90 BSc, MSc and PhD students from across the country for a half-day event which consisted of a mix of presentations, newly created workshops, and time for the students to talk to the different companies.
The companies included a mix of pharmaceutical companies and CROs (Adelphi Values, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, GSK, PAREXEL, Phastar, PhUSE, PPD, PRA, PSI, Quanticate, Roche, and Veramed). The representatives talked to students about the industry: the opportunities open to them, and their personal experiences of work in the industry to date. In addition, representatives from five universities (Lancaster, Leicester, LSHTM, Reading, and Sheffield) joined to advertise the various course options open to students should they be interested in further study.
The presentation topics for the day included an introduction to the pharmaceutical industry, a discussion of the differences between a statistician and a statistical programmer, the current trends and future challenges seen in the industry, and the role of outcomes research in the industry. In addition, we had a presentation from a new starter in the industry to give the students a real feel for what they could be doing in the next year or so. We also had a session called ‘Statisticians on the spot’: five volunteers were literally put on the spot and asked some fairly difficult questions! This ‘Mock the week’ style session was much more informal and hopefully showed statisticians in a different light.
Feedback received shows that both the companies and the students found the day extremely useful, and that this was our most popular event yet. The students particularly enjoyed hearing experiences in the ‘Statisticians on the spot’ session, and speaking to the company representatives. Many students would have liked even longer time to speak to the companies, which we plan to address for next year’s event.
PSI CALC hopes to repeat the success of the event again next year. The location and timing of the event is currently under discussion, so watch this space for more details later in the year! - See more at: http://www.psiweb.org/careers/careers#sthash.GqIgMSge.dpuf
