Following the successful pilot of a BioChem Soc careers’ panel organised jointly by the RCSA and RCSU in 2025, January saw a doubling up of panels to help RCS students cope with the current, tough jobs market.
RCSU VP Education Jacob Eyre working with the RCSA team of Mike Munroe and Sylvia Watson had organised two panels this year. One for the Physical Sciences held on January 20th and one for the Life Sciences held a week later on the 27th.
Using the successful panel format from last year, the RCSA had assembled two excellent groups of alumni volunteers to share their career journeys and answer questions with RCS student audiences covering first years all the way up to post grads.
Both events were lively, with students keen to get insight into how to get the best possible career opportunities at a time when competition for jobs is stiff. In total the panels had over 250 students in attendance reflecting the high interest and excellent marketing by the RCSU team.
After listening to the panels tell their career stories and quizzing them for further insights, the students and panellists adjourned to the SAF foyer outside the lecture theatre for an hour of further informal discussion and questions over pizza and soft drinks sponsored by the RCSA.
Feedback from the students was very positive and they clearly appreciated the shared insights and info from alumni to help them on their career journeys.
Sincere thanks to the panel volunteers who all deserve a mention:
The Physical Sciences panel included; Andrew Wensley, Jenni Munroe, Dominique Kleyn, Gail Head, Simon Redlich, Sanjay Rijhsinghani and Becky Guppy. The Life Sciences panel was composed of Laura Riggall, Jamie Alldridge, Maria Jenkinson, Lydia Bisping, Mark Allen, Neha P and Nora Clarke.
Thanks also go to the IC careers team who had their staff members Becky Guppy and Mark Allen in attendance on the panels to help students with general careers support and guidance.
And finally thanks to Jacob Eyre, Jack Swires and the team of RCSU helpers behind the scenes for helping to ensure the panels went off smoothly!
These panels are so important to RCS students that they are fast becoming a regular fixture on the RCSA and RCSU calendars and we will be on the lookout for alumni volunteers once again later this year. If you are interested in getting involved and would like to volunteer please don’t wait and just reach out to contact@rcsa.org.uk
Thanks again to all involved!!
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