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Ana-Paola de SousaDaily LifeMy hours were flexible, however our access cards

only allowed us in from 7am-7pm. You had to apply

for extended out-of-hours work, for instance if your

experiment would need to run until 9pm, or if you had

to check something over the weekend. I usually ar-

rived between 9:30-10 am and stayed until 5-7pm

depending on how much work I have to do. My ac-

commodation was about 10 minutes walk away from

the IFR, but if I hadn’t managed to get this accommo-

dation, I probably would have done what many others

do, which is cycle or take the bus to work. The bus to

town only takes 20 minutes too, so going food shop-

ping, among other things was relatively simple.

Usually I would arrive, check my emails and then my

lab book, to see what I have organised that day. Some

days would involve me working by myself to analyse

lots of spectra, whereas other days would involve me

working with others to prepare and grow the bacteria

or carry out imaging on products etc. Each day was

very different, so you had to keep on top of it, but

it meant that you never fell into a monotonous rou-

tine. Every two weeks my department group (about

8 people) had a progress meeting where we would all

catch up on each others projects and show everyone

our results so far. Another girl from UEA was also as-

signed to my department and was carrying out a dif-

ferent but related project, so we saw each other a lot

and became good friends. Many of the students (PhD,

Masters, undergrads, international) all hang out and

socialise together, and they were very welcoming and

open, inviting me join them at lunch and hang out from

the very first day. The Institute is not a large place, so

you might as well get stuck in and get to know the

people you pass in the hall every day! Outside of work,

there were several get-togethers, sometimes in Nor-

wich centre, sometimes on the university campus or

in other parts of the Research Park. They were all very

relaxed and so if you felt like it you could just turn up

and join in. Lunch is a big part of the day as it is the one

point where everybody turns up to chat and catch-up,

outside or in the cafeteria (weather-dependent).

Work ProjectsFor my project I was involved with 2 departments at

IFR, the Gut and Food Safety and the Metabolomics

units. As part of my project I was growing up bacte-

ria on different sugars and then analysing the prod-

ucts using NMR. As training I went to talks on Chemi-

cal Safety, Biological Safety, Transponder training and

Quality Assurance and was trained on how to use dif-

ferent pieces of equipment related to my experiment.

IFR also runs lectures, talks and seminars by visiting

researchers which, as a member of the Institute, you

have to opportunity to go to, which is a great experi-

ence.

(Cont...)

“I would definitely suggest this internship to others, particularly if studying Biochemistry, Biology or Chemistry.”

INSTITUTE OF FOOD RESEARCHNorwich, UK

Ana-Paola de Sousa, 2nd Year, MChem Mathematics, Physics & Life

Sciences, Wadham College

Chloe McCallum, 2nd Year, MBiochem Biochemistry, Worcester College

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Lasting ImpressionsI have had a great time at the IFR and it has given me

much more of an insight into research as a career, so

now I will have to thoroughly consider whether or not

it is for me. I enjoyed being there and the social and

work environment the Institute provided, however, I’m

not sure whether the specific research done here is

what I would like to continue with.

It is definitely something I am willing to consider, more

so than before I started my internship. I’ve never been

to Norwich before, so it was nice to experience a new

city and get to explore a bit. I would definitely suggest

this internship to others, particularly if studying Bio-

chemistry, Biology or Chemistry, as everyone gets to

apply some of their subject whilst also getting to learn

about completely different areas of science too.

Chloe McCallumDaily Life

I had a very easy route to work which took about 15

minutes to cycle. I generally worked from 9am-5pm,

although the flexible working hours system meant that

I could alter this if I wished and make up the hours an-

other time. I spent most of the time in the lab, either

preparing samples or testing my samples. This is a re-

petitive task as replicates of each sample are required

in order to determine the reproducibility of the meas-

urements. The rest of the time I spent in the office with

the team, looking at data obtained or doing research

on topics I was unfamiliar with. I settled into this rou-

tine quickly and made friends with other students also

doing summer placements. I didn’t spend much time

out of work with work contacts - apart from one work

social which was good fun. I socialised with my new

housemates and spent time with family who happened

to live close by in Norwich.

Work ProjectsI cannot disclose details about the content of my pro-

ject due to confidentiality agreements. I was taught

how to use two techniques to analyse the structures

of compounds (infrared and NMR), and how to inter-

pret the data obtained. I gained an understanding of

the limitations of these methods, for example, for use

in quantitation. Whilst I was part of a bioinformat-

ics group without much recent wet-lab experience, I

was able to ask other colleagues with greater lab ex-

perience for help, for example the protocol for sample

preparation. I was also able to see my results after the

chemometrics analysis carried out by colleagues in the

bioinformatics group.

Lasting ImpressionsThe Norwich research park is a very active area for re-

search, and is closely linked with the hospital, so it felt

like there was a community of people with common

interests. Norwich itself is a nice place, although I am

not sure I would want to live or work there - it seems

that once people do they never leave! The internship

has given me lots to think about in terms of whether a

career in research is right for me, and I am looking into

other careers in which I can stay connected with sci-

ence without doing research itself, in order to have a

INSTITUTE OF FOOD RESEARCH

broader work experience.

continued.....

“The internship has given me lots to think about in terms of whether a career in research is right for me.”