This year the Education Department supported the Big Biology day with an offering of:
Clay, Snot, Unhealthy Ponds, Minibeast Zone and a Vaccination Clinic. It was great to expand the offering on the day to attract even the youngest of visitors.
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Right okay, so as we already know being a parent is a hard task. Its life consuming having a miniature human entirely reliant on you, then add in looking after yourself and having some form of your own life and you’ve got a full time job on your hands; and that’s without actually taking into consideration the actual job you need to do in order to fund their ever growing appetite and clothe their tiny bodies that don’t EVER seem to stop growing.
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On Monday the 12th of March I was lucky enough to go to the STEM for Britain awards in the Houses of Parliament, London. This was an event with the intention of facilitating young researchers to share their findings with members of parliament and leaders of scientific organisations and other research institutions with the hope of influencing policy makers by providing information with real scientific evidence to back it up.
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March was a busy month for the Biological Sciences team. It started with Ian Davies and Dr Angela Priestman attending the Chief Scientific Officer’s annual conference at the Royal Society in London which brings together scientists and industry experts from all disciplines to discuss the application of science in healthcare. For us, the highlight of this event was being presented with the Chief Scientific Officer’s award for “Excellence in Education Delivery” by HRH The Princess Royal and Professor Sue Hill, Chief Scientific Officer for NHS England. Obviously we are tremendously proud to have received this national accolade, but more so because it reflects our close connections with employers and the importance we place on working with professions to develop learning and teaching that meets their future needs.
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In this post our Level 6 student, Sophie Barlow, discusses the power of the placement.
When I was at school my interest to study Biomedical Science was confirmed by a week’s placement work experience at a NHS hospital. At the time I was unclear about what I wanted to study, but knew that I wanted to work in a laboratory. I was given some advice from a Biomedical Scientist who told me a degree that was accredited by the Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS) was what I need to achieve in order to work in a NHS Laboratory. This led me to a small number of universities that actually offer IBMS accredited Biomedical Science degrees and eventually I chose a Biomedical Science award at Staffordshire University.
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This post comes to you from one of our Level 5 students, Katie Ryder, who wanted to share her advice with our current Level 4’s.
As a level 5 (second year) Biological sciences student, I wanted to share some advice with level 4 students about handling exams, revision and stress because last year some words of encouragement from someone whom has experienced first year would have helped me.
This year will see our Big Biology Day run for the third time. The last two years have been a huge success and it has been wonderful to see the public reaction to our very own mini science festival. The day has also been a fabulous way for different departments to work together to promote their own areas of biology to the public. What I have found most fantastic though is the huge amount of enthusiasm that our students have for events like these.
It is fascinating how many students think that academics get three months off each summer. Now wouldn’t that be something. Three whole months to do whatever we please – but alas, it is not the case. We thought that maybe our students might find it interesting to know what it is exactly that we get up to over the summer. So, here is our attempt to explain.
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In my previous blog I mentioned invisible learning. This is learning that occurs at University that is unrecognised and hence invisible. Let me explain. Recognised learning that occurs in University often involves students acquiring knowledge or actively constructing knowledge. This acquisition, considers knowledge as an entity that can be bought or transferred. Learners are referred to as ‘grasping ideas’. Students are guided in self-construction of knowledge by tutors who act as facilitators. Learning in lectures, seminars and group work occur in this way. The learning is often recognised as it is assessed. 
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To celebrate Biomedical Science Awareness Day on Wednesday 19th July, Biomedical Science lecturer Ian Davies reflects upon the identity of the profession and their role in healthcare.
“So what’s that?” “Just like Prime Suspect” “Ugh, you do what?!” – just some of the responses I have had when conversations turn to careers and education. Despite being a biomedical scientist for over 20 years, amongst 23,000 registered by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) within the UK, it can still be difficult to clearly explain what we do and why we do it.
Being a biomedical sci
entist brings together a unique mix of laboratory skills, scientific and clinical knowledge and patient-centred professional practice and focuses them upon investigating the body’s response to disease. Clinically this could be in the diagnosis and monitoring of disease, in research though uncovering the detail of disease processes (often at the genomic level) or in the development and production of new diagnostic tools or interventions. It’s not just humans either – our ‘patients’ range from flasks of cell culture disease models to the entire range of species encountered by veterinary laboratories. It goes further still – the transferrable skills of biomedical science graduates are well utilised across a wide range of life science and education professions where their ability to integrate knowledge and apply it in a professional and innovative way are prized assets.
Biomedical Science Awareness Day takes place on Wednesday 19th July, the anniversary of the birth of Albert Norman MBE, founder of the Institute of Biomedical Science. In 1912 Albert was fundamental in the formation of the “Pathological and Bacteriological Laboratory Assistants Association (PBLAA)” which aimed to bring communication, advancements of practice and development of methods and techniques to the growing workforce of “unskilled menials” working in early emerging pathology laboratories. Over 100 years later the association, now the Institute of Biomedical Science, is the focus of our professional identity, the workforce is highly educated and skilled, and its practitioners contribute significantly to the scientific community within the NHS. Continue reading
