Student Competitions
ASET runs an annual competition - The Essay Competition, encouraging students who have recently returned to their academic institution to reflect on their placement.
The competition is launched each September and the winners are notified by the end of February.
One of the primary aims of ASET is to promote the benefits of integrating work and learning. We therefore run this competition to generate publicity material for placement staff, for them to highlight to future students the value of such opportunities. We also hope such undertakings will help students develop their reflective learning skills.
Please note that entries will only be considered from students registered with ASET member institutions. The current list of members is available on our membership page : ASET Membership
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Essay Competition
CLOSING DATE FRIDAY 2nd DECEMBER 2011
For all returning placement students, the essay competition offers a chance to write retrospectively about their placement experiences and help inform others about the benefits of undertaking a work placement. The winning 900-word essay will be awarded a £500 prize.
The competition is launched each September, with a deadline of early December and the winner announced in February.
For details of the 2011 competition, please see Student Essay Competition Flyer 2011
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Essay Winner
The 2010 Essay Competition was won by Laura Boggeln from the University of Sheffield. Laura studied Ecology with employment experience and undertook her placement at The Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA). Congratulations to Laura who received the £500 prize.
The judges also gave special commendation to Rebecca Murphy from Nottingham Trent University who received the runner up prize. Rebecca worked for Derbyshire Constabulary in the Forensic Unit.
Laura's Winning Entry
There’s nothing boar-ing about scientific research…
I’ve always had a passion for the environment and the living things around me. With childhood activities including collecting snails from the garden, making houses for spiders, and ‘saving’ frogs from the grimy brook behind the Co-op, I seemed destined for a career with animals. An addiction to David Attenborough programs kept my rebellious teenage years somewhat under control, so it was no surprise to anyone when I chose to study an Ecology degree at the best Animal and Plant Science department in the country, the University of Sheffield.
Ironically, taking part in a work placement as part of my degree was not my original plan because the option was only introduced to my course whilst I was in my second year of study. I was surprised when only two of us turned up to the placement briefing out of around 150 Yr2 students in my faculty, so I did wonder what I was getting into. However, the meeting soon made me realise that I could continue to do the all things I enjoyed, such as research and field work, but on a much larger scale. And I would be contributing to up-to-date science with a real purpose rather than just to satisfy my lecturer. The practical applications of ecology can sometimes be hard to grasp when spending hours in lectures and I knew that the way to fully understand the field was to become an active participant for a year.
To my delight, half an hour after my interview at the Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA), formerly the Central Science Laboratory (CSL), I was officially offered a placement position. I worked for the Wildlife Management Team under Giovanna Massei who, as I first discovered thanks to my ‘Google’ skills, is an internationally recognised scientist specialising in wild boar. I love all animals but I’ve never before put wild boar very high on my list. However, after a year of working with them I’ve realised there’s much more to them than bristles and grunts. Wild boar have recently been reintroduced to the UK after previous extinction and my role was to contribute to projects assessing and managing their increasing populations.
My work was balanced between field (outdoors in the sun, rain and snow) and office work. In the field I learnt a lot about the animals and their signs: by the end of the year I could identify when a wild boar was recently in the area by sniffing the air. I learnt how to use large animal traps, how to track animals wearing GPS collars using latest technologies, how to set up and use automatic motion-sensitive cameras to watch wildlife in ‘Big Brother’ style, and also had a good time driving 4x4s off-road on forest tracks. I’ve since noticed many of the techniques I learnt being used on television with animals such as rhinos and cheetahs; it’s exciting to think that I could use the skills I’ve learnt with almost any animal. Work in the forest was often tough but strengthened my character, forcing me to rely on my own initiative and has made me much more organised and independent. My office and lab work ranged from report writing, statistical analysis, dissections, and collecting and analysing boar faeces- it wasn’t all glamorous!
I was asked to write a draft scientific paper on the project I was working on. The prospect of seeing this paper published is unbelievable and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the practice of much research and writing at university. I also presented my own poster at a prestigious conference, which was quite an achievement for an undergraduate.
Since returning to university I have noticed a difference in my approach to learning as a result of my work placement. A module I have already completed involved a field course, developing my own project and writing up a report. I was able to complete this with much more confidence than previously and I’m now not quite as nervous about my final year research project. Also, I find it easier to liaise with my lecturers whereas in 2nd year I sometimes found it intimidating to approach a member of staff in a senior academic position.
I now have a much clearer career plan and there is no doubt that my placement experience has helped me achieve that. I had not previously considered extending my education to a PhD. However, after realising how much I enjoy scientific research and learning how invaluable research from PhD projects can be, I’ve penned it into my life agenda. The insights I had into the careers of my colleagues helped me reach this decision. I have met people at FERA who will continue to be friends and useful contacts into the future and I do get a little over-excited every time I see a former colleague on ‘Countryfile’ or ‘Ray Mears’!
When I look back to the fact that only two people turned up to our original placement meeting I’m still amazed. I am convinced that the placement year has given me invaluable experience and insight which will be beneficial and give me a competitive advantage over other graduates when approaching prospective employers. I will definitely encourage my university department to continue the programme. I can’t wait to crash the FERA Christmas meal this year and be a part of it again!
Rebecca's Entry
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