ASET Competitions

The 2019 ASET Student Competition was launched at #ASET19 – the ASET Annual Conference. The competition is open to students at all ASET member institutions.
To encourage the next cohort of placement students, ASET sponsors this annual competition to highlight what students have gained from their recent placement or internship. We are looking for short accounts (no more than 900 words) that articulate the value of work experience, clearly express the value of the learning, and do so in a lively and enthusiastic manner. The competition allows students to reflect on the impact their placement experience has had on their personal development and future plans, and to reflect on how it relates to their academic studies.

There are two categories for entry, each with a prize of £400 for the winner and £100 for highly commended:
Placement/Internship/Work experience undertaken in the UK or Ireland
Placement/Internship/Work experience undertaken overseas

You can download the competition flyer here. The 2019 competition is open for entries from 23rd September 2019. Entries must be submitted via email to the ASET Office using  2019 ASET Student Competition entry form.

2018 Competition Winners
Last year the judges  were pleased to award cash prizes to the following students:
For Placement/Internship/Work Experience undertaken in the UK or Ireland
Winner
£400 Holly Kembrey, Nottingham Trent University
Holly can be seen here, on her graduation day, receiving her award from ASET Trustee, Vicki O’Brien.

The judges were particularly impressed with Holly‘s reflection on her placement experience and how it has impacted on her learning, evident from these extracts below:

“Looking back, the cost of stress from initially trying to find a placement and reflecting on the full range of emotions experienced throughout the year was undoubtedly outweighed by the enormous personal and academic development gained…. I feel far more confident in my academic studies and also in my ability to adapt to different tasks and situations…… The placements practical aspect and the theory I’d learnt at university went hand in hand – a connection I couldn’t have made myself had I not gone on placement. A much deeper appreciation and understanding of the importance to everything I was studying was therefore installed in me – which no doubt has been the fundamental driving factor for me achieving higher grades in my final year…. I think the most important development for me and why going on placement was probably the best decision since being at university, was the vast, unexpected change in mindset…. Understanding the bigger picture with how your degree fits perfectly into the real-world setting, seeing the direct effect your actions and decisions have on achieving the aims of a project.  A placement can be viewed as an investment, you put in time and energy but are rewarded with invaluable personal and academic benefits that can be used and applied in your final year of university as well as throughout your future career…. A good portion of things we want in life are outside our comfort zones, I believe a placement is perhaps the single best way to have a practice run in being outside the comfort zone. After all, it’s an opportunity we are lucky to have, it’s just whether we choose to take it or not… ”  Holly

Highly Commended
£100 Sophie Compton, University of Kent

For Placement/Internship/Work Experience undertaken Overseas
Winner
£400 Karen O’Connell, University College Dublin
The judges all commented on how Karen had taken every opportunity to learn from other interns as well as her managers, and was able to grow in confidence within the shorter timescales of her summer internship:

“….I welcomed the freedom to seek out my own placement and I was rewarded with an exciting new experience, working with the United Nations Climate Change (UNFCCC)…..
An Internship should be a learning experience and feedback is a norm within the UN. I had some articles that didn’t make the cut and some social media posts that didn’t meet their standards. This was ok though. All feedback was intended as learning experience and this is the way I took it. Ambitious to learn from my mistakes, I quizzed the experts in free moments, this also included other Interns who had different skill sets to me….. Knowing and understanding the science is one thing, but communicating it effectively is another skill entirely and a valuable skill I was glad to learn more about.. ….I gained confidence communicating the science I studied in my degree and learned the importance of being proactive and adapting to new working environments quickly…..I would encourage anyone interested in an Internship to put their résumé forward, there is nothing to lose, only knowledge to gain…..”  Karen

Highly Commended
£100 Holly Hinds, University of Hertfordshire

Previous Years’ Winners
2017 UK & Ireland – Andreas Kangari, University of Nottingham
(Highly Commended – Grace Kilpatrick, University of Exeter)
Overseas – Clare Farrell, University College Dublin
(Highly Commended -Harriet Meakin, Nottingham TrentUniversity)
2016 UK & Ireland – Harvey Steele, Loughborough University
(Highly Commended – Sophie Hazelden, Nottingham Trent University)
Overseas – Nikita Crane, Sheffield Hallam University
(Highly Commended -Victoria Powell, Glasgow University)
2015  UK & Ireland – Charlotte Cheesely, Bournemouth University
Overseas – Savannah Mukeshi, Sheffield Hallam University
2014  Kishan Somani, De Montfort University
(Highly Commended – Andrew Head, UCLan and Callum Blumire, University of Bournemouth)
2013  Stephanie Arnold, Royal Veterinary College
(Highly Commended – Julie Forbes, Queen’s University Belfast and Richard Lira, University of Salford)
2012  Chetan Kotur, Loughborough University
(Highly Commended – Shea O ‘Sullivan and Blake Keinanen, NTU, David Jones, Derby University and Danial Chowdhury, Loughborough University)
2011   Paul Brack, Loughborough University
2010  Laura Boggeln, University of Sheffield
(Runner Up – Rebecca Murphy, NTU)
2009  Lucy Armstrong, University of Bath
(Runner Up – Christopher Pagett, LJMU)
2008  Tim Chapman, University of Kent
(Runner Up – Alyxandra Milne, LJMU and Stephanie Rostron Leeds Metropolitan)
2007  Clare Dinham, University of Surrey
(Runner Up – Joshila Oree, Brunel)
2006  Grant Wilson, Robert Gordon University
(Runner Up – Ian Graney, Sheffield Hallam)
2005  Jonathan Walton, University of Kent
2004  Stacey Shepherd, University of Surrey
2003  Georgios Christos Fragiadakis, University of Kent
2002  Timothy White, Sheffield Hallam University