Sciad summer interns: Jodie’s experience

With limited avenues to explore ‘science communications,’ I was fortunate enough to be afforded three weeks of work experience with Sciad this summer. From my four years’ experience working in a veterinary practice, alongside my studies in Veterinary Biosciences at The Royal Veterinary College, I understood the importance of marketing in science but knew very little about the industry itself. This led me to research opportunities and send in my CV to Sciad to enquire about work experience. After a Zoom interview, I was quickly offered experience into the world of marketing and PR which will prove to be invaluable going forward. 

After meeting all the staff at Sciad, I was matched with multiple clients to help build press lists and pitch articles to appropriate journalists and media outlets. To see journalists interested in my pitch was the satisfaction I needed to reinstate my goal of working within the marketing industry. Within my three weeks here, I have successfully pitched an article to numerous journals and media outlets. 

Following this, I was able to work with a diverse clientele to write social media posts and adverts to achieve their business goals. I was even able to learn how to set up these advertisements, using search engine marketing. Seeing the intricate processes behind getting advertisement to the correct audience I found to be very interesting. As with most advertisements, you also need graphics, so naturally I also found myself designing and creating graphics that matched within the clients branding. The variation in tasks, from researching current news stories about dry eye disease for a biotechnology company, to researching and drafting advert campaigns on the topic of digital isolation, really helped me to learn something new every day. 

The first-hand experience that I received working so closely with Sciad’s clients gave me a boost in confidence to pursue my interests in science communications, backed by all the new skills that I have learned in the meantime. I would like to extend my thanks to all the Sciad staff for their patience and for making me feel at home and I hope to be back soon!