I began university as a Bristol Neuroscience fresher in 2007, and remember how excited I was with fresh-from-school ideas of being taught by “mad, grey-haired” neuroscience professors, conducting “weird and wonderful” experiments, and ultimately of building up a solid understanding of how one of the most baffling and challenging biological systems, the human brain, works.
Three years down the line, having graduated in 2010, I can say with a hint of surprise that some of these blue-eyed expectations turned out to be true. The back-bone of the Bristol Neuroscience course is experimentation, both hands-on, where you learn a wide array of techniques, and theoretical, through understanding and conceiving experiments.
And what of the “mad grey-haired” academics? It became very apparent early in the course that the diversity of ages and nationalities, the wide-spanning areas of research and the high levels of experience of the Neuroscience professors here in Bristol are quite enviable. More often than not, our lecture topics were taught by eminent specialists with interesting international career paths.
Bristol’s strengths are that it is a fun-loving, sporty and at the same time academically rigorous institution. I know I’m bound to be biased, but I believe the Neuroscience course is particularly representative of these aspects of Bristol life, and there is an excellent vibe both within and across the years.
When I was keen for some hands-on research experience in my second year, I found that my lecturers and professors were of great encouragement, and even helped me to apply for funding for a summer research project. By the time we all chose our final year dissertation topics, I was amazed at how, without knowing it, all my friends and course-mates had such divergent choices, even though we had been sitting through lectures all together the two previous years! I chose an experimental research project as did many of my friends however others did dissertations involving teaching in schools, or conducting library research projects. This flexibility is one of the course’s great assets, and encouraged us all to explore different opportunities, and in some cases head in very different directions after graduation.
So what did I learn... really? Well, though still painfully aware of my ignorance in comparison to how much there is to be discovered, I feel I learnt a lot about the brain: and my wonder for this remarkable organ never ceased to increase throughout the duration of the course. I also developed a deep appreciation for rigorous scientific thought, and life-long tools with which to form opinions on facts and findings in all walks of life. And finally by July 2010 I felt I also learnt quite a lot about myself, and understood that in my case, I looked forward to applying science to caring for patients. I chose the clinical setting as a new canvas, and am studying Medicine on the Bristol Graduate course. I cannot recommend Bristol and Neuroscience enough if you are motivated by science, if you enjoy a challenge, a rich sociable extra-curricular life, and if you want to open doors for the future!
Having decided I would like to make a career change at the age of forty I came to Bristol University and undertook a pharmacology degree. Although this seemed daunting at times I had a wealth of support from the university and always felt like I was being taught by the best of the best. Having completed my degree I didn’t want to leave so decided to carry on my studies as a PhD student. This is hugely rewarding and it is great to feel part of the science community here at Bristol.
I chose to study Neuroscience at Bristol because of an interest in the workings of the brain and the excellent research reputation both the department and University has. Once at Bristol there were lots of opportunities to gain more research experience and there was a lot of scope to pick the subjects you are interested in. The city is a great place to be, it is a very friendly place and there are lots of different things to do. I have now started a PhD in the School of Physiology and Pharmacology
I graduated from Bristol in 2010 after studying Physiology. I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. I found the physiology course very interesting and so varied, yet allowing you to specialise in the areas that you particularly enjoy in third year. Labs were always very informative and a great way to enhance your knowledge learnt in lectures. It was so inspiring to have seminars and lectures from some of the leading researchers in their fields. Just before finishing at Bristol I was extremely lucky to find my ideal job working in an area that has always fascinated me. I am working for UK Anti-Doping – the body responsible for administrating drugs tests and educating athletes on Anti-Doping in the UK. This allows me to use the knowledge that I learnt in my Physiology degree combined with my great interest sport. I would definitely recommend Physiology at Bristol, as it provides all round scientific knowledge that is easily transferable to many different pathways.
Since graduating from BSc Physiological Science in 2008 I have worked in medical education, which is a form of pharmaceutical marketing. In my current role I am focused almost entirely on medical writing in the field of hepatitis B. I work on Continuing Medical Education (CME)-accredited events for physicians and pharmaceutical-sponsored satellite symposia. My role involves agenda development, faculty identification and briefings, and finally research and production of these presentations. The majority of my time is spent reading latest papers or abstracts / posters from recent congresses and assimilating this information into a format that can be understood by physician’s from across Europe who often do not speak English as their first language. Therefore, the most enjoyable part of my role is thinking of a visual way to represent large amounts of data or complex treatment regimen through images or algorithms. It is a challenging role as you must be able to confidently speak with both the client and Professors. By the very nature of a CME event, pharmaceutical intervention in the meeting content is limited. Therefore the speaker faculty rely on the support of medical education agencies to help produce their presentations. In addition to content development I have designed websites and branding for stand-alone meetings and symposia, and written dozens of life science feature articles for industry publications. In this role I have had the opportunity to attend congresses across the world, from Atlanta to Athens. I have also had the pleasure of working with some inspirational figures from the WHO. Working within a medical education agency has been really interesting, my basis in Physiological Science made this possible as the course truly encourages you to analyse every paper and evaluate the robustness of the study and data.
From the first year, which builds on A-level knowledge, through to final year teaching and research projects which bring you to the edge of current knowledge Physiology is an exciting and challenging course.
The School of Physiology is relatively small therefore becoming involved is easy. For example the Staff Student Liaison Committee ensures that student opinions are used to help shape the course.
As well as this the Physiology Society aims to promote mixing between the years. For example, in the recently introduced parent/child scheme first years are given second year parents to help them settle in and provide advice where needed. As well as this a number of social events are organised to allow students of all years to mix with staff. These are always great fun as it makes a nice change to see apparently very serious academics let their hair down! I have had a brilliant time at Bristol and cannot recommend Physiology enough. The course and the staff are excellent, as is the city and student life.
I graduated in 2002, after studying in the School of Physiology. I thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of the course. The third year was especially interesting with a mix of lectures and seminars concerned with current topics and research in Physiology as well as the opportunity to carry out real research in an active laboratory. I would definitely choose to study Physiology in Bristol. On graduating I decided to stay on in the department and carry out a PhD.
Bristol is a fantastic city to live in. It has excellent nightlife and a wide range of possible activities to get involved in outside of university. The university union has some of the best range of clubs and societies in the country allowing you to get involved in activities such as diving, climbing and caving. It is a fabulous place to live and study.
