Unit information: Biomedical Research, Employability and Enterprise Skills in 2023/24

Unit name	Biomedical Research, Employability and Enterprise Skills
Unit code	MVSF20001
Credit points	20
Level of study	I/5
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24)
Unit director	Dr. Robson
Open unit status	Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)	Level 4/C Faculty of Life Sciences units
Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)	None
Units you may not take alongside this one	None
School/department	Life Sciences Faculty Office
Faculty	Faculty of Life Sciences

Unit Information

This unit provides important core competencies for students in three Biomedical Sciences Schools, to equip them with the skills they will need to succeed in the final year and to enhance their employability after graduation. The unit has two main elements:

Employability – this element aims to:

• provide students with the opportunity to develop their employability skills and practice applying for a job

Research and enterprise – this element aims to:

• enhance research skills through the development of data handling, interpretation and scientific writing abilities
• provide students with an appreciation of how science is conducted ethically and sustainably
• enable students to gain an understanding how scientific ideas are funded as research projects with real world impact

The aims of this unit will be achieved through both independent and collaborative work and will foster written and oral communication skills to both scientific and lay audiences. The capacity for self and peer assessment will be developed during the unit.

Your learning on this unit

After completing this unit, students will be able to:

1. Apply for a job by analysing the job description and writing an appropriate application, highlighting their relevant skills.
2. Review and reflect on their own work and those of others.
3. Demonstrate scientific writing skills, both for a specialist scientific and lay audience.
4. Discuss ethical and sustainability issues surrounding biomedical research.
5. Retrieve and critically evaluate scientific information.
6. Analyse and interpret data, using appropriate statistical methods.
7. Design an experiment to solve a problem in the biomedical sciences.
8. Explain how scientific ideas are funded as both research projects and commercial exploitations.
9. Work as a team, including presenting the team’s work as an oral presentation.

How you will learn

• Teaching will be delivered through a blend of online and in person activities, including recorded lectures, workshops, feedback sessions and quizzes.
• For some activities, students will be divided into teams of 5-7 students. Peer collaboration and feedback will be key to achieving the intended learning objectives.
• Some activities will take place in discipline-specific strands to highlight the subject-specific research skills.

How you will be assessed

Coursework:

• CV and cover letter for job application (10%)
• Mock job interview (10%)
• Grant Proposal based on recent research in the Faculty (40%)

End of unit exam:

• Statistics MCQ exam (40%)

Credit on the unit is earned by achieving a mark of 40% or more AND satisfactory completion of the assessment elements required to demonstrate the intended learning outcomes. This includes satisfactory completion of the employability coursework and the Grant Proposal task. Failure to submit these pieces of coursework will result in a capped reassessment, with the missing assessments needing to be completed and the unit mark then capped at 40%.

The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. MVSF20001).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.