The School recognises the importance of relevant experience to help inform students aged 16 - 19 to make appropriate course choices.  The School offers work experience across a range of research areas outlined below which will provide students with the opportunity to experience/observe what it's like to work as part of team on projects related to the major areas of research going on across the School and Institute for Health Sciences.  This may range from laboratory based work (including cell biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, etc) to bioinformatics to qualitative/epidemiological projects and participants, dependant on the subject/discipline they wish to pursue, will be exposed to range of key skills including:

• scientific reasoning
• laboratory methods
• theoretical principles
• science communication
• teamworking.

How to Apply

While we will try to facilitate as many requests as possible, this will depend on the level of demand for placements in specific Centres. 

You are encouraged to access Centre websites to get an understanding of the type of research being undertaken before applying as you will be required to select one Centre in your application.  Details on opportunities in the Centre for Biomedical Sciences Education are also outlined below.

Applicants should complete the application form accessible through the link below. 

Work Experience Application Form

On receipt, the relevant Centre will contact you by email to confirm whether it can/cannot facilitate your request and to make arrangements for your placement.

Centres Offering Work Experience

Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine

The Institute has a limited number of placements available from June 2022 onwards. 

The Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine offers A/AS level students a work experience/shadowing opportunity to see a snapshot of what it is like to work in a vibrant biomedical research facility.  Successful placements will be limited to a maximum of three days, during which the student will have a chance, under close supervision, to shadow postdoctoral researcher fellows or PhD students involved in, eg molecular cell biology research projects and learn about various basic and specialised laboratory techniques.   They will also be able to assist technical teams in basic laboratory housekeeping tasks, such as simple equipment maintenance/checks, infrastructure organisation, inventory updates & compliance documentation, etc. In the video below students share their experience of working in the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine.

The Patrick G Johnston Centre for Cancer Research

Unfortunately the PGJCCR is unable to offer A-Level Placement Opportunities until further notice. In the meantime please learn about some of the interesting and exciting research in our Centre by watching these videos:

• https://twitter.com/i/status/1309085175926730752
• https://twitter.com/i/status/1309054973481713666
• https://twitter.com/i/status/1309132497754742788

The Patrick G Johnston Centre for Cancer Research, which is a dynamic research centre with the explicit aim of translating basic scientific programmes into the clinical arena, offers the opportunity for students to gain an insight into the ground-breaking research and state-of-the-art labs through attending a one-day work experience event. This promises to be an exciting and informative event during which you will have the opportunity to hear talks from world class scientists, tour the cancer research laboratories, chat to researchers about their work and learn more about the causes, treatments and prevention of cancer. You will also have the chance to meet PhD students and post-doctoral research fellows who are in the early stages of their career.”  If you are interested in finding out more about a career in cancer research then please express your interest in attending a future event by emailing ccrcb@qub.ac.uk 

Centre for Public Health

The Centre for Public Health offers A/AS students up to 3 consecutive days’  work experience in our molecular epidemiology and nutrition research laboratories. We also offer office based work experience in the Centre for Public Health’s general office  and with our many research programmes including:

• The Northern Ireland Cancer Registry
• The Northern Ireland Cohort for the Longitudinal Study of Ageing
• The Administrative Data Research Centre Northern Ireland
• GENIUS School Food Network
• The SPACE Study
• The Groundswell Consortium
• ENGINE
• The Belfast Ophthalmic Reading Centre

Centre for Biomedical Sciences Education

The Centre's work experience programme gives AS/A level students the opportunity to engage in a one to three day period of observation which will give an insight into the modules offered within our Biomedical Science/Human Biology Degree Programmes.  The benefits to participants include:

• Experience mainly in the areas of Histology (processing, sectioning, staining and photographing tissue samples) and Tissue Culture (the culture of cells, a variety of techniques subsequently used on the cells depending on research requirements and viewing/using a Confocal microscope);
• Seeing first-hand how theory is turned into practice and how learning is applied in a working environment.
• Observation of the skills required in the work place/development of a work ethic and exposure to work place culture;
• Work with experts in the field.

Medicine and Dentistry

The School cannot facilitate work experience in clinical medicine or dentistry and candidates interested in this type of work experience are advised to contact the relevant Health and Social Care organisation.

Useful Links:

• Belfast Health and Social Care Trust:
• Northern Health and Social Care Trust:
• South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust
• Western Health and Social Care Trust