Harlow students experience work as a Public Health England scientist. 


PUBLIC Health England hosted what it hopes will be the first of several work experience visits for students from Harlow where it is creating a world-leading public health science campus.

Six students from Harlow College were given an introduction to a wide range of PHE work. They spent a day in the teaching laboratory learning some basic techniques used in microbiology. They then moved on to other areas including bioinformatics; sequencing; statistics and modelling; food, water and environmental microbiology; a brief history of bacteriology and a visit to the electron microscope suite.

They were also given an insight into an emergency response to an outbreak and the work of the Biological Services Department.

Hannah McGregor, QC Supervisor, NCTC, Culture Collections at PHE Colindale said: “The experience was really rewarding especially when the students were excited to hear about how they could work for PHE and how we have inspired their future career paths. I hope we can run more work experience weeks with Harlow students with more colleagues across PHE providing an insight into the work we do.”

Amanda Rosier, Head of Science at Harlow College, said: “The students found the opportunity of working at PHE invaluable and the experience has helped them understand how a career in science can be both rewarding and enjoyable. We are looking forward to working closely with PHE in the future as their move to the Harlow premises becomes imminent.”

Christine McCartney, scientific advisor to PHE’s Science Hub programme, who is working closely with local stakeholders such as Universities and FEIs, said: “Developing close links with the local colleges and universities is a crucial part of our planning for Harlow so I was delighted this went so well. The feedback from the students showed they have a real interest in both PHE and our work.”