North West Biotech Initiative

Olivia Knapp - Chair (2021-2022)

Student society helps young scientists set their sights on life outside the lab

For eight years, the North West Biotech Initiative (NWBI) has been helping science students see beyond the bench.

The NWBI, as a student society, exists to help undergraduates and postgraduates who want to stay in science but don’t necessarily want to remain in the lab or academia.

NWBI has a busy events calendar with career skills competitions, networking with biotech companies and science-based consultancies and webinars – covering topics such as inclusion and women in STEM - open to science students curious about work opportunities beyond university.

The society - run by an enthusiastic committee of 10 postgraduate volunteers – has been given a helping hand by MEC who have offered financial support, access to industry contacts, mentoring support for its competitions, and a sounding board for the committee members.

Olivia Knapp, Chair, North West Biotech Initiative said: “MEC is our main sponsor and that really relieves the pressure. The MEC staff are very nice, friendly, helpful and open. They don’t treat us like a small student society, they treat us as an equal, which made it very easy to contact them. Having MEC back us has been fantastic.”

As a result of MEC sharing news about the North West Biotech Initiative and their activities, the NWBI has been able to reach a wider non-scientific audience including the business community.

Olivia said: “When you’re doing a science degree, there’s a lot of emphasis on academic jobs – how to become a postdoctoral researcher or go into research and development. We raise awareness of what else is out there in the world of non-academic science jobs.

“We want to help students develop the skills they need to go outside of academia and that is literally learning by doing. We are creating opportunities for them to have those experiences even while they’re studying. It’s helping people who are very focused on science to understand the business side of things.”

NWBI

The annual North West Biotech Initiative signature competitions include:

 

“The word entrepreneur, for me, is very intimidating. I imagine someone very creative who’s made a million pounds out of nothing,” admits Olivia.

“But one of the really good things that the society offers is bringing that business mindset to scientific endeavour through the competitions. There are all these opportunities to interact with senior partners in companies that you never would have had if the society wasn’t there.

“We’ve had judges, acting like recruiters, asking competitors to apply for jobs at their company. So, some of these people may land jobs because they’re having this exposure. That’s amazing.”