GRADUATE EMPLOYABILITY MASTERCLASS
Industry-led masterclasses for undergraduate and postgraduate students across Scottish universities. Students will be taken through the industry life cycle from concept to consumer, learn about career opportunities in life sciences, and build their professional network
About the Programme
The Scottish Life and Chemical Sciences Graduate Employability Masterclasses which grew out of the Glasgow Economic Leadership (GEL) Life Science Workstream has now been in existence since 2013. It has been successful in the key objectives identified by industry of:
- Helping our life and chemical science graduates understand the diversity of jobs available to them within life science companies and organisations
- Support our graduates in developing their career choice and pathway whilst also mentoring them on improving their job applications and CV
- Strengthening ties between university students and staff with industry representatives
In 2020/21 the Scottish Universities Life Science Alliance (SULSA) has led the management of the Masterclasses working very closely with Careers Officers and Academics. This has resulted in Masterclasses now taking place in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen with 12 of the Scottish universities being involved, as well as the Scottish Innovation Centres and the Scottish Chemistry Research Pool, ScotCHEM.
500 students attended the classes across the Universities in 2021 and student feedback has been incredible, with over 95% of students attending providing positive feedback on the Masterclasses and the benefit to them in their career planning.
For more information on the program please see the Graduate Employability Masterclasses report.
Want to Contribute?
The Graduate Employability Masterclasses are modelled on the Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) and we are always looking for new companies to contribute to masterclasses across Scotland and online.
We currently have four masterclass series: two in Glasgow, one in Aberdeen, one on Edinburgh (online), and one in Dundee.
Please find below a breakdown of the masterclasses and contact alison.hughes@glasgow.ac.uk if your company is interested in contributing. Each module will take approximately one hour to deliver and will include a presentation and exercise for students to work through in groups.
| Module 1 (TRL 1-2) | Identifying opportunities, basic principles, raising funding |
| Module 2 (TRL 2-3) | Proof of principle, IP management, Regulatory roadmap development, proof of concept |
| Module 3 (TRL 3-4) | Design and Development for manufacture, implementing regulatory/quality design, clinical trials, beta testing, process planning |
| Module 4 (TRL 4-6) | Manufacturing management, quality control, supply chain management, final approvals from regulatory bodies |
| Module 5 (6-8) | Customer value proposition, sales/marketing strategy, medical writing, communication plan, commercialisation |
| Module 6 (8-9) | Management of product on the market, market growth, client management, sales, future projections |
2022-23 Programme Contributors
We are grateful to the all the companies and speakers that continue to support this programme.
We would also like to thank our fantastic chairs, who expertly led our masterclasses:
- Poonam Malik, Head of Innovation, University of Strathclyde
- Cait Murray Green, CEO of Strategic Scientific Consultants and Co-Founder of Eco Cascade CIC
- Evelyn MacDonald, CEO, Scottish EDGE
- Olga Kozlova, Director of Innovation and Industry Engagement, University of Strathclyde
- Janet Halliday, Associate Vice President, Ferring Controlled Therapeutics (retired)
- Lynne Cadenhead, Founding Director and Chair at Mint Ventures and Chair of Women’s Enterprise Scotland
- Ronnie Palin, Regional Skills Planning Lead (Central), Skills Development Scotland
- Mark Cook, Life Sciences Advisor and Co-Chair of the Life Sciences Industry Leadership Group
- Lorna Duguid, Director of Life Sciences, Opportunity North East
- Steve Robertson, Freelance Pharma Medical, Marketing, and Due Diligence Advisor
- Jolanta Beinarovica, Consultant, Optimat Ltd
- Claudia Cavalluzzo, Director, Converge
2021-22 Programme Contributors
We are grateful to the all the companies and speakers that continue to support this programme.
We would also like to thank our fantastic chairs, who expertly led our masterclasses:
- Mark Cook, Director, Medtronic UK & Ireland Ltd.
- David Bunton, CEO, Reprocell Europe Ltd.
- David Scott, CEO, Tepnel Pharma Services Ltd.
- Cait Murray-Green, CEO, Strategic Scientific Consulting
- Alix Mackay, Director, The Life Sciences Marketing Agency
- David McLelland, Global Head of Viral Clearance Operations, Merck
- Mark Bustard, CEO, IBioIC
- Obinna Ubah, Principal Scientist, Elasmogen
- Allison Carrington, Skills Planning Lead (NE), Skills Development Scotland
- Lorna Duguid, Development Director – Life Sciences, Opportunity North-East
- Ronnie Palin, Skills Planning Lead (Central), Skills Development Scotland
- Poonam Malik, Head of Innovation, University of Strathclyde
- Rachel Wakefield, Business Development Manager, CENSIS
- Sarah Hunt, Key Sector Manager for Life and Chemical Sciences, Skills Development Scotland
2020-21 Programme Contributors
We are grateful to all the companies, speakers, and chairs that continue to make this programme a success.
We would also like to thank our excellent chairs:
- Alix Mackay, Director of The Life Sciences Marketing Academy
- Ronnie Palin, Regional Skills Planning Lead (Central) at Skills Development Scotland
- Lorna Duguid, Development Director for Life Sciences at Opportunity North East
- Alison Carrington, Skills Planning Lead for the North East at Skills Development Scotland
- Mark Bustard, CEO of the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre
- David Bunton, CEO of Reprocell Europe
- Kevin Moore, Owner of Business Therapies Ltd.
- Paul Winstanley, CEO of CENSIS Innovation Centre
- Philip Bailey, Senior Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh
SULSA’s Graduate Employability Masterclasses
Student Development Through GEM
I have attended the Concept to Consumer Graduate Employability Masterclasses since my last year in high school and continue to attend them now in my third year at the University of Edinburgh where I’m studying biomedical sciences. Through attending these masterclasses, I have gained a lot of experience and an amazing insight into many different fields of work in industry…
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SULSA’s Graduate Employability Masterclasses
Asking Questions Helped with Networking
The Masterclasses were pitched to me by my academic year tutor as a great opportunity to gain an insight into the real world, industry side of Life Sciences. Seeing the range of companies that were attending, from Roche to Omega Diagnostics, I was curious about how I might be able to apply my degree post-graduation with these companies. The industry-recognized badge for completion…
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SULSA’s Graduate Employability Masterclasses
Developing Meta Skills
University is great at teaching theory. Teaching so-called “hard” skills. And, in the words of one of my professors, teaching students how to be good students. On the other hand, when it comes to practical – in the sense of useful, rather than hands-on – knowledge to help us succeed in an ever- changing, fast-paced, competitive industry, academia often falls short…
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