Roshan Chopra

During my first placement at Warwick, I was lucky enough to work between the Regional Team in Strategy and the Social Sciences Impact Team with a focus on developing the relationship between our Faculty of Social Sciences and both Coventry City Council and Warwickshire County Council.

This placement culminated in two developmental workshops which brought together senior council leadership and academics from the faculty to begin identifying areas of collaboration and developing a clearer understanding of where the University could align its social science expertise and impact to make a practical difference to some of the challenges facing Coventry and the West Midlands.

My second placement at Warwick saw me working in the WMG Research Office supporting with the REF2021 submission. This involved working closely with academics to optimise their 100-word impact and significance statements for their outputs as part of the final REF submission.

Both placements offered an incredible insight into the academic excellence and diversity present throughout various parts of the university and provided an opportunity to work with amazing people across different teams and institutions.

During my 12 months at Warwick, I was lucky enough to experience working both centrally and within a department, interacting with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders. From hosting the Mayor of Kenilworth at a graduation ceremony, to presenting to a member of the Executive Team at Coventry City Council, the variety of opportunities has been incredible.

Along the way, I’ve been supported by some excellent colleagues all of whom offered their time and expertise to help me whenever I needed it. There was never a time on the graduate scheme that I didn’t feel supported. Now that I’ve recently completed the scheme, I was overjoyed to receive an offer to stay on at Warwick working as a Project Officer as part of the STEM Grand Challenge Programme Team.

Quite honestly, I don’t see myself working anywhere else!