• Question: How do I find biology or chemistry lab opportunities outside holiday in year 12, such as work experience inside a lab or shadowing. I live near reading as well but I can't find a university that accept students for shadowing that are not undergraduate.

    Asked by RuiL to ryanellison, michellethom, Marc, celinewittke, Benjamin, Andy S, Alice C on 2 Dec 2025.
    • Photo: Alice Chernaik

      Alice Chernaik answered on 2 Dec 2025:

      There’s a few really good schemes for this- I did the Nuffield Research placements, but if you Google lots of Universities have STEM outreach programs where you can get experience working in a lab and/or in science.
      Outside of specifically designed schemes it unfortunately will be hard to find- my University for example has rules in place saying under 18s are not allowed to touch anything in the labs because we work with a lot of dangerous chemicals.
      That said, if you’re happy just shadowing, that might be possible if you are over 16. I’d look at individual groups at the University nearest you and email people in the labs directly- they may well be willing to have you along for the day.
      E.g. : https://www.reading.ac.uk/biological-sciences/research

Comments

  • Photo: Nazia B

    Nazia B commented on :

    Definitely get in touch with the outreach coordinator at the universities near you. Sometimes they will also be able to provide you accommodation..

  • Photo: Andrew M

    Andrew M commented on :

    Would you consider work experience within a company? You’re in a good location and there will be many firms locally that would have some form of research or Quality Control laboratory. Some will run their own STEM lor community outreach projects. It can be worth contacting them to ask. My own company is one of them, at Sonning Common, just north of Reading. We have Technology and Research station there, mostly chemistry and chemical engineering and have run work experience programs in the past, usually through outreach with local schools.

  • Photo: emmabull

    emmabull commented on :

    Hi RuiL, I would agree with lots of what has already been said. It is tricky, but not impossible! Big companies like GSK, AstraZeneca etc have work experience schemes but they are competitive and tend to only happen once a year. Outside of that, you can email companies and ask if there is a chance of coming in for a few days and shadowing, there is no harm in that! If you do, make sure you make the email tailored to what the company or lab is doing, tell them you have an interest in X field for X reason. It means you arent just sending a generalised email to everyone and makes you more likely to get a response. The same for laboratory groups in universities. If you have an interest in medical research for example, I would look on Reading Uni’s website and find groups that are working on cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, bacterial infection etc (Ive found this list here https://www.reading.ac.uk/biomedical-sciences/staff ), email the PI and say that you’re an A level/college student interested in studying X disease/course in the future and would love to see if there’s an opportunity to come and find out more about their research and visit their lab. Hopefully someone will come back and say yes! I know we have had sixth form students come in and visit our labs, but we are based in Norfolk so not very local to you. Good luck!