Work or study… or work and study?

The traditional career pipeline takes chemists from university to industry, but in recent years the boundaries between work and study have become more porous. Now chemists are studying for all degree levels, including doctorates, without leaving their jobs. The path between education, research and work is no longer such a one-way street and this could be to the benefit of all.

Sellafield is an example of a company that is embracing a new relationship between study and work. In the past, it has had problems with graduate retention, mainly due to its relatively remote location on the Cumbrian coast in north-west England. The company tries to recruit locally. ‘You’re looking for people who you are going to invest in … and they’re going to stay in the company,’ says Sellafield environmental chemist, Emma Atherton. One way they do this is through their local degree-level apprenticeship scheme. ‘We tend to take on between six and eight apprentices a year to do a chemistry degree, awarded by the University of Cumbria in Carlisle,’ says technical manager John McQuirk. Most of those are recruited after their A-levels, but McQuirk says they have also taken on candidates with different degrees who want to retrain as chemists.