1. Faculty of Biological Sciences
  2. Masters
  3. Professional and career development

Professional and career development

A student working on a laptop at a table.

We take your personal development and employability very seriously.

Industry-backed degrees

We have a proactive Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) who advises us on what they look for in graduates and ensures that relevant employability related skills are embedded within all our courses.

In the video below, Sian Estdale, now VP Global Clinical Operations at ACM Global Laboratories (and previously at Covance) talks about how the board helps ensure our programmes prepare our graduates for their careers:

Employability

Our dedicated student opportunity team will support you throughout your time at Leeds, making you aware of events and opportunities to increase your employability.

The faculty team and wider careers service will support you to:

  • explore career options and career planning
  • understand the PhD application process and optimise PhD applications
  • learn how to use LinkedIn and other social media for effective networking and career opportunities
  • practice interviews for both job and PhD applications.

You’ll have access to seminars and presentations from industry professionals (including our alumni) at Faculty-led career events.

We also host regular research seminars presented by leading academics from around the world on their specialist subjects.

The student opportunity team will keep in regular contact about opportunities and support digitally via various channels including the regular FBS career opportunities newsletter, dedicated employability Facebook group, ​Student Information Sharepoint​ and minerva employability and careers organisation.

Biodiversity and Conservation MSc student, Maya Baker, was able to secure an exciting position closer to home thanks to the Facebook group:

I've taken up a Seasonal Assistant Ecologist role. The position was advertised on the Faculty of Biological Sciences Employability Facebook page which has been such a useful resource throughout my time here. My role is based in York, which is where I live, so it especially helped to not just have Leeds based jobs highlighted.