Vera Sham - Internship in the UK at John Innes Centre - MSc Plant Sciences

Vera Sham has done an internship in the United Kingdom for her study Plant Sciences.

Why did you choose to do your internship in the UK?

I chose the UK, because I found an internship that I found really interesting. It is an internship in the Biochemistry Department of John Innes Centre. This is a plant science research institute. The John Innes Centre currently also carries a research in plant-pathogen interaction which is the core of my specialisation, Plant Pathology and Entomology.

What was the best moment during your internship?

My best moment abroad was on the 17th of July, my birthday. On this day, every member of the

Banfield lab left their busy schedule to sit out with me to wish me a happy birthday. Afterwards,

I was handed a surprise birthday card signed by the team.

What have you learned from your internship abroad?

I developed confidence in working independently, troubleshooting issues as they arose and analysing/interpreting my own data.

What are the challenges you have faced during your internship?

The major challenges I faced during this internship were time and difficulty to get acquainted

with the British accent in English. Due to time constraint, I was not able to complete the analyses of some of my results.

Do you have any tips for students who want to do their internship abroad?

I would recommend to find an accommodation near the place you work or study. This will save you a lot of time and energy. Throughout my internship, I lived some distance away from the institute. Due to this, I spent so much time to get to the institute and to return back home by bus at the end of

the day. This time wasted could have been used for literature search and data analyses.