A big aspect of the apprenticeship scheme at Manchester is the sense of ‘community’ it generates between the apprentices, and the connections it created between schools as the apprentices rotate throughout different labs. Going forward in a full time role at the university allows you to start to appreciate the benefits of having connections with other members of technical staff around the university; from knowing about new techniques that your area is interested in that are already being used in other parts of the university to knowing who to ask about the best suppliers for new consumables or equipment that the area you work in might require.

Whilst this sense of community amongst technical staff has already started to be instilled within the apprenticeship scheme, over the last few months Technical Excellence at Manchester (TEaM) has started to run events that aim to achieve this on a larger scale throughout the university. TEaM is a new forum within the university aimed at bringing the technical staff together to share ideas, learn about the range of technical work that occurs at the university, and celebrate achievements.

The first event happened on the 12th December last year which all technical staff were invited to. There was an introduction about TEaM and what it’s hoped will be achieved, during which the video below was shown. There was also an interesting talk, ‘Technical Staff – Making Things Possible’, given by key note speaker Dr. Carol Yates. Afterwards, staff had the opportunity to take part in some surveys regarding aspects how of TEaM will continue to develop to suit the needs of technical staff, and a chance to network.

Since the first event at the end of last year, there has been a coffee and networking event, and a workshop on professional registration. Members have also received lots of helpful information on various topics concerning technical staff, shared via email. If you are a member of technical staff at the university and are not already on the list, then you can join by emailing technical.excellence@manchester.ac.uk.

TEaM are also organising interesting tours ‘behind the scenes’ in various areas of the university, so that we can gain a better understanding of the brilliant work our fellow technical colleagues do and contribute to. The next tours are of Whitworth Art Gallery and Manchester Museum which are both taking place at the end of March. The first of these events which took place in February were ‘Biological Services Facility’ (BSF) tours of the animal research facility in the Stopford Building.

The tours gave insight into how animals are used to facilitate research at the university. They particularly outlined the commitment to making all work carried out as ethical as possible whilst still carrying out vitally important, life changing, medical research. There are three ‘Rs’ that are taken into consideration when proposing research that involves animals, that are as follows:

Using methods to reduce the number of animals used in research.

Refining the methods that are used, in order to minimise suffering and improve animal welfare.
Actively searching for replacements for research that can only currently been done using animals, so that in the future it can be avoided.

The technical staff at the animal research facility play a huge role in ensuring the welfare of the animals that are housed there. The vast majority of the animals within the facility are mice, rats and fish, but we also saw how other animals were housed and cared for such as sheep, ducks, and rabbits. The numbers of various animals changes frequently depending on what research projects are currently being carried out. An up to date list of the university’s research involving animals can be seen here.
I look forward to attending future TEaM events and expanding my knowledge of the various technical roles around the university, and am thankful that as a member of the apprenticeship scheme I had a ‘head start’ in feeling like part of the technical community at Manchester.

My first post on this blog was entitled “Becoming an Apprentice”, and at the time I had been working at the university as an apprentice for just over six months. As I near the end of my first semester as a member of staff in the School of Materials, it feels like a good time to reflect on the differences between the beginning and the end of my apprenticeship, and talk about the process of beginning to work in a new role at the university.

Over three years ago, I was asking myself the question “what am I going to do next?” and the University of Manchester gave me the answer to that question in the form of an amazing opportunity to become one of the apprentice laboratory technicians, gaining experience in laboratories all throughout the university alongside gaining multiple qualifications and attending training sessions designed to prepare me for a future role at the university.

One thing I’ve learnt about life over the last few years however is that even when you have an answer, you should still be asking yourself ‘what next?’. The nature of the apprenticeship at the university means that there is no guaranteed job at the end of it. This isn’t because the university doesn’t want you to stay with them after your training, in reality it’s completely the opposite. The apprenticeship gives you the opportunity to find out what you want your next step in your career path to be, and to discover for yourself what type of laboratory you’re interested in working in. After your first two years as an apprentice, you are provided with plenty of support to apply for roles at the university that you are well suited to.

This level of support was what lead me to apply for two amazing roles within the university during the summer this year, and ultimately it resulted in one of the most unusual afternoons I’ll ever experience. Both jobs were in areas I had previously enjoyed working in throughout my apprenticeship, and I was offered two interviews both scheduled for the same afternoon. Within the space of three hours I interviewed for, and was offered, two different roles within the university which both speaks wonders about the apprenticeship scheme in general, and offers reassurance to people wondering what will happen once they reach the end of their apprenticeship. The university is definitely dedicated to ensuring that the young people they support through their training become permanent members of the university’s support staff.

It was very difficult to decide which role to accept, but after the first few months of working in the School of Materials, I’m starting to feel settled in my new role, and am confident that no matter what decision I had made I would have been thoroughly happy with the outcome. Just because I’m no longer an apprentice, the learning curve is far from over, and I’m slowly starting to adjust to the higher levels of responsibility involved, and the extra levels of organisation and planning that can be taken on when you know you’re going to be working in one place for longer than a few months.

Many of the ‘original’ cohort of apprentices already have permanent roles at the university, and I wish the best of luck for the future to the current apprentices, both those who are just starting to wonder what is next for them at the university and look into applying for roles, and those who have just discovered that the apprenticeship scheme is what the next couple of years will hold for them.

A huge thank you is in order to everyone involved in the apprenticeship scheme for the opportunity and the help and support they’ve provided over the last few years, and I can only hope that I’ll be able to provide similar support to future cohorts of apprentices at the university!

Amongst the recent rainy summer days, a day as lovely as today has been can only mean one thing – a barbecue! For the second year the Dean of the EPS (Engineering & Physical Sciences) Faculty, Martin Schröder, has organised a summer barbecue for staff to “say thank you for all [their] hard work”.  With over 650 staff members expected to attend, lots of planning was required, and so the weather couldn’t be anticipated. Back up plans had to be made to move the party inside if things got too downcast, but thankfully those plans weren’t needed. The weather was on our side!

We had some wonderful food and drink, including some none-traditional barbecue food such as pulled pork, and salted caramel & peanut butter ice cream… not on the same plate of course!

Along with the interesting food, there was also some great entertainment over the course of the event that showcased some of the university’s work. EEE (Electrical and Electronic Engineering) were busy racing their model cars, while Computer Science’s voice activated robots had a dance off, showed off their athletic skills with some pressups, and even fell over a few times – the surface out on the Pariser Lawn is a bit uneven, but it’s no trouble for the robots, who can easily stand themselves back up and get back to their dance moves.

All in all a lovely way to spend lunch time, and a lovely sentiment from the faculty’s Dean. We’re looking forward to next year!

Over two years ago I blogged about the apprenticeship scheme’s very first team building trip. In some ways it seems like a lifetime ago, and yet I find it hard to believe that I’m now halfway through my third year of working for the university.

A couple of months ago, members of all three cohorts of attended our third annual team building trip, filled with countless similarities and differences to the previous trips.

The first difference was the location… this time around rather than heading for the Lake District, we hopped on a coach that was bound for the Welsh coast.

Okay,  that might be stretching the truth as we never actually quite made it to the beach. Blue Peris, the activity centre in Snowdonia we were really headed for, do offer some coastal activities nearby in Anglesey that sound amazing, but the lovely spring weather didn’t agree with us on that front. Fortunately, the weather didn’t stop us having a fantastic time, and meant that enthusiastically throwing buckets of water into each other’s canoes on our last day wasn’t quite as frowned upon as it might have been if we’d ever had a hope of staying dry.

The second big difference was the fact that some of the apprentices had been on one or two previous team building trips. Every time I attend a team building event I come away from it feeling accomplished, and feel I’ve gained new skills that, but there are definitely key themes that stay with you and become much easier to adjust to each time. For the new apprentices, some of the ‘trust exercises’ may have felt uncomfortable at first, especially as there were members of the first and second cohorts of apprentices they’d not had many chances to speak to previously. I definitely remember feeling awkward during the first day of the 2014 team building, but by now it’s second nature to jump in and get involved, either taking the lead in an activity or identifying someone in your team who has the skills needed to take the lead instead.

The similarities came in the form of the actual activities we took part in. There were definitely some new experiences, for example traversing along the side of a gorge rather than actually walking along the river bed was an interesting twist on gorge walking, but there were lots of similar activities such as abseiling, canoeing, raft building, and rock climbing. We even climbed another mountain!

Although the view from the top of Yr Aran was obstructed by the huge grey rain clouds, which made it slightly less picturesque than last year’s climb up Helvellyn in the Lake District, reaching the top still gave everyone a great sense of achievement.

Each of the activities we took part in earned us a piece of a map and some coordinates and along with night walks around the quarries, a lovely meal at a local pub, and a surprisingly competitive game of pictionary, our evening activities involved using the ‘clues’ we were given each night, and figuring out how they came together to give us the mystery location of our final activity, the previously mentioned (and brilliantly fun) canoeing “debacle”, which turned into an impressive battle of water buckets!

Our last full day at Ghyll Head kicked off with a trip up to a rather daunting rock face, followed by a camera crew. The camera crew were with us throughout the day, capturing the activities we took part in, so that footage of the day can be used in a video about the apprenticeship scheme.

Our abseil down the rock climbing wall the day before came in handy, when we were faced with the challenge of abseiling down about twenty five meters of rock, followed by a further twenty five metres of abseiling without anything to brace our feet on before we reached the ground. Attached to safety ropes, we took it in turns to try and avoid the temptation of looking down while we descended! Liam even wore a camera on his helmet, to capture the experience from a first person perspective.

The abseil was much more nerve-wracking than getting down the climbing wall the day before had been, the worst part being at the very top, where you have to convince yourselves to lean back over the edge of what would be a very long fall, and trust that your ropes won’t let that happen! Another contender for the scariest part of the abseil was the moment were the rock face ended, and you had to step off the wall, and continue to lower yourself to the ground with nothing to brace your feet on.

Once we reached the bottom, we were faced with a short journey through dark tunnels in order to get back to the path that would lead us back up to where the rest of the group were, awaiting their turn. We did have to keep our fingers crossed we’d chosen the right direction through the tunnel however, so that we didn’t have to turn back and try again, as one of the paths lead to a locked gate that we wouldn’t be able to get past.

In the afternoon, we put all the team building we’d done over the past few days to good use when we went Ghyll Scrambling. A ghyll is another name for a stream, hence the name of the place we were staying, which was located at the head of a stream, ‘Ghyll Head’. We helped each other to climb through a rocky stream, and even up some small waterfalls, trusting each other to not let us slip on the rocks, or get knocked over by the current of the freezing cold water.

By the time we’d finished, wearing waterproof clothing seemed to have been pointless as most people were soaked after walking underneath one of the waterfalls, as well as falling back (voluntarily!) into a pool of water. Simbiat once again showed amazing determination and fell backwards into the water despite being unable to swim. The last challenge we faced, before getting warm and dry and heading back for tea, was jumping into another pool of water. Similarly to the Jetty Jump, the water we jumped into was freezing, and a few people waited next to the pool to help people get back out once they’d jumped.

By this point in the week everyone was exhausted, and after we’d got back and eaten, most people ended up spending the evening sleeping! We did all manage to find time to pack however, as we were leaving at lunchtime the next day, meaning we only had one activity left at Ghyll head. I’ll talk about that next time, along with answering some questions that have been asked about whether team building activities such as our week at Ghyll head are useful, and a good idea for the future (although you might be able to tell already where most of the apprentices stand on that topic!)

The second day of our trip to Ghyll head started out rather rainy, which ultimately made little impact on our day, as even if the weather had been any better we’d have still ended the day drenched.

After breakfast, we headed down to the lake in our waterproofs and put on buoyancy vests ready for a day of canoeing. We used wooden planks and rope to tie two of the canoes together, creating a raft that six people could use, and the rest of the group got into pairs, each of which used an individual canoe.

The people at the front of the canoes had to use their oars to propel them forward, whilst the people at the back had to use their oar to steer the boat, paddling normally to keep the boat travelling in a straight line, and using it as a rudder when they needed to turn the canoe around. Team work was definitely required as without the person at the front continuing to row, the person at the back couldn’t effectively steer the boat, and when you feel like you’re going in the wrong direction, it’s easy to feel as though you should stop rowing until the canoes been turned around.

We travelled roughly 7km across the lake to Bowness, stopping at a couple of spots to change between being at the front of the canoe, and at the back. We also stopped so that people who wanted to could switch places with Mike, who was using a kayak.  Once we got to Bowness, we ate our packed lunches and had a wander around, before getting ready for the journey back.

On the way back some people switched between the raft, and the individual canoes. The second half of the journey was quite eventful, with Polly and Jake managing to fall into the water. They weren’t the only ones to end up in the lake however, as once we got back and put away the boats, most of us voluntarily jumped in for a ‘Jetty Jump’ followed by a freezing cold swim back to dry land. Simbiat really challenged herself, daring to do the jump despite not being able to swim!

I am really proud of myself for attempting every challenge as they were quite nerve-wrecking. I really felt we all bonded well as a team, and it was nice to be in a different environment.

– Simbiat Sanni, Laboratory Technician Apprentice

After all that rowing, everyone was ready for a rest, but instead once we’d dried off we found ourselves being led to the climbing wall, where we all had a go at both climbing one side of the wall, and abseiling down the other side. The abseil ended up being a practice session of sorts, for what we’d end up doing the next day.

In the evening, we took a taxi back down to Bowness (a much less tiring method of transport, although not nearly as fun) for a curry, which was definitely a well deserved break from the tiring activities, and a nice chance for us all to relax and have a chat about what we’d learnt in the first two days, and prepare for what the end of the trip would throw at us, which I’ll talk more about next time!

“Ghyll head has been an opportunity to challenge myself at tasks which I would not normally face. Through the communication and cooperation with others, I have succeeded in learning new skills in teamwork, which can be translated into everyday work.”

– Rosie Byrne, Laboratory Technician Apprentice

As Colin mentioned, a couple of weeks ago the TAP apprentices, along with a few members of staff from Manchester University, set off to Ghyll Head in the Lake District, for a week of team building, memories of which will no doubt stay with us for years to come, along with the skills we developed during our time there.

The trip was a chance not only to develop our team work skills, but also for the two groups of apprentices to get to know each other better. In the first few months of our apprenticeship, the Laboratory Technician Apprentices have had opportunities to work together, and attend college together one day a week, and the Mechanical apprentices have attended college together full-time, but both groups spending a week together meant we had the opportunities to share our experiences and talk about how our time at the university has been so far.

When we arrived at Ghyll Head, we were greeted by Sally Ozanne, who is not only a fantastic outdoor instructor who made sure we all got the most out of our experiences throughout the week and pushed ourselves to take on new challenges, but is also an impressive sportswoman who had just returned from Turkey where she won the European Adventure Racing Championship. After we’d had some lunch, and made our beds (a task which proved far more challenging for some than others!) we started on our first team building challenges.

We certainly didn’t drop the ball when it came to getting all eleven of us through a hoola hoop in the space of eleven seconds, which certainly took some cooperation, or racing to touch tiles numbered one to thirty in under a minute (the catch being that only one of us at a time could enter the circle that contained the numbered tiles). The same can’t quite be said for the exercise that included actual throwing and catching, although fortunately the golf ball didn’t go flying off in the wrong direction too many times, and everyone did at least remember each others name successfully which was the point of the task. We proved that we were capable of working together, and throughout the rest of the week we expanded on that, and had to actively use our abilities to cooperate to a much greater degree, in more ‘real’ situations.

The next activities we took part in involved climbing, so after we collected our harnesses and helmets we got ourselves into groups of three and mentally prepared ourselves for the heights. The first climb was up a pole, with a platform at the top, which three people (or even four if you’re daring!) can stand on at a time. Once three of us were up there, we had to put our trust in each other and hold elbows or wrists, and lean backwards. This particular task caused a fair few falls – safety ropes being held by the rest of the group meant that we weren’t in any danger of course – the first of which might have involved me (an embarrassing, albeit amusing moment).

One thing that Sally talked to us about with regards to our week at Ghyll head was ‘comfort zones’ and ‘stretch zones’. If you push yourself to do things outside of your comfort zone (in your ‘stretch zone’) the things that scare you become easier to accomplish next time around. We all pushed ourselves to do things outside of our comfort zone throughout the week, but we were all particularly proud of Josh Major, one of the Mechanical apprentices, who managed to climb to the top of the pole despite his fear of heights.

The second climb didn’t involve ropes or harnesses – or footholds! We had to work together as a team to get all of us over a dauntingly high wall, a task which I initially thought was impossible for me to accomplish. I was proved wrong however, and by working together we managed to get everyone over the wall (Rosie unceremoniously being almost thrown over, but I think she’s forgiven us).

After a break for dinner, we put on our walking books and got ready for our final challenge of the day. We were split into two teams, Team Apple and Team Banana, and given maps and pictures outlining a route we had to take to make our way back to the oak tree we started at. We were also given radios that we had to use to keep Sally informed of when we reached certain checkpoints, and in Team Banana’s case, to report the presence of a particularly threatening herd of sheep. Thankfully they made a daring escape from the sheep attack, and we all managed to make it back without getting lost, and take in a lovely view of Lake Windermere, before heading back to the bungalow for a well-earned rest to prepare us for day two!

I’ll talk about day two next week, but in the mean time, Sue Field suggested a caption competition, so feel free to let us know in the comments what you think the caption for the photo below should be!

Last summer I found myself asking a question that most people, if not everyone, ask themselves multiple times throughout their life.

“What am I going to do next?”

Particularly for young people, there are daunting decisions to be made about the future and what the next step in life is going to be in their education, or for some young people, their career. Working full time, and studying full time both have their benefits, and it can be difficult to figure out which direction is best. Learning about a subject you’re passionate about can be fun and rewarding, opening up a wider range of job opportunities, but similarly the experience and skills gained from a full time job are invaluable, and for a lot of positions, experience and work skills are just as essential as the right qualifications.

The conclusion I came to, was that I wanted the next step I took to be about both my education, and my career. I was ready to be gaining practical skills and experience, but didn’t want to give up on the chance to continue gaining qualifications, and learning more about the subjects that interested me. With a little research and guidance I came across the national apprenticeship website.

After searching through the areas that interested me, namely science and laboratory work, I filled out an application alongside around 100 other applicants, for an apprenticeship at the University of Manchester, a decision which would ultimately change the course of my future.

So what is an apprenticeship?

An apprenticeship is essentially an alternative to the decision between working, and gaining further qualifications. You get paid to work, and gain practical experience, whilst at the same time studying towards further qualifications.

You are fully supported by your workplace whilst gaining these qualifications, and the most common structure for an apprenticeship is four days a week at work, and one day a week dedicated to studying at a college, although there can be variations to this structure.

For example, EPS TAP laboratory technician apprentices attend college one day a week, whereas the EPS TAP mechanical apprentices are employed by the University of Manchester, but for the first few months are at college full time gaining the skills they need to start working at the university.

Hold up, what’s EPS TAP?

You might remember me mentioning that it was an application to the University of Manchester that changed the path I was on? EPS stands for Engineering and Physical Sciences, one of the faculties within the University of Manchester, and TAP is the Technical Apprenticeship Programme. It’s a programme that offers young people in the local area an opportunity to work for the university whilst gaining level 2 or level 3 qualifications, studying at Trafford College.

There are two different types of apprenticeships currently available, mechanical and laboratory technician. Both apprenticeships offer unique opportunities to gain experience working throughout many of the schools within the EPS faculty.

Moving throughout the different schools opens up opportunities to learn about the different types of work available, and allows us to decide what direction we want to go in after our first two years working with the university, after which we’ll be able to decide what area of EPS we would like to continue our apprenticeship in.

Six months into our apprenticeships at the University, we’ve all already had the chance to experience different areas of work, and had many opportunities to develop our skills including training courses outside of our work at Trafford College, not to mention the team building trip to the Lake District we’ll be attending next week, along with other members of staff.

There are many aspects of our first few months at the University that the other apprentices and I are eager to talk about; as I’m sure there’ll be many more as our time at the University continues. I there’s anything in particular you’d like hear us talk about, let us know.