The second PIPS conference of the BBSRC SWDTP was held at the University of Bath on 24th June 2014. Some forty students from the partner institutions contributed enthusiastically to the interesting and informative day.

The VIP Keynote Lecture, entitled ‘From Monkeys to Management’ was given by Prof Jackie Hunter CBE, Chief Exec of BBSRC. Prof Hunter delivered a fascinating account of her career and highlighted the challenges and opportunities along the way. There was time for questions and some informal interactions with the students afterwards, before Prof Hunter had to depart. The programme continued with ‘where it led me’, a short talk from a former BBSRC-funded PhD student who described how a 3 month secondment in the Parliamentary Office of Science & Technology led to a career working across public affairs, policy and communications at the Bioindustry Association.

There followed a succession of talks from students on their past, current or future PIPS. These included:

• British Society of Plant Pathology (outreach department)
• Society of Biology (Science Communication, London)
• Chester Zoo endrocrinology diagnostics
• Diamond Light Source (national synchrotron science facility, Didcot)
• Marine Ecological Surveys (Bath)

Then the first year students had one-to-one meetings with the PIPS team to discuss their PIPS interests and get some feedback on CVs, while the second year students had a career development session ‘Marketing your Research Skills to Employers’. And there was plenty of networking time before the students made their way home.