Introducing the Enterprise in the Life Sciences Challenge 2021: A Unique Approach to Attracting Diverse Talent

Posted on: 14 December 2021 by Olga Chatzidaki in Connections in action

In Autumn Term of 2021 the Employer Connections Team, alongside other colleagues from Careers and Employability joined with The School of Life Sciences to launch the ‘Enterprise in the Life Sciences Challenge’. The programme was created following a successful bid to the Student, Success and Innovation Fund (SIFF) designed to support projects that aim to address experience, or employment gaps, for, and in partnership with, Black Asian and Ethnic Minority students.

The three-week challenge offered a platform for students in all years of study and all programmes within the School of Life Sciences to connect with employers across the life sciences sector. Of the thirty-plus employers who had agreed to support the wider Life Sciences Employability Week 2021, we identified four employers across various areas of Life Sciences to support the challenge. They were Domainex (Pharmaceutical), Lotek (Animal and Ecology), Ashfield Health (Medical Comms), and Drill Surgeries (Health Tech).

From the employer’s perspective, this was a new way for us to collaborate to help them attract a diverse talent pipeline into their business. Their level of commitment was agreed upon beforehand. Following on from them writing their challenge statement which was a short paragraph outlining a real-world problem they were facing, there would be three, one-hour touchpoints across the three weeks of the challenge.

• Week one was their introduction to the challenge a representative from the company gave some more context around the real-world challenge they were facing via Zoom and answered any initial questions the students had.
• Week two was a mid-challenge review another opportunity for students to meet with their contact from the company to ask questions they had at that midway stage.
• The final week was saw the student groups deliver their solutions to the company representatives via digital pitches.

Following the success of the pitches, all students have been invited to their employer’s premises for an insight day to meet other members of the organisation and further widen their industry knowledge and networks. They will have the opportunity to pitch their solutions face to face in a professional environment and develop confidence in new work environments.

Employers, who were mostly new to working with the University of Liverpool, had the opportunity to work with a cohort of our most highly engaged and motivated students from diverse backgrounds, which are currently under-represented within their organisations.

The challenge has been one of our biggest success stories from 2021 with positive feedback from both students and employers.

The student team has been incredibly helpful and friendly. Have thoroughly enjoyed working with all of them.

David Cronk – Domainex

We look forward to creating further opportunities of this kind to connect employers and students in the future.