My AstraZeneca Summer Internship

Posted on: 17 September 2025 by Richard Finch in Student experiences

Laura Keay is a final-year Pharmacology student at University of Liverpool who over the summer completed a CMC International Regulatory Affairs Internship at AstraZeneca. We caught up with her to find out all about the experience.

“My 10-week internship as AstraZeneca’s first-ever CMC International Regulatory Affairs Intern gave me the opportunity to make meaningful contributions while building my technical expertise and transferable skills.

During the internship I led and managed a regulatory project that required analysing international guidelines, extracting key information, and designing and populating a comprehensive database.

I also became proficient in new, proprietary AZ systems and regulatory software through conducting large-scale essential UAT and data validation. Analysing data for errors and inconsistencies definitely sharpened my digital literacy and data handling skills and ultimately led to logging approximately 500 errors which have since been resolved!

During the internship I also designed and delivered a number of presentations, including a 30-minute in-depth analysis of my project and its findings to the entire International Regualtory Affairs Senior Leadership Team - this high-stakes environment enhanced my public-speaking, professional communication and ability to anticipate and answer technical questions.

A highlight of the internship was engaging and experiencing the Zoladex manufacturing facility tour, on the Macclesfield site. This gave me an invaluable insight into the scale and complexity of pharmaceutical production, connecting regualtory work I was doing with the physical processes that bring the medicines to patients.

I was also delighted to complete both the Bronze and Silver “Thriving in the Age of AI” certificates whilst taking part in the internship. These programmes gave me the opportunity to deepen my understanding of AI, its applications within the pharmaceutical industry, and the challenges it presents for society and business.

I entered this role with minimal prior knowledge, but over the summer I built a strong foundation and have developed an in-depth understanding of the drug life cycle. I am so grateful for this experience and for everyone who supported me though this journey. This has been a defining experience that I am excited to build on in the years ahead.”

Thank you for sharing your experience with us Laura, and best wishes for the future 🙌

Looking for opportunities?

If you’re a current student looking for internship or work experience opportunities then make sure to sign-up to Liverpool Launchpad – our new initiative that guarantees you access to career boosting experiences that you won’t find anywhere else: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/careers/launchpad/