GRADnet in collaboration with NPL's Postgraduate Institute and Skillfluence hosted a live online summer school for over 45 delegates on 5-7 July 2021 looking at opportunities beyond one's PhD and networking skills.

The 3-hour sessions looked at a range of potential career options/paths in physical sciences; explored a number of important scientific trends/issues in physical sciences (industry-centric) and participants developed networking skills and actively expanded one's network.

A huge thank you to our industry partners for taking the time out to share their career transitions; explaining their roles in industry and how to create your own opportunities as well as providing top tips for networking.

• This was an excellent event for networking. PGR, University of Kent

• If you are unsure about job opportunities post PhD this is the training for you! PGR, University of Herts

• It has been an extremely useful experience and really opened my eyes in terms of the different available options at the end of my PhD. PGR, University of Sussex

• It was a really great opportunity to make connections and learn about lots of options for post-PhD careers. PGR, University of Surrey

Finally, thank you to Zach Sorrells and Dr Hannah Roberts for facilitating the sessions and making them fun and interactive.

National Physical Laboratory Trends in Science:

Monday, 5 July: "NPL Foresighting" Dr JT Janssen, Chief Scientist, National Physical Laboratory,

Tuesday, 6 July: "Machine Learning ": Dr Spencer Thomas Senior Research Scientist, (Data Science) and Ashish Sundar Research Scientist (Data Science)

Wednesday, 7 July: "My adventures in interdisciplinary research with real world scientists!": Geraint Thomas: Professor of Biochemistry, UCL

Career Panellists:

Monday, 5 July:

Dr Rebecca Douglas, Patent Attorney, Hindles Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys

Dr Sonali Mohapatra, (Ex Sussex), Space Quantum Technologies Developer, Craft Prospect, Space Quantum Technologies

Dr Jamie Wickham-Eade, (Ex Kent), Study Manager and Systems Engineer, Airbus

Tuesday, 6 July:

Dr Lientjie de Villiers, (Ex Herts), Quantitative Analytics manager in the Risk Portfolio Modelling and Forecasting team, Santander

Dr Philip Marsden, (Ex Southampton) Physicist and Managing Director, Unitive Design and Analysis

Dr Jefferson Ridgeway, Head of Science & Mechanical Engineering, Ultra Electronics

Wednesday 7 July:

Dr Adam Bozson, (Ex RHUL), Machine Learning Scientist, Dyad

Dr Heather McAslan, (Ex Sussex), Data Science Lead, InCrowd Sports

Dr Simon Steel, Tritium Scientist, UKAEA