Tell us about yourself and your experience prior to your internship?
I am a final year undergraduate studying biological sciences, which includes a year of studying computer science. I always had a strong interest in pursuing a career in data science, especially health data, because it was a perfect blend of my passion for human studies and technology. However, I had little experience in the field, and wasn’t confident about where to start.
How did you get involved with the Turing?
I was fortunate enough to be awarded a summer internship with the Turing via Health Data Research UK’s (HDR UK’s) Black Internship Programme, which gives people of black heritage the opportunity to gain experience in health data science, a sector where we are heavily underrepresented.
Tell us about your experience during your internship – which team and projects did you work on?
I joined the Research Engineering Group at the Turing and worked on a project surrounding synthetic data and ways to make it more trustworthy to stakeholders. This included the SQLSynthGen program, which allows users to create their own synthetic databases.
As part of the project, I was also able to attend a TSDiP (Trustworthy Synthetic Data in Practice) workshop at the University of Warwick where professionals and experts in synthetic data came together to share ideas on how the industry can move forward.
I really enjoyed how, with help from my line manager Markus Hauru, I was able to tailor my experience around the skills I wanted to gain, including how to use important software like GitHub, Python and Visual Studio Code.
What was your most memorable experience during your time with us?
My most memorable experience was helping with the Turing Summer Experience. The Turing held three summer workshops for sixth form students interested in a career in technology and I had the opportunity to assist the sessions on large language models (LLMs) with Nathan Simpson. I had a lot of fun and it was so uplifting to see how intelligent and driven the young people were. I also learnt a thing or two about LLMs myself!
What advice would you give to future interns?
Have a clear idea of what you want to gain from your time at the Turing and get involved in as much as you can.
What future plans do you have?
After I graduate, I’m hoping to pursue a career in data science. This experience was so useful, not only for the invaluable experiences and skills I acquired, but it also confirmed that this is the sector I want to join after university.
And finally, when not working what can you be found doing?
I’m currently completing my final year of university, so I am catching up with my assignments and lectures or worrying about catching up with my assignments and lectures. But if I’m not doing either of those, then I am probably listening to an audio book or podcast.