Bea Patience

Student engagement assistant at the Dalton Nuclear Institute.

Bea works at the intersection of student engagement, outreach and nuclear education, helping to connect students across The University of Manchester with opportunities in the nuclear sector. Her role involves working with societies, the Careers Service, lecturers, academics, PhD students and the wider Dalton community to build useful and impactful connections and to help guide students towards future study and careers in nuclear.

At a glance

  • Student engagement assistant at the Dalton Nuclear Institute.
  • BA Geography with professional placement, The University of Manchester.
  • Connects students with nuclear opportunities across education, research and industry.
An illustration of Bea's career path showing the steps she took that led to her current career: From an International Baccalaureate to a BA in Geography, then worked in outreach and communications

A typical day looks like ...

My role is all about connecting students with the people and opportunities that can guide them into a future in nuclear.

A typical day involves identifying nuclear-focused events, PhD opportunities and career pathways within and beyond the University to share with students. I spend a lot of time working with student societies, running stands at fairs, delivering lab tours and generally exploring new ways to engage the student body.

This can also involve working with external groups to explore how the sector can come together to strengthen the future nuclear skills pipeline.

My favourite thing about my role is …

As a UoM student myself, it’s great to be able to meet so many new people and hear about the range of activity and research taking place across the University.

I also love having so much creative licence when it comes to finding new ways to engage undergraduates – for example, we’re currently designing a comic strip with some of Dalton’s early-career researchers and a graphic designer to support undergraduate engagement.

My advice to students interested in a future in the nuclear sector …

Get involved and start conversations with new people – there are more opportunities out there than you might think.

My advice would simply be to get involved and get talking to people. As a geographer, I never would have thought there would be opportunities for me in the nuclear sector – but here I am. The more people I talk to, the more opportunities there seem to be, and that’s one of the most exciting things about the sector: there really is so much to do.