Each year, several students of the Environmental Pollution Management (Ecotoxicology) Program complete an 8-week internship, the so-called “AMEO”. The AMEO is performed either at an external university, governmental or industrial research institute where students learn to apply the competences achieved during their study. Students also use this opportunity to travel and explore Germany. In this blog post, María José shares her AMEO experience in Eurofins France.
“My name is María José and I did my internship at Eurofins France. During the 3 months that I was working in the South of France, I had the experience to learn how pesticide field studies are conducted. Eurofins is a company working with good laboratory practice (GLP) and has a good reputation at an international level. The working group I was integrated into during my AMEO is specialized in ecotoxicological studies and each year they have different projects.
During my internship, I learnt how to conduct pesticide risk assessments for bumblebees, bees, and honey-related studies along with apiculture techniques. I really enjoyed working with these incredible animals and eating a lot of honey too! Another study was residual analysis of arthropod, plant and seeds pesticide . As you can see, this was a really big project, but at the same time really interesting because we were using different terrestrial sampling techniques and applying GLP for all of them. The generated information was used to asses other taxonomic groups.
Along with field work, I also did office work sometimes such as data handling with the GLP requirements or inventories. What I can say is that this internship was really complete and I consider it very useful for all ecotoxicology students who want to work in the field and also in environmental companies, or for the ones that just want to know how GLP studies are conducted by companies.
The working environment was very helpful and evolved as everyone pooled in their knowledge. In our leisure time, we grabbed French food or visited the beautiful villages nearby. During the weekends, I used to ride my bike and see some new places because the landscape of that area was beautiful. When I had more time, I went to the impressive Pyrenees for big hiking. It was such a wholesome experience! (see attached pictures)
This was a really good opportunity as an ecotoxicology student because it brought me more tools to be a complete and more efficient professional along with a good experience for future jobs. As an international student, I had the experience to work for an European company and also learn French, which was exciting, challenging and enriching! There is no better way to go out of your comfort zone than doing this! Without a doubt, I recommend doing an internship with Eurofins France.
In a nutshell, if you are interested in ecotox field studies, discovering the French culture, and living near the impressive Pyrenees, this is the internship that you are searching for. I had one of the most incredible experiences of my life working with “Eurofins France” by doing this internship and I can highly recommend it”.
