Illumina, NHS, and Long Road create new Virtual Reality resources

The project, funded by a government grant from the Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF), is designed to give students virtual access to workspaces that would otherwise be hard to enter in real life and it follows the release of a set of four similar videos developed in partnership with Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.

The Illumina videos focus on the roles of Bioinformatician, Software Developer, and Lab Scientist and feature members of staff talking about what they do, demonstrating a typical task, and explaining the routes into those careers.

Students can enter a 360-degree immersive environment using a virtual reality headset and can look in every direction.  They can also see text, labels, diagrams, and animations to get a rich and detailed picture of life science spaces and related careers all within the space of 5 – 10 minutes per video.

Tariq Sadiq, Careers, Employability, and Skills Lead at the college, said:

“We are very grateful to our partners at Illumina and the NHS for giving us access and for being so willing to appear in front of the cameras!

“We know how difficult it is for young people to find work experience particularly in restricted environments like hospitals and commercial laboratories, so we wanted to create an alternative way for them to do this.  

“The Local Skills Improvement Plan report highlighted Life Sciences as an important sector for our region, so the purpose of these videos is to inspire young people about careers in those sectors by visiting healthcare and life sciences locations virtually. 

“We have shared these videos with all schools in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Region through the Combined Authority Careers Hub so any student could see them at any time either through a VR headset or on a PC, phone, or tablet.  They are easily accessible via a YouTube link Work Experience - 360-degree, immersive videos - YouTube.” 

Hollie Church, Senior Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Specialist at Illumina said:

“Creating access to equal opportunities is so vital and provides pathways for our future generations. Illumina is proud to collaborate with Long Road Sixth Form College to create VR immersive videos to inspire students and give them an insight into what it’s like to work for a global biotech company.” 

Charlotte Horobin, CEO of the Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce, which is the employer representative body for the Local Skills Improvement Plan in our region said:

“These innovative VR resources are a brilliant example of how partnerships between education providers and local employers can create meaningful career opportunities for young people. The life sciences sector is a key focus of the Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) as highlighted in the LSIP Annual Progress Report, and initiatives like this show the impact the LSIP can have in aligning skills provision with the needs of local industries. By helping students gain insight into the roles, skills, and career pathways available in such an important field, this project not only benefits young people but also supports employers and the local economy in building a future-ready workforce. It’s a great step towards equipping the next generation with the knowledge and experience needed to succeed in an ever-evolving job market."

Illumina has also produced its own resources for schools:

Genomic Sequencing (illumina.com) – This interactive video provides a virtual tour of working in a lab.  It walks you through what each item does.

Illumina | Discovery Education – This provides an opportunity for the educators to take part and have fun whilst doing it.

Long Road Sixth Form College is keen to work with other sectors to produce similar resources and any employer interested in exploring these opportunities should email careers@longroad.ac.uk