All good things must come to an end.

2020 has been a tough and challenging year but one of the hallmarks of this year for me was the opportunity to be a part of the Astra Zeneca family by joining their Campus Ambassador Program.

13 ambassadors from different Swedish universities came together in March earlier this year with high hopes and dreams of building a better future for themselves and for their communities. The diversity of the student body was remarkable. Everyone had a unique perspective about life and this is what made being part of this group so much fun.

Meet the Brains Behind this Incredible Initiative

This was the second batch of the campus ambassador program. And it has been a huge success.

Due to the pandemic and the restrictions, the closing ceremony was held virtually. But when you have such talented people in HR (who can be seen in the picture above), you can be assured that things never get boring. The closing ceremony event was highly structured, creative, and inspiring, and planned and executed to perfection. Every ambassador received a Christmas box filled with presents before the ceremony began. It was very exciting when everyone opened the box at the same time and found out what was inside.

Each ambassador recounted their experience and how this program has helped them grow personally and professionally. The mentors were present as well and also got the opportunity to share their experiences.

Finally, there was a personal branding workshop delivered by Devin who is a professional every company should aspire to have in their team. She is able to captivate the imagination of the audience with her inspirational talk.

The workshop really helped the ambassadors to understand how to stand out in today’s job market and the steps they need to take to make a successful transition from academic life to work-life as the graduation date draws closer.

The credit goes to the headstrong and hilarious HR team at AZ who brought their vision to life and made this possible.

If you want someone with a lot of energy and an unflinching determination to gets things done quickly, you are looking at Amanda (Right).

If you need someone who is peaceful, polite, and prankish, don’t hesitate to reach out to Pär (Center).

If you need someone who is dynamic, diligent, and distinct, the first name that should pop in your head is Devin (Left).

What the Future Holds for the Ambassadors?

A lot of campus ambassadors will soon be starting their master thesis with Astra Zeneca while others are interested in the various graduate programs that AZ has to offer. After all, WHO wouldn’t want to work for this awesome company that is on a mission to transform human lives? Astra Zeneca is one of the best workplaces in Sweden. And why shouldn’t it be? The company’s values, culture, and talent are unparalleled.

The ambassador program has certainly come to an end but the real journey has just begun.

Posted in Allmän | No comments »

Share:         Share on Twitter      

It’s refreshing to see the arrival of new students. The city has again come back to life in full swing. The amalgamation of different cultures, traditions, and nationalities is clearly visible on campus. 

This is truly the beauty of Linkoping as it is a student-run city that brings together students from all over the world.

It’s time to shift into studying mode once again. The second year of a master’s degree brings with itself its own set of challenges. The fall semester is dedicated to coursework and the spring semester for the master thesis.

In your second year, you have additional responsibilities on your shoulders. You are required to complete all your coursework, then find a relevant master thesis at a company and also plan on what you intend to do once you graduate. 

If your goal is to stay back here in Sweden, then you also need to start job hunting while you are working on your thesis.

The first year of my degree had some challenging courses like Computational Statistics, Machine Learning, Big Data analytics & Bayesian Statistics that made you burn the midnight oil. But all these courses have been extremely beneficial in exposing me to the different facets of data science.

During my fall semester, I plan to take the following courses:

• Advanced Machine Learning
• Database Technology
• Visualization
• Decision Theory
• Text Mining

As an international student, the key is to keep going without losing focus. Remember to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep marching forward when you feel lost and directionless.

Wishing everyone who is about to start their second year all the very best. May the force be with you 🙂

Posted in Allmän | No comments »

Share:         Share on Twitter      

2020 has been a crazy, bizarre year. Things haven’t gone according to plan for most people.

However, the dust has started to settle down and things have started to return to normalcy.

If you have managed to reach Linkoping in this unprecedented crazy situation, you should consider yourself lucky.

Ten years down the road, you would realize that coming to LiU for your master’s degree was one of the best decisions that you made in your life. 

As a student, life at LiU is going to be exciting, challenging, and rewarding.

There will be days especially at the beginning where you will feel homesick and nostalgic. After all, leaving friends and family behind and moving to a new country involves a lot of courage and determination.

You have to get out of your comfort zone which is not something everyone is capable of doing.

Just give yourself one month and things will turn out just fine. You will get acquainted with your surroundings, make new friends, discover different cultures, and blend in the Swedish way of life.

In any journey, taking the first step is usually the hardest. You have already taken that and it is only going to get easier from here on.

Keep believing in your abilities and brace yourselves for a fun and exciting journey that will transform you into a better human being.

“Try not to resist the changes that come your way. Instead, let life live through you. And do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come”

Posted in Allmän | No comments »

Share:         Share on Twitter      

Hearing about the big players in the business and the great company culture they have instilled in their employees is one thing. Getting to visit a company and personally experiencing it can be a completely different experience.

I got the wonderful opportunity to visit Astra Zeneca’s headquarter in Gothenburg last month as part of the campus ambassador program.

13 students from different universities from all over Sweden were invited to a 2 day fun-filled, engaging, and informative kickoff meeting. 

Although it’s trivial to describe what AZ is and what it does since it’s a household name, I would still like to give a brief introduction about the company to refresh your memory.

AstraZeneca is a global, science-led biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of prescription medicines.

AstraZeneca operates in over 100 countries and its innovative medicines are used by millions of patients worldwide. 

What are Campus Ambassadors supposed to do?

As a campus ambassador, we are supposed to build and strengthen the AZ brand on our university campus. That means taking part in various job fairs, arranging guest lectures, and raising awareness about the phenomenal research being undertaken at AZ to transform millions of lives.

Being Assigned a Mentor

Evey ambassador was assigned a mentor from AZ who are experts in their respective fields. We are required to have monthly meetings with our mentor where we can discuss and seek guidance about any topic that we desire. It’s a great platform to get to know about the organization, about its culture and people which will help us grow personally and professionally.

Allow me to introduce to you my Awesome Mentor, Cecilio

Cecilio works as a business analyst at AZ where he is responsible for identifying new business cases and business areas, devising strategies to digitize operations, and being able to better understand the customers. He is a Business and engineering professional with a dual Master’s Degree in Physics and Biomedical Engineering (Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China).

P.S. He is a very kind and humble person with a great sense of humor.

Dinner & Boul

After having the introductory informative sessions where we got to know about the scale and magnitude of what AZ does and how it does it best, it was time to indulge in some team building activities. And what better way to do it than to have dinner first to fill your stomach with delicious food and then give boul a try. 

Boul or la pétanque as it is sometimes called is a very popular French game that is traditionally played with metallic balls on a dirt surface. You have to throw your balls to land closer to the small ball than those of your opponent. It may sound easy but if you are playing it for the first time, as was the case for most of us, it will be an uphill battle.

Would you like to work at AZ? Check out their Graduate Programs 

AZ  offers a range of graduate programs designed for those seeking opportunities to explore their chosen field, discover what excites them most, and gain the skills and experience required to achieve their potential.

Graduates take on challenging projects under the guidance of their placement supervisors and are supported throughout the program by an experienced mentor.

Posted in Allmän | No comments »

Share:         Share on Twitter      

My name is Bayu Beta Brahmantio and I am from Indonesia. I have a bachelor’s degree in mathematics (with a specialization in statistics).

I chose the Statistics and Machine Learning program because it is a well-balanced program between statistics and also current technologies in machine learning.

My experience here has been positive. I’ve got to meet people from around the world, lived in a nice environment, but the most important thing is I’ve got to learn from lecturers and professors that are respected in the field of statistics and machine learning.

Hej! I’m Vasileia Kampouraki, I come from Greece and I’m a first-year Master student of Statistics & Machine Learning program.

LiU’s master program Statistics & Machine Learning was definitely the most interesting for me in this field in Sweden and I was more than excited to study here.

If you like challenges, then this master is the right choice!

It’s Mohammed Bakheet (Yousif), from Sudan, the heart of Africa.

I arrived in Linkoping on the 12th of August 2019 after having been selected for the Swedish Institute Scholarship.

During my first day in Sweden, I lost my back bag with my passport, documents, laptop, and money (to make this rather very long story short, I found it 10 days later), so, I and Sweden started off on the wrong foot, and that was just before I started hitting it off with Linkoping University.

The study in Sweden is significantly different from that in my country, the way lecturers keep students up to speed with just everything is tremendous, the practical side of our courses is very useful and industry-oriented.

It was indeed very difficult in the beginning to keep up with the huge volume of information I received, but gradually I was able to followup. One more thing, the career fairs hosted by the university are eye-opening and very enriching, I just can’t get enough of them 🙂

Stay tuned. I’ll be introducing you to more awesome, talented and genius data scientists studying at LiU in the coming days!

Posted in Allmän | No comments »

Share:         Share on Twitter