Holly Williamson working from a farm in Manapouri
The 23-year-old was one of 15 New Zealand students to receive an online internship through the Asia New Zealand Foundation to gain experience in how business is done in Asia.
After completing her Master of Science (Animal Science) at Massey in November, Holly spent the summer as a product application intern in the animal nutrition team at Nutrition Technologies.
“My main project was to help design a product application trial for chinook salmon in New Zealand, and I also worked in keeping research databases up to date and finding potential grants and funding for research projects,” Holly says.
“I learnt a lot of valuable information about the initial stages of scientific research which will help greatly in my future career.”
With Malaysia’s time zone five hours behind New Zealand’s, Holly had to do the bulk of her work in the afternoons and evening, which required an extra level of motivation, especially while living in beautiful Manapouri.
Holly highly recommends the online internship to other Massey students who will be graduating this year.
“The best thing about the internship was definitely being able to utilise the skills I learned at university and applying them in the 'real world’. It was super rewarding.”
In addition to the work experience, the interns also got the opportunity to participate in a Global Competence Certificate Programme which taught them valuable communication skills.
It was the former Christchurch Girls High School student’s love for animals which led her to Massey in 2017 to take the pre-vet programme. However, a fascination with the animal production papers inspired her to switch her degree early on to animal science.
Holly thanks her supervisors Professor Steve Morris and Dr Nicola Schreurs from the School of Agriculture and Environment, and Rebecca Hickson, a former Massey lecturer who now works at Focus Genetics, for helping her complete her Master of Science.
With her study now complete, Holly is excited to begin her career in scientific research as a Research Associate with Dairy NZ, a role that will see her based in Lincoln but spending the next few months in Hamilton to get to know the organisation’s wider breadth of science.
Holly Williamson at Lake Manapouri