As I mentioned last time, there is a very special relationship between each of the key players involved in your project that, when organised right, mean things run smoothly enough for you to get the jobs done that you need to. This support has helped me out on many occasions when I was feeling a little out of my depth with a task, had no idea how a business procedure ran, or had problems that were out of my league to fix.
There are a whole range of people on hand when you need them, and I will quickly run through who is on the other end of the phone, and examples of when I have had to call on them.
You will have an academic supervisor, I have two, attached to your project who will be lecturers based at the university. Having studied at Plymouth uni, both of the academic supervisors had taught me during the course of my degree and I knew them both well which was a huge help. They both have experience in different areas and so when I have been stuck with a particular issue regarding an experiment, or how to test for a certain chemical for example then I have been able to ask one of these two for help. Even if it is just asking them to look at some work to make sure I am not talking rubbish; they are happy to help. And thanks to the feedback I have been given by them I have to run work past them less and less.
There is of course your manager at the company who you will probably have the most contact with. He has been there to help with day to day questions about company issues. To review any reports I have produced before sending them on to the MD. He gave me a lot of help when working through my mini-project, without which the trials would have fallen on their face a lot faster than they actually did! Most of all he has helped me settle into the office, all of whom are already friends. As well as finding any opportunity to take the mick out of me; the phrase ’Hobby Bobby’ came up a lot when I was applying for the specials.
There is an advisor who is apart from all of the other organisations who is there as an impartial person who you can go to. This advisor also supports you towards achieving your diploma you have to complete as part of the residentials. Luckily I have not had to go to him with any conflicts between the company and university (this is the reason he is impartial) but he has helped me to get some other issues sorted.
There are other staff assigned to the KTP scheme at the university who can help when you need it. You have an academic supervisor attached to each project who is there to give support. My university supervisor has done a KTP himself, at the same company that I am doing mine at! This has made the whole operation run a lot more smoothly as he already knows how the company works, knows everyone in the office well and has been through everything I am going through so he is in the best position to offer support.
The university also has an administrator for KTP projects, who you order travel through, claim expenses through and is normally your first port of call when you have any sort of question about how things should be done with regard to university policy.
With all these people from different organisations, each having their own agenda you would think there is a chance for some conflict and the risk of you being pulled in all different directions. However from my experience this has not been the case. The company and university have organised and run the project in good harmony with the right people giving me help and advice when I need it. There are meetings set up every 4 months which get everyone in the same room to discuss the last period and the up and coming one. This means that the project plan is laid out with everyone having some input so that the needs of every party is covered. And as I mentioned, if for some reason a conflict came up where you would get biased advice from both the company or university, then there is the KTP advisor there to step in.
While this all sounds really daunting, having to balance the needs of all these different people, it’s really not that bad. Often it turns out that what the university wants is also the same as what the company wants. Or it may be the case that by completing a task you have benefited the company in one way, and the university in another. In my experience you are left to get on with the work you are paid for. However if you do ever feel bogged down with work or are feeling a little streched in different directions then there is always someone you can go to for help.
Next time: With some big meetings this week and a lot of work on, I have not been able to decide what I will talk about in my next post. This means it will be a surprise for the both of us, so you will just have to tune in and find out won’t you? 
