Isabel Dziumak-Hooper

The apprentice: hands-on learning

Safety Officer Isabel Dziumak-Hooper completed her apprenticeship in health and safety in January 2025, 18 months after joining the Department of Physics straight from college.

‘Having completed my GCSEs and embarked upon A-level study, I found that classroom-based learning was not what I wanted to be doing. I discussed my options with my teachers and that is when I started to seriously look into apprenticeships. I was immediately able to narrow down my areas of interest – either business admin or health and safety as they both have good career prospects – and I also knew that if I was going to do an apprenticeship, I wanted to do it at the University of Oxford.

‘The health and safety apprenticeship with the Department of Physics immediately appealed to me. I liked the breadth of experience it offered and also the people I would be working with.

‘From day one, I was working as part of the team. I shadowed the Departmental Safety Officer, David Anderson, as well as the Deputy Departmental Safety Officer, Amy Webb, and so from the get-go was exposed to a wide range of tasks and real-time scenarios. The apprenticeship I chose to do was structured around a monthly Zoom group tutorial as well as a one-to-one call with my tutor. David would also join a call every three months so he was heavily invested and involved too.

‘What worked particularly well was how I was able to work with the department to tailor my on-site work to my tutorial requirements. Where I needed to complete a specific task for my coursework portfolio, David and Amy were able to factor it in in a real-life setting. This really suits how I like to learn – through lived experience rather than just learning the theory of something in the abstract.

‘My apprenticeship in the Department of Physics has exposed me to so many different aspects of health and safety – from lab safety to machinery, from lasers to chemicals and from office management to student welfare. It has been brilliant and was absolutely the right choice for me. I am so pleased to have been offered a permanent post and I am excited to add to my experience and my qualifications – there is so much to learn!’