Boost your career WITH a Biomedical Science placement abroad

Go on a once-in-a-lifetime biomedical science placement abroad with Work the World and you’ll get career-boosting clinical experience in an overseas hospital. Then in your free time, you’ll have life-changing travel experiences with new friends.

You are in total control — you tell us what you want to experience and we'll tailor your overseas placement to your specific interests. You choose everything from the destination right down to the individual departments you want to get experience in.

You’ll find your biomedical placement to be life-changing. And that’s true whether you’re undertaking a placement for biomedical science students or graduates.

Why go on a biomedical science placement abroad?

Unique experience that puts you ahead of your peers
Stand out to employers
Strengthen your academic profile
Build a network to tap into during your career
Gain perspective that reframes your view of your own healthcare service
Boost confidence by stepping out of your comfort zone

"I got a breadth of experience across anatomical pathology, general surgery, emergency medicine, and plastic and reconstructive surgery." - Shane, University of Newcastle
Read more reviews here

Eye-opening clinical Placement

On your overseas biomedical science placement, you will get a breadth of eye-opening clinical experience in low-resource hospital settings.

There are abundant opportunities in departments like general medicine, surgery, A&E, ICUs, anaesthesiology, OBG, and paediatrics.

Or, if you're interested in a particular speciality, you can explore everything from plastic and reconstructive surgery to anaesthetics.

If you're considering graduate medicine after completing your biomedical science degree, this is the perfect opportunity to get real-world experience.

Things you might see on placement:

Different cultural attitudes towards care
Religious beliefs affecting practice
Extremely late presentations and advanced conditions

You also have flexibility when it comes to your shift patterns during your biomedical science placement. As the majority of our partner hospitals are open 24/7, so you can undertake day shifts, night shifts, or both.

Spend time in the lab

If you're staying on the biomedical science track, you can use your placement to see how things like infectious and tropical diseases are diagnosed and treated and gain an understanding of parasitology, all while liaising with related clinical departments to see how conditions are handled at multiple levels.

You can choose from relevant departments, including:

Haematology
Immunology
Microbiology
Pathology
Biochemistry
Immunology
+ More

Tap into our hospital partnerships

Our long-established international hospital partnerships let us tailor hospital placements for biomedical science students to a level of detail that would be impossible if you were trying to organise your trip independently.

The partnerships also allow us to guarantee things like your hospital placement, supervision, and your choice of departments. You'll get detailed information on the above long before you travel.

You also get exceptional flexibility should you want to amend your biomedical placement choices while you're abroad. All of this means you can create a placement suited perfectly to you without the risk of your placement plans falling through.

Once-in-a-lifetime travel

As a biomedical science student or graduate, your biomedical science placement abroad is the focus of your trip. But your free time in the afternoons and weekends will be packed full of experiences like:

Relaxing on palm-lined, white-sand beaches
Getting close to elephants, lions and giraffes on safari
Swimming with curious sea turtles on warm tropical reefs
Hiking (or paragliding!) through the Himalayas
Spending a weekend hopping between paradise islands

But it's the people you share it with that make your Work the World trip memorable. You'll live with other healthcare students and graduates in a big private house.

Learn about accommodation

18 JENNIFER MCDOWELL PHARMACY 25 09 2015 PARAGLYDING

What's included?

The service you get with us is end-to-end. That means we will support you before, during and even after your trip.

You'll get:

Fully tailored biomedical science placement
English-speaking supervision
Private, catered accommodation
24/7 in-country team
Airport pick up and drop off
+ more

Arrivals are every Sunday, 52 weeks of the year — travel on your biomedical placement when it suits you. Durations of placements start from one week.

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Destinations

Ghana Takoradi

On a biomedical science placement in Ghana, you can choose to work in a district-level hospital, a maternity clinic, or the best-equipped city hospital. However, don't assume "best-equipped" means well-equipped – medical practices in Ghana differ from what you're used to, with limited resources making this placement uniquely eye-opening. Despite the challenges, you'll observe local staff creatively overcoming barriers to provide quality care.

Explore Takoradi

Nepal Kathmandu

Opting for a biomedical science placement in Kathmandu allows you to choose your placement from a major teaching hospital, a specialized maternity and women's hospital, or a dedicated children's hospital. Boasting 22 departments, the teaching hospital holds the record for the highest number of medicine specialities in the country. Given that the children's hospital is a unique establishment in Nepal and with 45% of the country's population being under 15, anticipate a bustling placement.

Explore Kathmandu

The Philippines - Iloilo

Your biomedical science placement in Panay Island involves the largest government tertiary referral hospital and a tertiary teaching hospital. While the Philippines does have a national health insurance service, its coverage is restricted, especially in government hospitals. To put it in context, local doctors must consider patients' financial means when delivering treatments and prescribing medication, rather than focusing solely on their medical needs. Given that a significant number of patients come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, this dynamic significantly influences the way care is provided.

Explore Iloilo

Sri Lanka - Kandy

On a biomedical science placement in Kandy, you can get eye-opening clinical experience in areas that broaden your understanding of diagnostics and patient care in a low-resource setting. In hematology, you might diagnose blood disorders using tests like CBC and bone marrow studies with advanced analyzers. You can observe viral diagnostics via PCR and ELISA in Virology, joining ICU and ward rounds. In biochemistry, you might get experience with fluid analysis, hormones, and tumour markers using analyzers like the Vitros 3600. Spending time in pathology could include tissue diagnostics, histology, and immunohistochemistry with automated tools.

Explore Kandy

Hue Vietnam

In Hue, your biomedical science placement unfolds within a 600-bed university teaching hospital. Approximately half of the hospital's patients hail from Vietnam's rural and economically disadvantaged areas. While healthcare is free for many of these patients, getting to the hospital entails a costly journey and sacrificing days of paid work during admission. Consequently, patients often postpone seeking medical attention, leading to exceptionally late presentations and the manifestation of severely advanced conditions. The medical practices you'll witness here will significantly differ from what you're accustomed to.

Explore Hue

"It was definitely an incredible experience! The healthcare system I observed during my placement in Sri Lanka differed significantly from my experiences in the UK. I am really thankful to the Work the World team and the staff at the hospital".

Saarah Nomani, Cardiff University, 2026