Completing an internship in business consultation and systems thinking with Guided Systems Solutions

The EP caught up with first year Psychology student Prichelle Gooden whilst completing a 12-week internship with Guided Systems Solutions.

Professor Martin Parr started Guided Systems Solutions after consulting on largescale projects for many years within the UK government and higher education. Martin has offered student internships as part of the EP Scheme for several years whilst working as a principal consultant at DSTL (UK Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory), and for the first time this year has welcomed a student for a fantastic opportunity in systems thinking – an opportunity which attracted many students, particularly from within the School of Psychology.

Martin was thrilled to have Prichelle on board, bringing a much needed psychological angle to the consultancy he has been completing with a few major clients over the summer. Prichelle has really enjoyed collaborating with Martin, and feeling like her perspectives and ideas are playing a part in developing the strategy and operations of the companies that they are working with. Alongside the consultancy work, Prichelle has also been contributing to Martin’s podcast series of ‘Evolving Enterprises: Stories of Growth Transformation’, covering topics surrounding decision making within business enterprise. This was very much a new experience for Prichelle, and something she was very keen to get involved with and a fantastic way to develop her skills.

Martin commented on how great Prichelle has been from the outset of her time with him: ‘I think what’s been amazing about Prichelle is how quickly she has got going with everything. It’s been really amazing to have her on board, and I just want to say thank you so much to her, and to the EP team for arranging the internship’.

Prichelle has really enjoyed her time with Guided Systems Solutions, and highlighted the impact that the EP scheme has had for her: ‘I really do appreciate the employability points scheme because I was looking for ages for psychology internships, but there were just no paid opportunities out there. This is such a great opportunity and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to apply straight away. I am really, really grateful that you provide this opportunity and this scheme.’

Start logging your points now to be able to apply for this fantastic opportunity, along with many others, next year!

Find out more about Guided Systems Solutions here, and you can access Martin’s podcast series here.

This internship with Guided Systems Solutions was partially funded by Santander Universities, so the EP team would like to extend their thanks to them for enabling some of our sponsors provide these amazing opportunities to Kent students, as would Martin himself: ‘The funding has been immensely helpful in providing an opportunity for my small business to have a student work with me and my team this summer. Prichelle has been able to contribute greatly to our work, adding value to deliverables for our clients and in taking forward internal development activities such as starting up a new podcasting activity.’