The Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards recognised the best talent in the county with a special live streamed event on Thursday 6th May 2021.

The Higher Apprentice of the Year Award was won by Nathan Jarvis, a Biotechnologist Apprentice at Oxford Biomedica, a world leading biotech company with a mission to deliver life-changing gene therapies to patients.

In his day job, Nathan’s responsibilities reside in the production of a platform of ‘lentiviral vectors’ (vehicles for gene delivery used as a method in gene therapy), which enable customers to bring next-generation treatments for serious diseases to market.

Nathan has also voluntarily specialised in the manufacture of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. Initially, the process for this was largely undefined, so Nathan is seen as one of the pioneers of the process as he was heavily involved in continuous improvement and structure development. He quickly developed into a senior operator within the team, often leading multiple processes while simultaneously training operators.

Alongside his role, Nathan is studying towards a Level 5 Technician Scientist Apprenticeship, which includes a BSc Honours in Applied Biosciences from the University of Kent.

Nathan is a fantastic ambassador, both for Apprenticeships and his sector. He has spoken about the importance of apprenticeships in his industry at the House of Commons and is now sharing this message locally as an Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Ambassador with OxLEP Skills.

The Higher Apprentice of the Year Award was sponsored by Blenheim and judged by Head of HR Megan Carter. Megan said: “Nathan has completely wowed me with his involvement in the COVID-19 vaccination process. His dedication and love for the job really came across during his interview with me. He is a huge local ambassador for apprenticeships and a real role model and showcases his route into the science world through the Apprenticeship route by attending conferences and promoting at schools.”

Nathan says: “I’m very proud to have won Oxfordshire’s Higher Apprentice Award - it has been a challenging year and it’s great to see the rewards pay off. It was fantastic to see the wide range of incredible talent across many sectors at the Awards, it really does highlight the importance of Apprenticeships in the modern world.”

Nathan’s employer Oxford Biomedica were highly commended in the Large Employer of the Year Award. Find out more. They are now looking to recruit nine Level 5 Technician Scientist Apprentices like Nathan to join their team in Oxford. The apprenticeships available will train individuals as an Analytical Scientist, Process Research Scientist, Quality Control or Biotechnologist. Find out more.

See our article for details of all the winning and highly commended entrants.

Join the conversation

Join us for Oxfordshire Apprenticeships Hour (#OAHour) on Twitter @OxonApprentice from 1pm every Thursday for latest on the Awards and join in the conversation using the hashtag #OAAwards2021.