Placements / Internships case studies

Placements/internships can widen the talent pool available to an organisation.

Placement/ internship programmes allow organisations to develop a new pipeline of talent, introducing innovation and transferable skills, building relationships with universities and engaging with university research activities. They offer the opportunity to give researchers professional development. Submitting a placement/internship application form is beneficial for researchers, to gain experience in the job application process they also offer work-based learning in a non-higher education environment and help manage career expectations outside academia.

In order to develop world-class researchers, higher education institutions have acknowledged that in coming years, work experience opportunities for researchers will be essential to the development of higher level skills and for the transition into work outside academia.

Vitae has gathered a collection of case studies ‘Researcher work experience: Placements/internships outside academia'. The eight stories illustrate the work experiences of doctoral researchers in placements/internship programmes from the perspective of the employer, the researcher and the academic.

This collection aims to:

• Explore how placements/internships can enhance the development of researcher employability skills
• Provide employer guidance on placement/internship best practice
• Show the benefits that doctoral researcher work experience can offer to the employer, researcher and academic

The case studies provide detailed information with more about particular placements/internships, such as interview transcripts, direct quotes, links and relevant documentation.