Internship opportunities

Internships and Employment

LISS encourages students to undertake internships to enhance their future career prospects and increase the impact of their research; however you should discuss a possible internship with your supervisor to ensure that it does not interfere with progress on your PhD.   Internships enable students to develop a sharper sense of the wider relevance of their research as well as professional and transferrable workplace skills in line with the Vitae Researcher Development Framework.  Placements may also build expertise in knowledge co-generation, where research questions, analytical frameworks and knowledge exchange processes are co-designed with academic and practitioner input.

There are three methods through which internships can be developed:

  • devise your own internship, through your own initiative, supervisor or institutional support, or
  • LISS DTP is informed of internship opportunities, often within major UK government departments, once to twice a year through various ESRC schemes and will advertise these as they are sent to us
  • LISS DTP has a set of Research Assistant Internships giving students the opportunity to work on academic research projects at one of the three LISS institutions

For more information on submitting an application to the LISS DTP for an internship opportunities, please see our guidance for current students under ‘Funded Extension Schemes’.

Internship Testimonials

Estera Boncea

Estera Boncea

Internship Host: The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute

“The internship was a brilliant opportunity for one-to-one discussions about qualitative research methods, my findings and theoretical frameworks with experts, who were also able to provide me with advice on my PhD and wider career goals.

As a result of working within the THIS Institute team, I feel better able to navigate the process of turning raw findings into readily digestible, high-impact evidence for policy and practice in my own research.

The internship has been enriching for my PhD thesis in so many ways. Gaining research experience in an independent research institute and understanding how this context differs from a university has also been very informative for my career direction.”

SIOFRA PEEREN

Siofra Peeren

Internship Host: The Home Office

“The internship allowed me network with key stakeholders for my research topic and enhanced my ability to communicate complex findings in a way that has impact and is accessible to a diverse audience – a transferrable skill that will benefit me in my career post-PhD.”

“I also believe that being able to say that I worked as a government social researcher on my CV will help me stand apart from others when applying for future jobs.”

“As an experience, it was also wonderful to feel part of a team.”

CONSTANCE SCHÉRÉ

Constance Schéré

Internship Host: The League for the Protection of Birds (LPO)

“Working with the LPO during this internship has helped me grow as a marine scientist and has introduced me to various people in the marine environment with whom I could collaborate on future projects someday.

The internship has definitely made an impact on both my PhD research and my future career. For my PhD research, it has provided me with an alternative approach to MPA management from the UK and Irish approaches. It was also an important learning experience to work on a project outside of academia to have an idea of what options are available after graduation.”

KATHERINE CROFT-GIBBONS

Katherine Croft-Gibbons

Internship Host: Development, Concepts and Doctrines Centre (DCDC)

“I found the internship to be extremely valuable, gaining useful experience of policy-focused research and an insight into how such research is used by government. The report I completed will be shared with government representatives and used towards DCDC publications, so I feel that my research will have some impact. I also received training in red teaming and scenario planning which I hope will benefit my academic work going forwards. I now have access to a professional network through DCDC which can only help in my next career steps.

I enjoyed the break from my PhD research and feel that I returned to it with more perspective on my project.”

Current Opportunities

Research Assistant Internship Scheme

Our Research Assistant internship scheme enables LISS DTP funded students to work as Research Assistants for a period of up to 13 weeks with an academic (other than their immediate supervisor) based at King’s, Queen Mary or Imperial. Interns will benefit from, for example, working with a larger team of researchers, gaining academic writing practice, training in research methods, networking and dissemination, collaboration with external partners.  Interns continue to receive their usual stipend payment for the duration of the internship and payments are extended by the relevant number of weeks at the end of the original funding end date.

Details of internship projects are listed below.  If you are interested in one or more of these, please get in touch with the person named as Contact.  Please note that funding for these internships is only available to ESRC-funded LISS DTP students. The Contact is responsible for selecting the student to take up the internship. If you are selected, the you must then apply for an internship extension via the form at https://liss-dtp.ac.uk/studentships/managing-your-liss-dtp-studentship/funded-extension-schemes/ in order to show that you have obtained the agreement of your supervisor and so that the appropriate changes to your funding records can be made.

Academic Proposals for Internships

If you are an academic and would like to propose a project for a Research Assistant Internship, please complete the online  proposal form.  The next deadline for submission of proposals is July 2022 – further details to be announced

Current Research Assistant Internship Opportunities

Past Opportunities (for reference only)