Become a PhD placement host
LISS DTP students are highly motivated social science researchers from King’s College London, Queen Mary University of London, and Imperial College London. Hosting a placement offers your organisation a unique opportunity to collaborate with emerging academic talent and benefit from their research expertise.
Our paid placement scheme connects talented social science PhD researchers with external organisations to work on a project.
- The focus of the placement is determined by the partner organisation.
- Students on placement are funded through their LISS DTP stipend.
- Flexible timing: 3 months full time, or part-time equivalent, at any time of the year.
Why host a placement student?
Benefits to Your Organisation:
- Skilled resource: Students bring advanced research, writing, and analytical skills to support your projects.
- Fresh perspectives: They offer new insights and approaches, contributing to innovation and problem-solving.
- Tangible outputs: Past students have produced policy briefs, datasets, reports, and communications materials.
- Knowledge exchange: Collaborate with researchers on ethics, design, and interpretation.
- Future collaboration: Many hosts continue working with students or their departments after placements.
Examples of activities students undertake on placement:
- Archival and literature research
- Data collection and analysis (quantitative and qualitative)
- Policy development and stakeholder engagement
- Outreach and public engagement
- Report writing and communications
What Students Gain
- Professional development: Skills in coding, policy writing, statistical software, and more
- Academic impact: New datasets and methodologies to enrich their PhD
- Career clarity: Exposure to non-academic career paths
- Networking: Connections with professionals across sectors
Placement formats
Placements are typically:
- 3 months full-time or part-time equivalent
- Flexible: Can be remote, in-person, or hybrid
- Host organisations: We welcome hosts from government, charities, think tanks, businesses, and universities
How to get involved
We welcome placement proposals year-round. Here’s how to become a host:
- Express Interest: Contact us with a brief outline of your organisation, proposed project, and timeline, by email or through our Placement Proposal Form
- Advertise placement: We’ll share your placement with our PhD students. You can see some examples on our placement opportunities page.
- Select a candidate: Applicants apply directly to, and are selected by the host organisation. Once an applicant has been selected, they then apply for approval for the placement from LISS to ensure they receive stipend funding during the placement.
- Placement begins: Support the student during the placement.
- Share feedback: We request feedback from host, student and supervisor at the end of a placement.
Placement case studies
What our partners say
In the three months that [the student] was in the Climate Change and Health team at the UK Health Security Agency, she developed a research project that fit in with her expertise and was an area of work that the team has wanted to investigate for some time but has had limited resources to do so.
“[The placement] was hugely beneficial to our organisation. She brought a high level of insight, professionalism, and enthusiasm to everything she worked on, and quickly became a valued member of the team.”
“He jumped at the opportunity to work with the Synthesis team… and was always ready and willing to shadow different aspects of the Programmes and Evaluation team’s work.”
“Based on our experience with [the student], both in terms of how much support he provided professionally and what a lovely addition he was to the team on a more personal level, we most certainly would consider hosting another LISS DTP student at the EEF.”
What our students say
“The practical experience gained is invaluable, especially in today’s competitive job market. It provides an opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge in real-world settings, which is essential for developing critical skills that go beyond academic research. For example, working on a project that has practical implications and produces something tangible gave me hands-on experience that is hard to replicate in a traditional academic setting. This kind of experience not only enhances employability but also builds confidence, making it a highly beneficial opportunity for students preparing for future careers..”
‘At RBL, I was afforded the opportunity to speak directly to policy advisors, who helped me practice writing research outputs in layperson’s terms. I honed my skills translating research into digestible content for non-academic audiences, which I have struggled with thus far in my PhD.
I am grateful that I had the opportunity to practice this style of writing under the tutelage of RBL’s policy team and feel much more confident in writing for non-academic audiences following my time with RBL. In the spirit of bidirectional learning, I taught the same policy advisors how to read statistical analyses, understand odds ratios and rates, and how to conduct proper systematic reviews.
My internship afforded them research knowledge that they had previously lacked, and I am certain that their team was appreciative of my knowledgebase.’