A presentation from the STEM Annual Conference 2014.
In 2012 the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTP) programme began a novel initiative making it mandatory for all PhD students to complete a three month integrated placement. The Professional Internships for PhD students (PIPS) aims to provide an opportunity to carry out work unrelated to their doctoral research during their PhD. Internships can be in any field or sector including industry business communications publishing project management and teaching… Such experience is important both to help early career researchers understand the wider context of their research and to expose them to the range of opportunities in which they can apply their PhD skills and training after they graduate.
The East of Scotland Doctoral Training Partnership approach is that internships should be student led taking place between month 12 and 36 of the PhD. Support is provided to the students through a dedicated Postgraduate Placements Coordinator who runs information sessions for students engages with employers to provide some pre-designed opportunities liaises with careers staff in local institutions and provides guidance and agreement materials for students and internship hosts. By design the process established to manage the delivery of the EASTBIO internships could be transferred to other institutions or institutional groupings. This presentation offers perspectives on what works well any particular challenges faced and how these were addressed.
