The South West Doctoral Training Partnership’s Placement Scheme offers you the opportunity to get up to three months’ work experience in a relevant UK-based partner organisation. This can benefit your research as well as helping to enhance your CV and future employment prospects. For SWDTP-funded students who began their studies in or after September 2024, this is an integral part of your studies, for which 3 months’ ringfenced funding has been built into your original funding offer. Funded students who started their study before September 2024 are still eligible to apply via the same application form. It is not possible to arrange a placement during an MRes year.
If you are interested in doing a placement, it is best to speak to your supervisor in the first instance, and arrange an informal discussion with the SWDTP Collaboration Facilitator.
The Collaboration Facilitator will help you develop your application, as well as approaching external organisations and developing a formal placement agreement on your behalf. You are also required to complete an end of placement report and work with the Collaboration Facilitator to produce a feature or case study which may be used by the SWDTP for promotion and impact reporting purposes. If you have ringfenced funding for a placement, you must still complete the application and agreement process so that we can ensure the placement meets ESRC and SWDTP conditions.
Full-time placements usually last three months although part-time placements are also possible. Subject to agreement with your supervisor, placements can start at any point during your studies, but not within the first three months and must be completed, at the very latest, before the last three months of a studentship.
Key documents
Placement Guidance Notes
Placement Application Form and Agreement
Placement Final Report
Interested in hosting a placement student?
Please see our dedicated page containing information for potential hosts.
Search our latest opportunities
You may have a clear idea of where you’d like to do your placement, but if not, we have a database of host organisations who would be interested to hear from current Social Science PhD students. You can apply the filters below to see current opportunities that suit your preferences. You can find out more about each organisation by clicking on the organisation name.
We appreciate that you may already have significant work experience, so we try to offer a varied range of opportunities in order to let you explore, try out and develop.
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[/tb-dynamic-container]What will I get out of my placement?
Placements are an opportunity to apply the skills you’ve learned during your studies in a new environment, develop your networks and explore your own career ambitions beyond your PhD.
“I feel that my PhD research and academic responsibilities within the university have benefited from my three months away (on placement). I have returned to my studies fresh and revitalised, with new ideas and a new enthusiasm for my work… I would highly recommend this scheme to other students in terms of its academic, career and personal benefits.”
– Comment from a former PhD student
If you’re unsure about where to start, the flow chart below can give you an idea of what the process looks like and how you might go about identifying, approaching and organising with a placement host.
If you need support or advice at any point, please do get in touch with the Collaboration Facilitator.