Internship Host Information
Access talented researchers
The Discovery Medicine North Doctoral Training Partnership (DiMeN DTP), has access to funding for our talented PhD students to undertake internships as part of their postgraduate experience. These opportunities are funded by the MRC, with the aim of providing students with experience of working in other sectors and insight into careers outside academia.
Our students
We have over 150 MRC funded PhD students within our partner institutions of Sheffield, Liverpool, Leeds, York and Newcastle Universities who can access this funding. The cohort are mainly biomedical/life science in training, with some interdisciplinary students from chemistry, physics, engineering and maths backgrounds. Our PhD students have a wide range of transferable skills and are keen to apply their knowledge beyond academia.
Funding
The internship funding can be used to support student stipend, travel and accommodation costs while they are on internship. Therefore costs for the non-academic partner do not go beyond overheads of providing a workstation, consumables etc, depending on the project they will work on. Internships are typically 3 - 4 months and can take place at any point during the student’s 3.5 years of PhD study, with some restrictions following thesis submission which can be discussed on a case-by-case basis.
Application Process
The application process is student-led, we can advertise internship opportunities to our cohort and recommend the company develop a project/job description to disseminate and attract applications. We will invite candidates to apply with a set deadline and encourage the company to conduct shortlisting and interviews to follow existing recruitment practices.
Expectations of the host organisation:
Treat PhD student interns as an employee of the organisation, integrated into the workforce and provided with a named contact person to support them during their internship. Health and safety training and an induction to outline working hours, expectations of the student etc should be given at the start, with relevant training throughout the placement as appropriate.
Expectations of the student
From an MRC perspective, we will ask the student to provide a short report on their placement within three months of finishing. This will broadly outline their experience and skills gained, not a detailed report regarding the project work they engaged with. The non-academic host organisation is invited to outline their own expectations as part of the application process, ensuring these are clearly defined and communicated in advance.
