What Do PhDs Think About Our Placement Scheme?
- WireNews
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
With more than 200 PhD placements since 2016, alumni share how the scheme has shaped their research, skills and careers
PhD students on placement with the Open Innovation Team work on live policy projects, contribute to real commissions and develop skills in communicating evidence beyond academia.
Participants gain experience they can take back into research or into future roles across the public, private and third sectors.
Hear directly from PhD students about what they worked on, what they learned and how the placement influenced their next steps.
Enrico Pfeifer
Research Fellow in Epidemiology, UCL
When I went back to my PhD after the placement, something had changed. I still cared just as much about the rigour of my work and getting the methods right, but I found myself thinking more about how to explain the work clearly, who it needed to reach, and what it might be useful for. It did not pull me away from research. If anything, it helped me share it more confidently beyond academia. If you are a doctoral student wondering whether your work can live beyond journals and conferences, my answer is yes. It can, and it should.
Ibrahim Ince
DPhil Researcher in Anthropology, Oxford
The confidence to make insights more accessible and actionable through clear language is a skillset I will take away with me.An anthropological mindset helps me navigate the complex, fast-paced and deeply collaborative nature of the policy world. Foregrounding stories, reading between the lines, navigating uncertainty and trying to piece together a comprehensive picture of what is unfamiliar are all developed through ethnographic practice, which certainly has use beyond the field.
We regularly host PhD students from a wide range of disciplines and universities.
