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Opportunity for external organisations - Postgraduate Researcher Placement Scheme

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Our Postgraduate Researcher (PGR) Placement Scheme provides opportunity for University of Leeds PGRs to partner and collaborate with external organisations. Through collaboration, both the PGR and the partner organisation can gain expertise, share knowledge, gain appreciation of different personal values and cultures, and explore the application of research in professional practice.

Our experience shows that organisations that engage with the scheme report that postgraduate researchers bring new energy and fresh insights to their organisations and produce valuable reports that inform future work.

 

Aims of the Placement Scheme:

  • To provide postgraduate researchers with opportunities to develop their professional skills and collaborative understanding of research users and their needs through research-based engagement with businesses/organisations.
  • To provide businesses /organisations with access to innovative ideas, knowledge and research that could improve policy or practice and enhance organisational learning and performance.
  • To foster the development of collaborative partnerships between businesses/organisations and researchers at the University of Leeds.
  • To enhance the take-up and application of evidence-based knowledge and maximise the impact of social science research within the business community.

 

The Project:

The scheme allows social science researchers to undertake a co-designed research project, tailored to the needs of the external partner, that provides the researcher with skills and career development opportunities. The project will also result in a report for the external partner at the end of the placement.

The scheme expects postgraduate researchers to commit around 130-hours to the project, with specific weekly hours to be agreed with the partner organisation. In the past, researchers have phased their projects over a 13 week period (10 hours/week). Projects must be completed within a 6-month period.

Projects could, for example, include:

  • We are particularly interested in projects that are 'policy-facing' or that include 'policy engagement' activities.
  • Surveying or interviewing users or providers of relevant services to identify ways in which services/products could be improved.
  • Evaluating a project or scoping out the potential for a new project which aims to bring social or economic benefit to a particular community.
  • Gathering evidence, writing reports, and responding to government consultation exercises/informing policy making.

 

Costs:

LSSI will offer the postgraduate researcher a bursary of £1,950 to cover their time and expenses. If the project entails costs that are outside of this, these would need to be covered by the partner organisation.

 

The Process:

If you are an external organisation and have a project idea in mind, please email a one-page summary to H.E.Crow@leeds.ac.uk for consideration. In the summary, please include the following details:

  • The proposed project and timescales
  • The ideal candidate and any skills required
  • Details of your organisation
  • Details of who would supervise the researcher during the placement and details of where the researcher would be based
  • The anticipated benefits, both for your organisation and in terms of the researcher's skills and experience
  • Details of any costs that you will be covering (financially or in-kind) to support the placement.

Project summaries will be internally reviewed and, if suitable, details of the project will be circulated across University networks to suitable researchers. We will ask interested students to submit a CV and covering letter and you will then select the most suitable candidate for the roll.

 

Contact H.E.Crow@Leeds.ac.uk (0113 3438468) to discuss further.

Scheme details - Word Document format. (docx), File Download