Enabling PhD placement students onto take positive learning experiences from our placement withscheme theis Openreally Innovationimportant Teamto workus. onWe’ve liveevolved policythe projects,scheme contributesince 2016 to ensure that participants get first hand experience of working on real commissionsgovernment andprojects, developas well as transferable skills inthey communicatingcan evidencetake beyondback to their life in academia.

ParticipantsOphila gainChidgy, Lancaster University and Kevin Wang, University of Oxford

Freyja McCreery, University of York

The experience of some people doing internships elsewhere is that they canend takeup backdoing intotedious researchadministrative orjobs intothat futuredo roleslittle acrossto contribute to your CV. This is certainly not the public,case privatewith andthe thirdOpen sectors.

HearInnovation directlyTeam. fromI PhDwas studentstreated aboutas whatany theyother workedmember on,of whatstaff theywould learnedbe. This setup allowed me to develop my skills and howenhance themy placementCV influencedas theirany nextfull-time steps.member of the civil service would.

EnricoAmelia Pfeifer

ResearchWatkins-Smith, FellowUniversity inof Epidemiology, UCLNottingham

WhenMy understanding of the ways academic research can impact policy has developed significantly during the placement. I wentwas backable to attend training for academics on this topic, and contribute to bespoke ‘impact advice clinics’. I hope to use this new knowledge to facilitate impact from my own PhD afterresearch.

Zaynab Seedat, University of York

I wanted to say a thank you to all of the placement,team, somethingeven hadthose changed.who I stillhaven’t caredmet justproperly, asfor muchmaking aboutme thefeel rigourso ofwelcome, myespecially workworking online! The team culture has been so fun and gettingrelaxed, but at the methodssame right,time buthardworking Iand foundabsolutely myselfon thinkingit. moreIt’s aboutbeen howsuch a pleasure to explainsee thepeople workwho clearly,are so great at what they do and who are so passionate even when it neededcomes to reach,difficult projects and whatclients.

Adam itMeylan-Stevenson, mightUniversity of Southhampton

I would recommend the OIT placement to any student wanting to get experience with collaborative project work. It’s not necessary to have an interest in policy. The experience of time-bound, collaborative project work is greatly rewarding. If you’re planning on an academic career, the placement is a good way to get experience of policy to better understand how academic research can be made useful for.and usable.

Oluwatosin Adebola-Akande, University of Essex

ItIn didacademia, notI’m pullused meto awayspending frommonths research.gathering Ifevidence anything,before itproducing helpedresearch meoutputs, sharebut itthe moreturnover confidentlytime beyondis academia.

Ifquick here, which means you arework on producing parts of a doctoralreport studentvery wonderingquickly. whetherI yourparticularly workenjoyed canthe liveprocess beyondof journalsworking andon conferences,a project outside my answerresearch isfield yes.and Itadapting can,the broader research and itanalytical should.

Readskills Enrico’sI’ve blog aboutacquired hison experiencemy PhD, into decision-making.

IbrahimRuben Ince

DPhilMcNeil ResearcherWalsh, inUWE Anthropology, OxfordBristol

The confidencePhD toplacement makescheme insightswith morethe accessibleOIT andis actionablea throughfantastic clearopportunity. languageFrom ismy afirst skillsetday, I willwas takeheavily awayinvolved with me.

Anpolicy anthropologicalprojects, mindsetgetting helpsto mesee navigatefirst thehand complex,how fast-pacedacademic andevidence deeplycan collaborativecontribute natureto ofdecision themaking policyin world.government, Foregroundingwhilst stories,learning readingfrom betweenexperienced theofficials. lines,I navigatingwas uncertaintydelighted to stay on with the OIT and tryingI tonow piecework togetherpart time as a comprehensivePolicy pictureAdvisor ofalongside whatfinishing ismy unfamiliarPhD. areThe allplacement developedhas throughproved ethnographicto practice,be whichan certainlyinvaluable hasopportunity usein beyondhelping theme field.progress my career in policy.

James Waddell, UCL

ReadI Ibrahim’shave blogalways abouthad hisan experience

Weinterest regularlyin hostpolicy, PhDbut studentswith frommy humanities PhD, I wasn’t sure how to forge a widepath rangeinto the civil service. On the OIT placement, I was able to apply my research skills and experience of disciplinesacademia to real-world issues, in a really diverse and universities.

Tointeresting hearset aboutof futurepolicy opportunitiesareas from youth violence to AI. The support, training and learnmentorship morethat aboutI ourreceived work,put followme thein Opena Innovationposition Teamwhere I was able to successfully apply for a Policy Advisor role on LinkedIn.the team, which I’m now doing part-time while I write up my thesis.