WRDTP Company Internship Scheme

The White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership (WRDTP) Company Internship Scheme provides current ESRC-funded PhD students with the opportunity to spend up to three months in a non-academic organisation within the public, civil society (voluntary) or private sector to work as part of a team involved with policy and practice development.

The CIS provides both student and host organisations with a clear set of benefits and contributes to the skills and professional development of PhD students.

Key information

  • The Company Internship Scheme is open to all WRDTP funded PhD students who are currently in full-time study (or part-time equivalent) when undertaking the internship. An internship must be an integral part of your PhD and therefore must start at least 3 months prior to the end date of your ESRC award, and not within the first 3 months of the PhD.
  • The application must be supported by a letter from the host organisation where the internship will be undertaken, giving details of the dates of the internship and the type of work that will be undertaken by the student.
  • Full-time students in receipt of a maintenance grant will receive a funded extension to their award covering the length of the internship (from 1 to 3 months) and up to a maximum of £1,000 per month for travel and accommodation expenses (part-time students will receive this on a pro rata basis).
  • Students will continue to be paid their maintenance grant (and any Advanced Quantitative Methods enhanced stipend).
  • Fees Only students will receive the accommodation and travel allowance, but the extension period will only include payment of fees (i.e. no maintenance grant).
  • International students should be aware that UK Visa and Immigration rules means that there may be restrictions relating to their engagement in this opportunity. For example, international students doing any (paid or unpaid) work outside their degree programme need to remain with term-time working hour conditions, i.e. no more than 20 hours per week. International students are advised to seek guidance from relevant local institutional contacts.
  • As a result of Covid-19 pandemic, many of our partner institutions implemented new procedures for approval of overseas/UK travel, e.g. updated risk assessments, travel insurance arrangements etc. Students making an application to any of the WRDTP’s additional funding schemes will be asked to evidence their adherence to any relevant policies from their institution, by uploading the relevant documentation to the application form. If you are unsure how to evidence this, please email enquiries@wrdtp.ac.uk prior to submitting your application.
  • If awarded funding, accommodation for your Company Internship should not be booked through Airbnb. Airbnb are “un-regulated” and do not adhere to the safety standards required for institutional travel insurance policies, so any claims would be unsupported.
  • If a student withdraws from a Company Internship and travel/accommodation has already been paid for, the WRDTP is entitled to claim back the costs of travel/accommodation for the remainder of the internship period.
  • The student and the company will be required to complete an End of Award report.

How to apply

If you wish to submit a request for support, please complete and submit an application form:

In addition, the application form requires the following file uploads (please use the following nomenclature when uploading to the Google Form):

  1. WRDTP CIS Costings Upload Template – (STUDENT SURNAME_STUDENT FIRST NAME_HEI_CIS_COSTINGS)
  2. WRDTP CIS Supervisor Upload Template – (STUDENT SURNAME_STUDENT FIRST NAME_HEI_CIS_SUPPORTING CASE)
  3.  Placement confirmation letter/email (STUDENT SURNAME_STUDENT FIRST NAME_HEI_CIS_PLACEMENT LETTER)
  4. (If travel is involved) Your institution’s necessary documentation for overseas travel – e.g. approved risk assessment, travel insurance certificate etc – (STUDENT SURNAME_STUDENT FIRST NAME_HEI_OIV_COVID DOCUMENTATION)

Applicants can preview the application form and view an example costings template via the following downloads:

Call deadlines

In 2023/24 the following call deadlines will operate:

Call Deadline AQC Panel
1 Friday 22 September 2023 Friday 3 November 2023 Thursday 9 November 2023
2 Friday 1 December 2023 Friday 26 January 2024 Friday 9 February 2024
3 Friday 8 March 2024 Friday 26 April 2024 Thursday 2 May 2024
4 Friday 10 May 2024 Friday 21 June 2024 Thursday 6 July 2024

Award and assessment process

Submitted applications are initially checked by institutional contacts to ensure that applicants are eligible for funding.

Applications are reviewed by the WRDTP Management Team on behalf of the Academic Quality Committee. Where appropriate, an applicant may be asked to provide further information and/or to revise the application as part of the decision-making process. Outcome decisions are communicated to institutional administrative contacts in the first instance. Institutional contacts are then responsible for informing the applicant of the outcome. In cases where an application has been declined the reason for such a decision will be made clear to the applicant.

Where an application is approved for funding, the funds are made available to the student’s host department/school via the institutional contact.  Institutional contacts will also action the grant extension, where appropriate.

Internship reports

If you are awarded funding from the Company Internship scheme, both you and your host organisation are expected to complete a End of Award report using the templates provided below:

If you have any questions please email enquiries@wrdtp.ac.uk