Placement Opportunities Available

Below you can find all the recent placement opportunities currently available to LAHP students.

To apply, please follow the application guidelines noted in each opportunity.

If you apply directly to a placement host and are successful, please notify lahp@ucl.ac.uk

• Research Support at The Bridge Group

  About us:
  The Bridge Group is an independent research and advisory charity promoting socio-economic inclusion. We are looking for a student to join our team for a 5-month placement (2.5-3 days per week) to assist with our ongoing research portfolio.

  What you will do:
  You will support our research team by contributing to various projects, including our work on international socio-economic background (SEB) measurement. Your tasks will include conducting literature reviews, summarising documentation, supporting the analysis of interview data and contributing to writing up the findings.

  As part of this, you will work alongside our core staff and associate researchers, as well as our partners on this project from the University of London. This is a great opportunity to observe how research is applied within a business and policy-focused environment. Beyond this project, you will assist the wider team with literature reviews, data analysis or other tasks across our various projects.

  Project Details:

  The primary focus will be our ongoing research project on measuring socio-economic background internationally. The student will support the literature review, qualitative data collection, and analysis processes. By the end of the placement, we expect the student to have authored a blog post and contributed to the project’s final report. Depending on the student’s interests, there will also be opportunities to contribute to our wider portfolio of projects.

  The placement supervisor will be LAHP alumni Dr Aleksandra Kubica.

  Working Arrangements:
  This placement is largely remote, with periodic in-person meetings and events in London.

  Essential Criteria:

  • We are looking for a student with a keen interest in applied research, particularly regarding social mobility and socio-economic inclusion.
  • Good qualitative research skills are required, including the ability to conduct literature reviews and support qualitative data collection and analysis.
  • Good writing skills are also needed, as the student will be tasked with producing a blog post and contributing to a formal project report.

  Application Process:

  Please submit your CV and a covering letter, explaining your interest in the role and how you meet the essential criteria. Your cover letter should be no longer than one page.

  Applications should be emailed to: applications@thebridgegroup.org.uk

  Deadline: 5pm Friday, 4 September 2026

  Shortlisted candidates will be invited for an interview. Ideally, the successful applicant will be able to start in mid-October 2026.

  If you have any questions about the role, please contact Dr Aleksandra Kubica: aleksandra.kubica@thebridgegroup.org.uk

• PhD Internship – Nutopia Production Team (Archive)

  Nutopia – 1st Floor, Kirkman House – 12/14 Whitfield Steet – London W1T 2RF

  Nutopia is an award-winning creative company that pushes the boundaries of factual content. We develop and produce innovative, premium shows to excite and thrill audiences globally. The goal of our internship program is to discover and develop new talent seeking to gain an understanding of TV production, an idea of potential career paths within the industry, and to spend a fun and exciting time as part of a smart, creative production team. It is also an invaluable opportunity to begin networking within a pool of the best talent in the business. Nutopia is the perfect place to gain the knowledge and real-world experience needed to launch a career in TV – specifically in specialist factual and factual entertainment programming.

  PhD Internship with a Nutopia production team (Archive)

  The Nutopia production offering this internship is making a landmark 18×60’ historical documentary series for a major international channel. So, experience of historical research is essential. The series tells the story of the 20th Century through 18 compelling stand-alone stories. The series is driven by on-screen experts, archival footage as well as contributions from an A-list host.

  The intern will be embedded with the archival research team. Here they will uncover historic footage and photographs through the major archive houses but also conduct research through more bespoke institutions such as museums and universities. This archival material makes up 70% of the on-screen time in each episode – and researching it is a vital responsibility.  The selected intern will get valuable practical experience on this project during the preproduction / scripting / edit stages.

  As well as playing an integral role on the project, the intern will also be assigned a mentor on the production with whom they will have regular meetings to discuss progress and goals achieved.

  Timeframe:

  The placement would ideally begin as soon as possible to join the archival team and become a part of the team. Placements can run from 3-months, up to 6 months. However, there is some flexibility so please outline your situation clearly.

  Please note this is a full-time placement, with a combination of home and office

  working (our offices are based in London close to Tottenham Court Road).

  The application deadline is 5pm on Tuesday 18th August 2026. Applications (CV and cover letter) to be emailed directly to placement@nutopia.com

  Please do state your earliest availability, so we can review to make sure we can accommodate and discuss what stage of the production we will be at.

  The ideal candidate would have:

  • A genuine interest in archive, historical research, public history, and the desire to gain an understanding of a future career in television
  • Studying for a degree which requires strong research skills in a history-related field
  • Excellent communication skills, pro-active, enthusiastic, determined, adaptable and driven
  • Awareness of, or a keen interest in, AI Image Prompt Writing

  Due to the diverse nature of factual programme making, this placement description may not be fully exhaustive. It provides an overview of the expected areas of involvement, and the types of tasks participants are likely to undertake. In collaboration with your Mentor/Manager, this may alter depending on the changing needs or parameters of a production, including helping other production teams and Nutopia’s in-house development team, with ad-hoc research tasks.

   

• V&A PhD Placements

  The V&A has created a range of PhD placements based in collections departments, archives, the National Art Library, research, and collections care and access to support the professional development of PhD researchers across the UK and internationally. In addition to on-the-job experience and mentoring from supervisors, PhD placement students will have access to the Museum’s wider range of workshops, talks and postgraduate training opportunities, alongside a training package designed for the PhD placement cohort. Depending on the project, placements may combine onsite and remote work, with the exact working pattern agreed between the student and placement supervisors.

  Eligibility:

  V&A doctoral placements are unpaid and only open to students currently studying on a funded PhD programme. International applicants welcome. There will be two start windows for 2026–2027 placements: October 2026 and January 2027.

  Current opportunities:

  • PhD Placement – Cataloguing the Yu-Chee Chong Collection of Southeast Asian Photography, 1860-1920
  • V&A PhD Placement – Materials and Techniques in the NAL’s Jobbing Printing Collection (1920 – 1939)

  How to apply:

  Applications must be submitted online via the V&A Vacancies webpage.

  Please do check this page for the application deadlines and updates.

• UKRI policy internships 2026 – call now open

  The 2026 call for UKRI Policy Internships is now open, with a closing date for applications of 4pm on Tuesday 8th September 2026. Applications must be submitted via the UKRI Funding Service.

  Full details of how to apply, including information on the host partners involved and the specific placement opportunities available, can be found on the UKRI Funding Finder. Please ensure you follow the LAHP application process for students outlined below.

  UKRI Policy Internships 2026 – LAHP application process for students:

  • Step 1: Students contact LAHP to express their interest in applying.
  • Step 2: LAHP provides wording for the supervisor permission statement, and the student arranges for their supervisor to email LAHP directly with their approval.
  • Step 3: LAHP provides a template statement for the student to copy and paste into the ‘Host Organisation Support’ section of the application form. Student selects the role of ‘project lead’ and completes their application.
  • Step 4: Student informs LAHP once they have completed their application and this must be done no later than Monday 31st August 2026. As additional checks are required following submission, we cannot guarantee that applications received after this date will be submitted to UKRI by the UKRI deadline of 8th September 2026.
  • Step 5: LAHP works with UCL Research Services to complete the necessary checks and arrange final submission of the application.

  About the scheme

  The scheme provides an opportunity for UKRI-funded doctoral students to undertake a three-month placement at one of a selected group of highly influential policy organisations, as part of their existing doctoral studentship.

  The aim of the scheme is to embed students in a policymaking environment so that they can develop the skills and experiences needed to make academic research accessible to policy makers. Through these internships, students will produce at least one briefing paper, participate in a policy inquiry, and/or organise a policy event, or equivalent. Interns will gain training and experience related to how research can inform policymaking.

  The Policy Internships scheme is coordinated by UKRI Talent and Skills and ESRC Public and Policy Engagement teams, on behalf of the Research Councils of UKRI. Any queries relating to the application process should be directed to PolicyInternships@ukri.org. Contacts details for specific host partners can be found in the Host Partner Information document.

• Placements at The National Archives

  Call for applications

  Applications for The National Archives’ student placements are currently open, with six projects available within various departments at The National Archives.

  All student placements at The National Archives enable students to:

  1. Gain industry-specific knowledge and skills for working in a variety of roles across the research, government, cultural and heritage sectors.
  2. Build professional connections across the organisation and an understanding of the variety of roles at The National Archives.
  3. Create an output which showcases the work undertaken as part of their placement at The National Archives and which demonstrates the knowledge and skills the student has developed and applied during their time on the placement.

  Placements are offered on a full- or part-time basis. Placements are between one and three months in length, but will all be a maximum of 20 working days (e.g. one month full-time or two-to-three months part-time).

  Eligibility

  Currently, our student placements are only open to master’s and doctoral students with the right to work in the UK, and those who are fully funded and whose funding includes a specific allowance for placements.

  Some of our student placements projects are open to both master’s and doctoral students, whilst others are open to only master’s students or only doctoral students. Please refer to the information provided for specific projects to check your eligibility.

  Find out more about the student placement projects available and application process here

  Application deadlines for each project will be listed on The National Archives webpage.

• Royal College of Physicians – Recording the 20th century library

  The project intends to make the provenance information in an early-20th century accessions register accessible today. It can be completed remotely, and would fall into three parts, which can run concurrently:

  1. Transcribing the handwritten ledger entries in summary. They record the author, title and date of the book, and details of who donated it or where we bought it, and when we acquired it. Most of this data hasn’t previously been included in our main library catalogue.
  2. Matching the entries to books in the library catalogue today, and updating the catalogue entry with the provenance info.
  3. Researching interesting or major donations – who gave the books, what books were given – and writing that up for library website and social media channels.

  Start & end date of placement: Ad hoc placements to be agreed with the student.

  Hours of work: Negotiable, part-time preferred

  Essential criteria: Ability to read or to learn to read early 20th century handwriting.

  Deadline: No specific deadline, placements are available throughout the academic year.

  To apply, please complete the expression of interest and return it to lahp@ucl.ac.uk 

  For further details, please contact Katie Birkwood (Rare books and special collections Librarian) katie.birkwood@rcp.ac.uk