Internships are not just for undergraduates! On the contrary, internships are increasingly used by DPhil and masters students to gain valuable insight into a new sector, widen professional networks, investigate potential research collaborations and generate tangible experience to add to the CV.
A wide range of remote internships are now available. Sign up to the internships mailing list to keep updatedon all our programmes.
Finding the right internship for you
Our popular and growing programme of micro-internships (2-5 day placements in 9thor 10th week each term) are a top favourite with DPhil students because they are short, predominantly local and easily fitted around study commitments or fieldwork. At the same time, many DPhil students find enormous value in asummer internship (4-12 weeks, typically during the Long Vac) because they can apply their research skills, forge strong relationships with the host organisation and even develop joint projects or papers. Our internships are available in a wide range of public sector, voluntary and commercial organisations in Oxford, across the UK and (for the summer programme) internationally.
All current graduate students are eligible to apply for any of the internships offered through the Careers Service. Summer internships are advertised from the beginning of Hilary term; micro-internships are advertised from 0th week of each term. For more details and to sign up for email alerts, see our Micro-internships and Summer Internships pages.
Top Tip: When applying for a Careers Service internship, be bold about stating what skills and added extras that you can offer (for example, your ability to work independently, or flexibility over dates) because these may make you more attractive to the host organisation than most undergraduates applying for the position. You can get advice on your application from members of the Internship Team during the relevant application period. See the events pages on CareerConnect or contact the team oninternships@careers.ox.ac.uk.
Doctoral Internship programmes
Some DPhil students who are required to take an internship as part of a funded doctoral study programme. Support and guidance about how to secure a placement and funding are provided by the relevant academic Division. Please ask your supervisor for more details.
Create your own internship
If you want an internship but cannot find a suitable advertised role, you are in a good position to organise your own, bespoke internship. See our guidance on how to do this, and consider booking an appointment with a Careers Adviser or member of the Internship team to help you focus on practical options and a workable strategy.
We give more tips and examples in our regular lunchtime workshops onSecuring an Internship as a Researcher(dates and booking details on our programme for research students and staff). The new briefing onResearch Internships also has some great suggestions for how to find or create this kind of opportunity.
Please be aware that host organisations may wish to make a formal agreement regarding intellectual property for the duration of your internship. If this is the case, you may wish to consider the following:
- The research project at the University and your work at the employer must not be mingled. You must not take outputs or other “background” technology from the labs in Oxford and use them in the employer’s work or vice versa.
- You can use your knowledge and expertise, that is, your “know-how.”
- There must not be any disclosure of information from the University which is not already in the public domain. You cannot talk about your unpublished results or those of others from within the department / across the University. This will also apply vice-versa.
- In addition, you must not work on your Oxford project during the course of the internship. The terms of such an agreement state thatanyIP created in the internship period shall belong to the employer. This even applies to IP created in your “own time” away from the company’s premises but during the period of the internship.
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