In a bid to provide hands on training to the PhD students  AHRC has joined for a policy internship scheme. The Arts & Humanities Council (AHRC) is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, United Kingdom. The scheme which was previously run by the National Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

The aim of this internship is to provide opportunities for the PhD students, funded by these research institutions, to intern for three months in an influential policy organization. There are eight host organizations that would provide internship opportunities in a policy topic suitable and relevant to both the parties.

Among the eight host organizations, there are three parliamentary organizations and five non-parliamentary organizations where each selected student would undergo for internship. The three parliamentary organizations are the Parliamentary Office of Science & Technology (POST), London; Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe), Edinburgh; The Research Service (RS, National Assembly for Wales), Cardiff. The five non-parliamentary organizations are the British Library, Centre for Science & Policy, Government office for Science, The Royal Society, and Society of Biology.

As an intern, students are expected to work under these highly influential bodies where they are required to prepare briefing notes for the parliamentarians, participate in a policy inquiry and organize a policy event or workshop.

The students from NERC and AHRC will also be eligible for a fully funded three-month extension of the PhD work and the grant will be paid while they are on internship. Similarly the BBSRC candidates those who are trained by academia-industry collaboration schemes, will undertake a three-month internship and their candidature will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

The NERC, AHRC and BBSRC will ensure that the stipend is being paid continually by the host organizations. These host organizations are also responsible for providing computing, email facilities to the prospective interns in order to complete the project.

How to Apply

Eligible candidates can follow the policy internship guidance and fill in the policy internship application form. Then, candidates are required to submit the filled in application form to stag-at-nerc.ac.uk. It’s a two stage selection process where all the submitted applications will be assessed. Based on the ranking, shortlisted candidates will be called for an interview.

Application deadline

The current call status is open and the deadline for submitting the filled in application is 18th August 2014.