Internships and placements

Internships are a great way to test the skills you learn over the course of your studies in a professional working environment. As well as showing that you have initiative, enthusiasm and a good work ethic to any potential employers in the future, internships are a great way to explore your career options and gain an insight into working in a particular role or company. Placements provide similar benefits to internships but last up to a year, and are often a part of sandwich courses at university.

As well as contacting HR and outreach staff of companies and institutions directly, and talking to your university careers officers, try some of the links below for further information on getting the vital work experience that you need.

Want to work in a professional research environment? Check out our Summer Vacation Studentships (for undergraduates).

Try our volunteering links for further opportunities to get involved in science and improve your CV.

General links

Society of Biology – has information on companies that offer industrial and summer placements for bioscience students.

Prospects – the UK’s official graduate careers website, Prospects has an extensive database of internships and placements, along with FAQs, guides, links and further information.

Gradplus.com – detailed careers site that advertises both internships and entry-level graduate jobs.

TARGETjobs – collates and lists available work placements in different regions of the UK and abroad.

topinternships.com – a site dedicated to providing internship placements for graduates, with a robust database and guide to making the most of your internship.

milkround.com - graduate schemes, jobs, internships and placements, plus events and career advice.

www.britishcouncil.org/learning-ie-training-and-work-experience.htmInternational work experience for technical students – this programme helps students gain experience working abroad in science, technology, engineering and research institutions around the globe (International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience).

Work experience in Science, Engineering, Policitics, Law, Media (and much more) – Mulitiple PDF guides with links to suitable volunteering, internship and studentship opportunities for science and engineering graduates (University of York).

Companies and institutions

GlaxoSmithKline – this well known pharmaceutical company offers both short- and long-term placements for undergraduates in a variety of science and nonscience positions.

Proctor & Gamble – a Fortune 500 multinational consumer goods company, P&G have short-term and long-term year round internships in a variety of departments, including Engineering, Manufacturing, Marketing and Research and Development.

Centrica plc – one of the largest utilities companies in the UK, Centrica plc is a FTSE100 company that provides both graduate placements and summer programmes.

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory – the Ministry of Defence’s premier research laboratory, the DSTL provides both short term summer internships and long term industrial placements at the cutting edge of science and technology research.

Novartis – offers industrial placements at its labs across the world, including Horsham, UK. Vacancies are advertised between July and November.

Jannsen-Cilag – a research-based pharmaceutical company and a subsidiary of the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical company, Jannsen-Cilag offers placements to sandwich year students in a variety of fields.

BBC Jobs - interested in science communication? Short-term placements in a variety of fields are available at the BBC.

Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute - offers work experience placements for undergraduate students, and sandwich year placements.

Cheltenham Festivals internships – interested in working in public engagement or festivals? Summer internship placements and volunteering opportunities for Cheltenham’s many festivals can be viewed on this site in December.

Summer vacation studentships

If you are an undergraduate student, you may be able to apply for funding to support a summer placement in a research lab.

If you are a second year undergraduate student on a three year undergraduate course (or a second or third year student on a four year course) you can apply for a Biochemical Society Summer Vacation Studentship.

Alternatively, you can see a list of similar studentships on offer, created by the Society of Biology.