Internships for DPhil Students

Overview

If you are an AHRC-funded DPhil student (full award or fees-only), you are encouraged to undertake an internship during your time at Oxford to gain valuable work experience. There are many ways to source an internship that meets your needs and fulfills your interests; you can explore your options using the tabs below.

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The AHRC facilitates internships for its doctoral students by extending studentships for the same duration as that of the internship. For example, if your internship is 8 weeks long, you will continue to receive your usual stipend for those 8 weeks, and will have an additional 8 weeks added on to your final submission date. You will continue to be paid your stipend during the final 8 weeks (extension) of your DPhil.

​Previous DTP students have successfully undertaken internships in a broad range of sectors, from dry stone walling to technology transfer, and on an international scale. Internships are a fantastic opportunity to travel, explore career ideas, situate your research in a wider context, expand your professional network, develop new skills, and acquire evidence to use in CVs and interviews within and outside academia.

  • Eligibility: you must be a DPhil student in receipt of AHRC funding (full award or fees-only), and you must have successfully passed your Transfer of Status by the time you start the internship. Note that you can - and should - start planning and organising your internship before your Transfer of Status!
  • Duration: internships can last from 4 to 12 weeks. They can be done on a full or part-time basis and with more than one placement provider.
  • Project: internships must be professional placements. Students cannot undertake a placement doing research within a university. However, approval may be given for internships that aim to increase the impact of the research, for example through communication and policy-related activities.

  • Firstly, source your internship. There are many ways you can do this - explore your options below.
  • Secondly, you will need to apply for suspension of student status during your internship (using form GSO.17), and ask your supervisor to write a short letter of support confirming that the internship will not interfere with your academic commitments. You will also need to complete an internship plan, to be signed by you and by the employer.
  • Thirdly, apply for an extension of your studentship by emailing Oxford's AHRC DTP team: ahrcdtp@admin.ox.ac.uk.

Please email Caroline Thurston (Humanities Training Officer) with your question: caroline.thurston@humanities.ox.ac.uk.

Finding an internship

We work with external partners to offer pre-defined internship projects. These are advertised twice a year, although the internships themselves may take place at any time (dates are detailed in the internship advertisement). Current opportunities are advertised in December and April via this webpage. They are also circulated to all AHRC-funded DPhil students via email.

If you have already identified an organisation with whom you'd like to work, you can contact them directly and negotiate a suitable project. The Careers Service webpages on finding work experience contain valuable advice and a range of resources to help you find an internship. You can also use CareerConnect to browse opportunities currently on offer from thousands of employers seeking to recruit Oxford students.

The Internship Office is part of the University of Oxford Careers Service, and manages a wide range of internship programmes for all Oxford students (see The Internship Office webpages for more details). Applications to the programmes managed by the Internship Office are on a competitive basis. However, if you are successful in securing an internship through these programmes, you can apply for an extension of your AHRC studentship for the same duration as the internship, up to a maximum of 12 weeks.