Placement Opportunities
This page contains information about placements developed with Techne partner organisations for Techne students to apply for. Please note that you need to be within your funded period when the placement begins in order to apply. You can find out more about funding for placements here.
Techne's Partner the British Library, updates it’s placement opportunities regularly, please follow this link.
23 Things international – Engagement Mentor, University of Surrey
23 Things International is a unique collaboration between universities across the world, led by the University of Surrey. It’s an online learning programme that introduces researchers of any discipline and career stage to useful online tools and techniques to support their work and professional profile building.
In 2021 we had 400 participants from the Universities of Surrey and Cambridge (UK), Florida (USA), Otago and Auckland University of Technology (New Zealand) and Avondale University (Australia), as well as the Africa Research Excellence Fund, and the Techne and SeNSS doctoral training partnerships. For 2022 we also welcome University College Dublin, University of Swansea, and Royal Holloway, and expect to recruit around 600 participants.
One of the best parts of 23Things is that we put researchers from similar disciplines into ‘pods’, to instantly create connections around the world. It’s a chance to meet new people, work together on the tasks for each Thing, and dream up new collaborations beyond the programme.
This year we are delighted to recruit a Techne Engagement Mentor, with the specific task of facilitating interaction within the pods, adding new content relevant to Techne researchers, and assisting with our small research project into participants’ experience.
The Engagement Mentor will be responsible for devising and implementing strategies to help our pods communicate, making sure that initial contact takes off and each pod has a plan for how they want to ‘meet’. This could involve different online platforms. They will also be asked to give participants feedback and encouragement through the community forum, their websites and blogs.
Depending on the mentor’s interest and agreed time commitment, they may also be involved in supplying content and resources for the blogs, and helping to run our participant feedback questionnaire and focus group. There may be opportunities to contribute to subsequent research outputs.
The mentor will report to with project lead Mike Rose (Doctoral College, University of Surrey) and Sarah Stein (Director of Distance Learning, University of Otago), and will be offered full support and mentorship training.
Start & end date of placement: The core period will be March-June 2022, over the 14-week duration of the programme. Depending on the mentor’s preference, they may get involved in the planning stages before this (from February), or in the assessment research, June-Aug 2022.
Hours of work: Hours can be arranged to suit the individual mentor. Total hours worked would reflect the length of funding extension applied for – minimum 30 working days, to max 12 weeks equivalent. During the 14-week programme we would anticipate at least one day per week.
The placement student will be eligible for a stipend extension for the duration of the placement, pro rata if part-time.
Because they will be working with ‘pods’ split over different time zones, some early morning / early evening meetings will be required.
Essential criteria: the placement is open to all techne-funded researchers. It will suit researchers with an interest in fostering international collaborations, public engagement work, and mentoring.
No prior experience or knowledge is necessary, but the successful applicant will demonstrate an understanding of building team relationships, and the ability to give constructive feedback.
The role will be largely self-directed, so a proactive approach is crucial. Knowledge of some of the ‘Things’ will be helpful, but more important will be an interest in learning.
All of our project meetings are online, so the candidate will need to have their own IT equipment and internet connection. No regular travel is required.
Depending on what is feasible by March, we may hold occasional in-person live events to supplement the online programme. The mentor may be compensated for travel to these events if attending (but it would never be compulsory).
Expected project outcomes: the engagement mentor is a new role, designed to promote greater connections within and between pods, allowing research relationships to flourish. 23Things is a growing project, with unique opportunities for the mentor to contribute to its future shape. For the mentor, this is an opportunity to make connections internationally and across disciplines, with potential research publications, as well as developing new skills in mentoring, digital tools, and project management.
This is a new role for 2022, meaning there is scope to develop it in different ways. At the end of the placement we will ask the mentor to write a short report on their experience to inform future recruitment.
Application is through the Techne Career Enhancement Activity form.
Deadline: Applications must be submitted by 1st February 2022.
For further details, please contact Mike Rose: M.Rose@surrey.ac.uk
Techne Racial Justice Fellows: Partner Placements
Techne has established an ongoing programme of Racial Justice Fellow placements to help explore issues of racial justice across the Techne community. As a Techne community it is important we ensure support for global majority students and students of colour at all stages of the PhD process; from application, through to experiences and support during the PhD, and then into careers beyond. The Techne community includes a set of proactive partners from across the creative and cultural industries who work with Techne to provide opportunities for knowledge exchange through student placements, training and CDAs.
Building on the work of our Racial Justice Fellows a selection of Techne partners (The National Archives, The Wellcome Collection, London Metropolitan Archives, The National Trust and the ICA) have come together to identify the opportunity for a shared programme of Racial Justice Partner Placements to review the current practices and processes across the partner organisations. These organisations are referred to collectively in this document as the ‘first phase’. It is likely that this would form an initial scoping exercise before undertaking one project across a key area for partner organisations. For example:
Anti-racism and discrimination policies, plans and strategies
- Collections – researching content, exploring context, structure, description and language and guidance on acquisitions, dispersals and repatriation
Recruitment Training Pastoral Care and Mental Health; including in relation to engaging with collections Education/Outreach team / External Engagement / Community Activity
Those undertaking Racial Justice Partner Placements will work together to design and ultimately to implement a programme of activities around racial justice with the partner organisations. Those undertaking Racial Justice Partner Placements will work towards a sharing meeting with senior leaders within the partner organisations and events to amplify findings. This will contribute directly to policy and practice with Techne partners and shape Techne’swider agenda and strategy for ensuring racial justice across our research community.
We anticipate extending the funding for up to 3 current Techne students annually (through the Techne placement/ career enhancement programme) to act as Racial Justice Partner Placement students.
Each partner placement student will be eligible for a stipend extension of up to three months for full time placements (5 days per week for 3 months or 60 days over a longer period) initially, which can be extended to six months. In accordance with the Techne and AHRC regulations on placement-based extensions/career enhancement, a doctoral student can only receive a maximum of six months extension made up of multiple placements of a minimum 30 days to a maximum 130 days/6 months during their PhD, and must start the placement during their funded period. We anticipate this programme running throughout the life-time of Techne.
The Racial Justice Partner Placement students will be a collective, supported by all of the partner organisations involved in this first phase. For management and support, each Racial Justice Partner Placement student will be supported by a member of the staff from one of the partner organisations decided in discussion with the Techne team. The Racial Justice Partner Placement students will work with the Techne Director or Deputy Director to develop their activities. They will be informally supported by Techne’s Racial Justice Fellows working directly with Techne. We hope to develop this into a mentoring network as more Racial Justice Partner Placement students (and organisations) join. They will also provide reports to the Techne Steering Group, Management Group and Training Group discussing their plans with these groups and feeding into these group’s wider work to ensure Techne’s Racial Justice activities are embedded across the community.
Racial Justice Partner Placement students will be able to apply for additional funds through the Student-led Events, Training & Development Day and Conflux applications process should these be needed. Events and the management of the budget will be supported by the Techne admin team and will be subject to the standard Techne/AHRC regulations.
We invite expressions of interest in these roles in the form of a maximum 500 word statement that details your interest in the role, your experience in working on racial justice and what you would like to do in the fellowship.
Although we will encourage applications from global majority students and students of colour, we would like all Techne students who are eligible to consider this opportunity.
Please also detail your year of study, institution and confirm that you have discussed this with your supervisor. Please email this to techne@rhul.ac.uk by 21st January 2022.
If you wish to have an informal discussion about this opportunity, please contact either:
Rachel Smillie rachel.smillie@nationalarchives.gov.uk
Helen Wakely h.wakely@wellcome.org
The National Archives
As the archive of Crown and State government, The National Archives (TNA) holds a vast range of records on life in the British Isles and beyond over the past 1000 years. TNA is pleased to invite Techne students on a placement for six to twelve weeks, full or part time, depending on student requirements.
We currently have a placement opportunity in Collections Expertise and Engagement department, working with a small, discrete collection from the diverse records of the High Court of Admiralty. The placement will focus on letters, papers and legal records relating to early modern piracy, prize-taking, colonialism and overseas trade, 1551-1870 (the bulk pre-1770). The successful candidate will be responsible for conducting an initial survey of this small collection and subsequent work enhancing our information about its contents, with the aim of improving access to these materials. For the length of the placement, the candidate will be embedded in a small team of experienced specialists who work on the High Court of Admiralty’s records. The placement will also be tailored to the candidate’s interests and future career aims, with the potential to work on related projects with other departments at TNA, such as public engagement and exhibitions, with the intention of broadening engagement with these records beyond established academic and research communities, in support of our role as archive sector lead.
Start & end date of placement: early 2022, with precise dates to be agreed with the student, please contact research@nationalarchives.gov.uk
Hours of work: To be agreed with the student. The placement will involve working with original documents onsite, but with the potential for some work to be conducted at home.
Essential criteria: the placement will suit students with an interest in academic and public history, collaborative research, cultural heritage or the GLAM sector. There are no minimum skills requirements, but a successful placement student will be able to demonstrate a keen interest in the history of international trade, colonialism, law, piracy or the age of sail. As this placement is focussed on original documents written in 16th and 17th century handwriting, it would desirable for the placement student to have some experience of reading handwriting from this period already. If not, the successful candidate will need to be willing and able to learn how to do so quickly, with support from the placement supervisor and team. Experience of archival research is also desirable.
Expected project outcomes: the results of the student’s findings will be primarily be used to enhance our online cataloguing for the specified collection. They will also be expected to utilise some of the records for publication, initially in the form of blogs for public and academic engagement. Other expected outcomes will depend on the student’s interests and any resulting work that they undertake with other departments at TNA.
Deadline: No specific deadline, placements are available throughout the academic year
For further details, please contact research@nationalarchives.gov.uk
Other placement opportunities will be added to this page when available.