Research in Practice is, from October 2024, a core part of the PhD for all new ESRC studentship recipients at LSE. The programme supports students to develop broader skills during their doctorate and give opportunities for students to apply their methodological training to new contexts.
The LSE DTP is looking for partners to work with us on Research in Practice. If you are interested in working with the DTP please contact the LSE PhD Academy (phdacademy@lse.ac.uk) and access the information for placement partners here.
Research in Practice contains two distinct elements involving partners:
Placements
All ESRC funded students will, as part of the Research in Practice, complete a three-month placement. These placements can be in any field and are focused on developing skills rather than on furthering students’ doctoral research.
The LSE DTP’s Research in Practice programme links PhD students from across LSE to potential placement hosts.
PhD students can make excellent collaborators for a variety of organisations. They are experts in their fields and have a diverse array of methodological research skills that can be applied to numerous contexts. Students from almost every department at LSE can undertake placements.
LSE Doctoral Training Partnership is looking for partners who want PhD students for placements. These placements could take a variety of forms. Students may be required to undertake a research project, work on an area of policy, or across of range of areas in one organisation. The placement does not need to focus on a student’s research area, it is designed to provide opportunities for using methodological skills in new settings.
Often PhD students will be experts in different qualitative or quantitative research methodologies, which might be valuable for host organisations.
Policy Labs
The LSE DTP provides experiential learning opportunities to students in the form of policy labs across the year. At each lab, students are presented a problem with accompanying data, and work in small interdisciplinary teams to present a solution.
Policy labs can be held in a single afternoon or be a longer series of events over the course of a few weeks. ESRC funded students come from across departments at the LSE allowing for multiple perspectives on a single issue.
The LSE DTP is interested in working with partners on different challenges they have that may be suitable for a policy challenge with LSE PhD students.