Micro-Internship Scheme for PhD Researchers


Micro-internships give PhD Researchers the opportunity to apply their research skills in non-academic settings and allow host organisations to access their talent and expertise.

The experience was insightful and fun, and certainly helped me learn things I wouldn’t have in a purely academic setting.

— PhD Intern at PigeonLine

This scheme allows PhD researchers to work outside academia, part-time, for a month. The micro-internship involves the completion of a small-scale project ideally with a strong research and/or policy component or the completion of a project that enhances the analytical and professional skills of the students. Upon satisfactory completion, the intern will receive a ‘PhD Academy Micro-Internship Award’ of the value of £1,000.

Positions currently available

Current micro-internship opportunities
 Host Organisation Position Details
Clioventures Data Scientist Person Specification
Clioventures Green Banking Researcher Person Specification
Civic Works Subscriber Engagement and Growth Intern Person Specification
Civic Works Strategic Finance Intern Person Specification
Growth Hub Global Research Fellow in Practice Person Specification
Legal Pythia Data Scientist Person Specification
Legal Pythia Business Development Manager - West Africa Person Specification
Safe Sign Technologies Ltd Machine Learning and LLM researcher in Legal Reasoning and Analytics Person Specification
Safe Sign Technologies Ltd Analyst for Legal AI Business Models Person Specification
Safe Sign Technologies Ltd Strategic Roadmap Development for Legal App Person Specification
Safe Sign Technologies Ltd AI Legal Compliance and Risk Analysis Person Specification
Safe Sign Technologies Ltd IPO Creation and Market Analysis Person Specification
Safe Sign Technologies Ltd Legal AI Bias Analysis and Exploration Person Specification
StoryKasa Business Analyst Intern Person Specification
The Training Market Behavioural Science Intern – Training Provider Review System Person Specification
The Training Market Data Scientist Person Specification
Thrive Future Researcher/Analyst (Gender Equality) Person Specification

 

Programme details

Aims

The Micro-Internship scheme aims to provide a mutually beneficial collaboration between PhD Researchers and non-academic organisations from the private, public, and third sector. The micro-internships will give PhD researchers the opportunity to work outside academia and will give the host organisations the opportunity to gain access to the talent, research skills and expertise of PhD Researchers. As such, the scheme aims to bridge the space between academia and other sectors.

Scope, commitment and award

The host organisation provides a micro-internship opportunity which will normally involve the completion of 80 working hours over a month. To facilitate a smooth start of the micro-internship, half a day (4 work hours) can be added to the 80 work hours of the actual internship period for on-boarding processes. The micro-internship involves the completion of a small-scale project ideally with a strong research and/or policy component or the completion of a project that enhances the analytical and professional skills of the students.


The work will be carried out either remotely or from an office location in London.


At the end of the Micro-Internship, the intern will be asked to fill in an evaluation form. Once the form is returned to the PhD Academy, the intern will receive a ‘PhD Academy Micro-Internship Award’ of the value of £1,000.


The Micro-Internship award can only be issued to students who complete the internship before the submission of their thesis and have a Right to Work in the UK.

Deadlines and structure

The Micro-Internships Scheme will run on a termly basis. Internships taking place in the Autumn and Winter Terms will be 80 hours and internships taking place in the Summer Term will take either 80 or 160 hours.

The award for 160-hour Internships will be £2,000. Internships will be advertised in October, January and March with a deadline for applications some weeks after the advertising date.

micro-internships cycles

 Advertising Date Application Deadline Placement Period* 
Autumn Term
9 October 2023
27 October 2023
13 November to 8 December 2023
Winter Term
29 January 2024
11 February 2024
26 February 2024 to 22 March 2024
Summer Term
11 April 2024
30 April 2024
1st cycle: 20 May to 14 June 2024 or 20 May to 12 July 2024
2nd cycle: 3 June to 28 June 2024 or 3 June to 27 July 2024
* To accommodate teaching and caring commitment or visa restrictions, the end date of the internship can be moved by two weeks to spread the amount of hours over a longer period of time. Autumn Term internships can be extended to 19 December 2023. Winter Term internships can be extended to 28 March 2024. The end date of summer term internships can also move by two weeks.

Are you a Visa holder or have other commitments?

Please be reminded you are required to adhere to your visa restrictions, and you are not allowed to work more than the permitted hours even unpaid. For Visa holders or students with other commitments, please include in your application the number of hours you are currently contracted to work. The time of the internships can be spread over a longer period of time to meet the number of hours you are permitted to work.

How to Apply

To apply, please read through the programme details below and complete the application form

If you have any questions, please email phdacademy.spring@lse.ac.uk

The Micro-Internships Scheme will run on a termly basis. Please see 'Deadlines and structure' above for application deadlines.

 

Testimonials from previous participants in the programme

"During my micro-internship at PigeonLine, I gained insight into how my theoretical research on algorithmic fairness can be applied in a real-world context. The experience was insightful and fun, and certainly helped me learn things I wouldn’t have in a purely academic setting. The Micro internship was a great opportunity to expand my skills outside academia and learn about jobs in the private sectors. It was really valuable to meet people from a similar background. An opportunity to get a brief glimpse at the world [of business] and exchange practical and academic insights"

Sazid Ahmad, MRes/PhD in Management - Employment Relations and Human Resources

 

"My thesis is focussed on the US. Thus, I was more engrossed in economic aspects of the US and its states. However, the micro-internship provided me with an opportunity to get involved with European data and understand the macroeconomic indicators of Euro zone and how it differs across EU member countries."

Nilesh Raut, PhD in Health Economics

 

"I really enjoy my experience at the micro-internship. It is reassuring that my knowledge and skills from academia can be transferable and applicable in business settings."

Yuanmo He, MPhil/PhD in Social Research Methods

 

"The program paired us with highly passionate, skilled, and creative thinkers from a range of domains. Together we were able to build innovative models that can have a direct impact on industry, and we were able to build lasting relationships. I highly recommend this program to organizations looking to experiment with models or looking to bring a jolt of subject-matter expertise into their efforts."

Cody Dodd, Co-Founder of PigeonLine’s ResearchAI

 

Host organisations we have worked with

Civic Works

Civic Works is a small technology-centric media company dedicated to participatory democracy and budgeting. We believe any form of meaningful democracy requires a well-educated, informed, and engaged society. Facebook and others monetize conflict, propaganda, and controversy thus creating substantial value for investors while causing societal harm and polarization. We are building a countervailing platform to empower citizens and share equity value with all stakeholders.

Future Planet

Future Planet is an impact-led, global venture capital firm built to invest in high growth potential companies from the world's top research centres. They provide venture and growth funding to entrepreneurs and businesses profitably solving the world's greatest challenges in Climate Change, Education, Health, Sustainable Growth & Security. Their mission is not simply to deliver excellent returns, but to create a lasting impact.

Heritage Holdings

At Heritage, we are dedicated to being at the forefront of the alternative investment industry by creating a next-generation fund that combines traditional investment sourcing and evaluation strategies with proprietary technology solutions and data-driven approaches. We are a group of entrepreneurial, passionate people from very different backgrounds, including PE & VC, investment banking, software development, psychology and law, and we strive to constantly engage with brilliant minds from all over the world for mutual value creation

Houghton Street Ventures

Houghton Street Ventures is a venture capital fund that invests in LSE-alumni founded companies at pre-seed and seed stages. We exist to invest in and support the global ecosystem of more than 25,000 founders who attended the LSE. Everything we do is underpinned by data, we are builders and at the core of that is the founder analytics platform which powers our sourcing and community strategy. We want to develop on this data engine further to create more interactive applications that support different aspects of the business.

Mighty & Wild

Mighty & Wild is a new start-up food brand on a mission to create snacks that kids love and parents can feel proud of. Unlike most kids snacks, which are nutritionally empty, overly processed and overly sugary, our snacks are high in protein, fibre, and healthy fats, minimally processed, with no added sugar. Mighty & Wild will launch a wide portfolio of kids snacks designed to raise the bar on nutrition for discerning millennial parents, starting with refrigerated bars.

Noggin HQ

Noggin HQ (Fin-tech For Good). Young people are disproportionately rejected when applying for credit (often with little explanation). This is because credit checks lack nuance and ignore key financial behaviours. At Noggin HQ, we're developing our own credit check (built on principles of fairness and explainability) - and connecting our users to companies that accept it. We’re backed by Bethnal Green Ventures and part of the FCA’s Innovation Hub.

Hey Mirza

Mirza tackles the intertwined crises of a labour shortage and broken childcare system. We align employer/employee incentives in tying care stipends to retention (similar to tuition reimbursement) so employees feel supported in moments that matter, build loyalty, and stay at work. Our technology builds, runs, and tracks care programs that tailor our framework for forgivable, zero interest financing to fit your workforce.

ResearchAI

PigeonLine’s ResearchAI was founded at the LSE and is a platform that supports organizational research through automation and AI. With a philosophy of interactivity and accessibility, common data science approaches that typically require engineering are now available to small, medium and enterprise-sized organizations looking to capture insights into employee, customer or operational pain-points. The platform includes business intelligence consulting and support to help organizations go from zero to hero in terms of acting on real-time, agile insights.

Learn more about PigeonLine's past work with the LSE and our vision with academia: https://research-ai.io/academia

RevEng.AI

RevEng.AI is building artificial intelligence for binary program analysis. They are applying the latest techniques in ML to compiled code for a wide range of applications, from cyber security to high frequency trading and their goal is to be the OpenAI of cyber security.

Syntegral

Syntegral is an impact intelligence startup which uses AI, ML, and NLP technologies to validate, predict, and discover ecological & social impact in diverse asset classes like listed equities or real assets. They primarily target dedicated impact investment funds and traditional asset managers with impact targets, but also look to provide insights to foundations, nonprofits, DFIs, and eventually the general public.

Everybody Eats

Everybody Eats - Henry Ford (Ford Motor Company) and Henry Royce (Rolls Royce) were born in the same year and their early careers were near carbon copies. But one opted to build the Model T and Mass Production while the other built the Rolls Royce. Everybody Eats is building Model T-style scalability for management consulting offerings.

3AI

3AI is a machine learning company that builds explainable AI for investing. 3AI produce smart alpha indices and deep factor insights for equity investors, which enhances decision-making and drives superior long-term returns. Evaluating an industry-leading 326 factors per stock, 3AI’s Deep Factor AI unlocks Alpha through a deeper understanding of companies than ever before. With so much data now accessible, it’s simply impossible for an investor to incorporate all of this information into their evaluation of a stock. 3AI does exactly this at market-leading scale. Instantly making sense of the vast amount of data now available, this new form of Explainable AI is the future for empowering investors and unlocking Alpha. The 3AI team has extensive experience across machine learning, quantitative investments, and genuine Alpha discovery. Having run AI-powered investment strategies that outperformed the hedge fund industry, traded for banks, and produced award-winning investment AI for the insurance sector, the team witnessed how a lack of depth in factor analysis impacts results, and saw an opportunity to bring a truly reliable Alpha solution using machine learning for enhanced investment returns.

Method X Studios

Method X Studios is a small start-up that aims to democratise good mental health and end the mental health poverty gap. They want to emphasise that there are left behind populations, who aren’t benefiting from existing solutions because products are often designed for those who are designing them.

Bia Care

Bia Care is a health company united by the objective to improve standards of care delivered for women. They are building an online menopause clinic offering consultations and personalised treatment plans, including hormone replacement therapy prescriptions and behavioural change interventions. Their mission is to improve direct access to women's health services, promote academic research, and increase women's healthy life expectancy by 10 years. They have an academic collaboration with Imperial College London and have completed a cross-sectional study of menopause care with >1500 women, which they plan to publish shortly. They are a Zinc portfolio company and VC-backed start-up, recently closing a pre-seed round. 

Peacebeam

Peacebeam is a UK based company operating in the wellness industry and is a digital publisher of guided meditations and other B2B audio wellbeing products. They have developed a new method of payment for our products known as KinderPay.  This method has been trialled with two test groups during the course of 2020 and was launched to the public at the beginning of November 2020. They have been approached by a number of partners seeking to use KinderPay as a payment method and their interest is in developing a use case for KinderPay as a payment platform and a white paper and manifesto around its use. 

The Good Mood Co.

Launched in 2020, The Good Mood Co. is dedicated to improving health through technology, focusing on digitising nutraceuticals and finding natural, eco-friendly solutions to common everyday problems. Taking a gut health, brain health and sleep quality approach to wellness, The Good Mood Co is tackling one of the modern human’s biggest problems: feeling drained. Based in London and supported by UCL Innovation and Enterprise, the team works closely with the UK’s leading research facilities and medical professionals - including neurologists, nutritionists, and sleepologists - to bring the power of nature to everyone. 

Prosperah

Prosperah is a purpose-driven start-up that helps companies unleash the potential of the Sustainable Development Goals, by collaborating with non-profits to make a difference for people, the planet and their business. They are backed and have been funded by LSE, Goldsmiths University and Santander Universities. 

Well Good

Well Good is a tech for good start up working to prevent mental health issues in the workplace. Their approach is to gather wide ranging data types using AI chatbot surveys of client employees. Then along with materials provided by and interviews with their employers, they produce regular reporting that gives clear insight into employee engagement, issues, and crucially practical solutions to issues we have discovered. 

House Babylon

House Babylon is an affordable luxury bedding brand based in London, United Kingdom. We aim to democratise luxury by offering high quality homeware for the most honest price possible. Our customisation bar is set to simplify and revolutionise the way we buy bedding. Currently the company sells bedding and accessories to include bed linen, duvets, pillows, bathrobes and candles.

505 Economics

505 Economics is on a mission to make academics accessible. Our team is composed of doctoral and post-doctoral researchers at LSE. We specialise in providing comprehensive economic insights at both the local and national level. We blend together experience in alternative datasets (such as high resolution satellite imagery), artificial intelligence, and econometrics.

i2i

We are a small startup aiming to tackle the inherent bias in the internship process and help students from any background get the same access to the workplace and job opportunities. There is a gap between what undergraduates perceive is needed to get a job and what companies want. We want to help students from all backgrounds increase their employability skills while at university in small cohorts so they gain experience working in teams and see trackable improvements in these skills.

Fridge of Plenty

Fridge of Plenty promotes sustainable practices in food, farming and business. Fridge of Plenty have signed up with B- Corp and have begun their questionnaire/assessment, and they would like to become accredited within the next 6-12 months. Alongside that, they plan to work with the London-based NGO Better Food Traders to create a framework for what a ‘responsible food retailer’ is and does. 

 

The Micro-Internships scheme is supported by the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HIFE) grant.

 


In addition to the SPRING Micro-Internships, other part-time jobs and internship oportunities can be found on Career Hub and further suggestions for career building activities are listed on the LSE Careers PhD webpages.

Catherine Reynolds, PhD Careers Consultant at LSE Careers, can also help you plan your approach and find opportunities; book a meeting to discuss your thoughts.