Policy Placement Scheme

NERC's Policy Placement Scheme allows researchers and other staff involved in environmental science research to work closely with policy-makers within government and other public and third sector organisations in the UK. The Scheme also allows placements of government and third sector policy-makers to work within NERC head office, research centres or collaborative research centres.

Please note this scheme is not open to research students. NERC has separate policy internship and Scottish Government internship schemes for students.

Aims

To promote knowledge exchange between academic organisations and public sector partner organisations and the staff employed in them.
To provide partner organisations with research-informed evidence to develop and review policy.
To provide researchers with a wider context for their work and to promote it where relevant to a user body.
To expand networks for partner organisations into the research base.
To provide career and skill development opportunities.
To enable all parties, including NERC, to develop their understanding of research and policy-making processes and the interactions between them, and help break down barriers in the science-to-policy process.
To encourage bespoke dissemination activities and materials.

To maximise flexibility and opportunities, the Policy Placement Scheme covers two types of placement:

a 'Fellowship' placement whereby the applicant works for 3 to 12 months in a host organisation on a topic specified by the organisation.
a 'Work shadow' placement whereby the applicant sets up their own work shadowing arrangement in a host organisation, for up to one month.