Students and early careers
Find your place in Britain's innovation economyYou do not need to know somebody already.
Funded PhDs and studentships, graduate and early career roles, apprenticeships, placements and the events where this work is discussed. Everything here comes from a published advert or listing, links back to it and shows when it was last checked.
255 live roles across 10 places, 22 upcoming events, 22 universities and 27 research organisations.
Start here
Opportunities by type
Each type is a different search with a different reader, so each one has its own page built from live records. A role is only shown as early career where the advert says so.
Routes into the work
Through research
A funded PhD or a research post inside a university, institute or research organisation. This is the usual route into quantum, engineering biology and much of life sciences.
Through engineering
Graduate engineering and technician roles inside companies building physical things: robotics, semiconductors, mobility, clean energy and advanced materials.
Through an apprenticeship
Paid work with structured training, common in manufacturing, energy and defence. A degree is not the only way into an innovation career.
Through a placement or internship
A year in industry or a summer placement, usually arranged through a university and advertised by the employer.
Through software and data
Software, data and machine learning roles run across every mission rather than sitting inside one of them.
Where to meet people
Conferences, showcases and open days are the cheapest way into a field you have no contacts in. Details are free to read and nothing here needs an account.
Questions students ask
- Where do I find funded PhDs in the UK?
- Funded studentships are advertised by the university or research organisation paying for them. UKIZ collects the live ones it can verify, links to the original advert and shows the date it was last checked.
- Do I need a degree to work in innovation?
- No. Apprenticeships and technician routes lead into manufacturing, energy, defence and laboratory work. Where a record states the entry requirement, UKIZ shows it. Where it does not, UKIZ does not guess.
- Are these roles suitable for graduates?
- Only where the source says so. UKIZ groups roles by what the advert states, so a senior post is never presented as an early career one.
- How do I keep track of opportunities?
- Create My UKIZ and follow a mission, a place or an organisation. New roles, studentships and events in what you follow then appear in one place. Nothing is hidden behind an account.