NorthWest Biosciences

PIPS Information for Companies/Organisations

NorthWestBio (NWB) is a Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) in Bioscience Discovery for a Sustainable World, located in the northwest of the UK, a key region for the life sciences in terms of academic excellence, technology and innovation. NorthWestBio (NWB) is made up of a partnership between, Glasgow University, Strathclyde University, Lancaster University and Queen University, Belfast, NorthWestBio is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) which, together with additional investment from the partner universities, is currently supporting >100 PhD studentships.

What is PIPS?

The Professional Internship for PhD Students (PIPS) is a 3-month placement and is a key component of our Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) programme.  The aim of PIPS is to allow students to gain the opportunity to carry out a non-academic work experience placement during their PhD. 

Such experience is important both to help early career researchers understand the context of their research and to expose them to the range of opportunities available to them after they graduate.  We are conscious that our students go onto to a range of academic and non-academic related careers.  It is therefore important that PIPS placement helps the students to develop transferable work-related skills.

We have placed a large number of students with host organisations over the course of the DTP and have received very favourable feedback from both the students and their hosts.  Many of these organisations have gone on to host multiple placements.