DiRAC Innovation Placements provide a superb opportunity for doctoral students and early career researchers to collaborate with industry leaders on cutting-edge research projects of mutual benefit. Projects take place over six months and address current challenges with innovative, state-of-the-art solutions, ensuring that the research is relevant and impactful for both parties.
Innovation Placements offer a unique opportunity for researchers to bridge the gap between academia and industry, contribute to impactful research, and gain practical experience in the commercial sector.
Apply to our latest Innovation Placements here.
Future Innovation Placements will be listed here and advertised via our social media and the DiRAC all user email.
Apply now by 27th May 2026.
Practical Experience: A placement allows you to apply theoretical knowledge in a real-world setting, enhancing your understanding of how your research can impact industry.
Skill Development: You can develop valuable skills critical to your professional development, such as project management, teamwork, and communication in a corporate environment.
Enhance your Research: Exposure to industry challenges can inspire new thinking, reasoning, and innovative approaches to your research, potentially leading to impactful findings.
Improved Employability: Experience in an industrial setting will enhance your CV, making you more attractive to employers in both academic and non-academic fields.
Confidence Building: Navigating a professional environment will build your confidence in your abilities and prepare you for future workplace challenges.
Career Exploration: It provides insight into different career paths outside academia, helping you make informed decisions about your future.
Networking Opportunities: Placements facilitate connections with industry professionals, which can lead to collaborations, mentorship, and future job opportunities.
Find out more about placements currently taking place with our industry and public sector partners.
“In the Summer of 2018, I undertook a placement with the Intel Parallel Computing Centre at the University of Edinburgh, working with Professor Peter Boyle’s research group. Through this experience, I developed advanced software engineering skills commonly used in large industrial projects and team environments. These skills have significantly benefited my academic projects. Additionally, the placement allowed me to build a broad network of collaborators in both academia and industry, which has been invaluable in keeping up with technological advancements across various research fields.”
“Through my innovation placement I gained a lot of insight into what working at the interface of academia and industry looks like. I had the support of both academic researchers at DiRAC and industry researchers at DDN, who helped me see how methods from academia are translated and applied in industry. I also developed a lot of new skills, particularly in performance analysis of AI codes and working with HPC systems, as well as learning a lot about the technical details of HPC storage and file systems.
“I gained a lot of industry experience working in the NHS as a way of working is quite different to academia, but I think the benefit of doing it via a DiRAC placement, rather than, say, the open job market, meant that was really able to concentrate on one project. I got to really contribute as best I could as I was solely concentrating on this project, but also it meant I could drive it in the directions that I found both most interesting, but also the most impactful in terms of output.
I never really considered working in the NHS. I’d never considered doing this kind of work at all but now it’s the main area that I’m looking for after my PhD. I found it really interesting, but also it was really rewarding working with real patient data, being able to potentially influence clinical practice and improve patient outcomes in very real people, you get to see that in a really direct way when you do it within the NHS.”
“In the Summer of 2018, I undertook a placement with the Intel Parallel Computing Centre at the University of Edinburgh, working with Professor Peter Boyle’s research group. Through this experience, I developed advanced software engineering skills commonly used in large industrial projects and team environments. These skills have significantly benefited my academic projects. Additionally, the placement allowed me to build a broad network of collaborators in both academia and industry, which has been invaluable in keeping up with technological advancements across various research fields.”
