Student placements and fellowships

Student placements

Call for applications

Applications for The National Archives’ student placements are currently open, with projects available within various departments at The National Archives.

All student placements at The National Archives enable students to:

1. Gain industry-specific knowledge and skills for working in a variety of roles across the research, government, cultural and heritage sectors.
2. Build professional connections across the organisation and an understanding of the variety of roles at The National Archives.
3. Create an output which showcases the work undertaken as part of their placement at The National Archives and which demonstrates the knowledge and skills the student has developed and applied during their time on the placement.

Placements are offered on a full- or part-time basis. Placements are between one and three months in length, but will all be a maximum of 20 working days (e.g. one month full-time or two-to-three months part-time).

Eligibility

Currently, our student placements are only open to master's and doctoral students with the right to work in the UK, and those who are fully funded and whose funding includes a specific allowance for placements.

Some of our student placements projects are open to both master’s and doctoral students, whilst others are open to only master’s students or only doctoral students. Please refer to the information provided for specific projects to check your eligibility.

How to apply

To apply for any of our student placement projects, please read about the projects below and complete our Expression of Interest (EoI) form by the deadline of your chosen project.

You may apply for a maximum of two projects, but please ensure you complete a separate EoI form for each.

Explore our student placements

Creating case studies using the UK Government Web Archive

Explore one of the world’s largest openly accessible web archives and create a case study or a themed collection celebrating an area of your choice.

Cultural Property decision-making and policy in archives

Investigate the impact on the various cultural property mechanisms of The National Archive’s advice on archival cases.

Discovering Inclusive Histories in the Archives of Parliament, around 1800-2000

Discover hidden histories, original narratives, and undertake research into the newly acquired Parliamentary Archives.

Enslaved histories in the archive: research and interpretation for The Wake memorial

A unique opportunity to carry out and interpret archival research into enslaved histories that will have a meaningful public legacy.

From Report to Reform: 70 Years of Wolfenden and 60 Years of the Sexual Offences Act

Promote access to the newly transferred ‘Private Act’ of Parliament records relating to naturalisation, property, and divorces.

Illuminating the work of African photographers in The National Archives' collections

Student placement seeking to illuminate the work of African photographers in The National Archives' visual collections.

Parks and Recreation: a creative and embodied response to researching the history of the promotion of responsible access to the countryside

Explore the history, evolution and significance of the Country Code, while getting creative in your response.

Protection of Manorial Records Review

Investigate the current protections and policies for preserving manorial records in the context of wider archives legislation.

Research in Practice: fostering impact, culture and engagement

Get hands-on experience of research engagement within an Independent Research Organisation (IRO).

Slavery and the archive: research and curation placement

A curatorial opportunity working with histories of transatlantic slavery at The National Archives.

Student placements in Conservation and Heritage Science

Explore how conservation treatments and preventive strategies can support the long-term stability of archival and library collections.

Fellowships

Our fellowships are designed to offer opportunities for collaborative research and professional development. When we have opportunities, we will post information on this page.