Edinburgh Napier University

  Current placement opportunities for postgraduate social science researchers are limited, despite it being one of the few platforms for social science researchers to connect with businesses. The purpose of this report is to examine how universities can collaborate with businesses to create placement opportunities for postgraduate social science researchers during and post-Covid-19. Through online surveys, interviews and sandpit discussions, the research examined the perspectives of multiple stakeholders such as researchers, employers, universities and representatives of Local Economic Partnerships (LEPs), Chambers of Commerce (CoC) and Institute of Directors (IoD), to understand the current and future landscape of placements for social science postgraduate researchers. Examining the facilitators and barriers faced by researchers and businesses in their engagement with placement opportunities, this study proposed several practical recommendations for enhancing university/business collaboration in the delivery of placements to postgraduate social science researchers.