Work placements
Placements are a great way to gain experience and show employers that you're ready for the world of work, whether it's the whole year, the summer, or a few weeks between semesters.
Spend a year on a work placement
You can choose to spend a year on placement and gain valuable work experience as a recognised part of your Psychology degree. You'll be able to join the placement year programme when you start your studies; it's not something you need to apply for through UCAS.
Placements are a great way to test out a career path that you're considering - whether that's within the field of psychology or applying your transferable skills in industry. You'll pay reduced fees for the year you're on placement and you'll have the support you need from your tutor and the University.
There are a vast range of placement opportunities available to undergraduate Psychology students, depending on your interests. Students can apply, for example, to regional psychological services, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), or for roles within government, applying data management skills by assisting in the analysis of policies such as Gender Pay Gap reporting regulations.
Placement organisations and roles
Our students have previously completed their placements with organisations including:
- Civil Service
- Great Ormand Street Hospital
- Hays Recruitment
- HM Prison and Probation Service
- Local schools
- Local mental health services
- NHS
Example past roles include:
- Assistant to Clinical Psychologists working in NHS Trusts
- Recruitment Consultant
- Research Assistant
- Assistant to Educational Psychologists working in local councils
- HR Business Development
- Tutor for children with special educational needs
Placements aren't guaranteed – it’s your responsibility to secure one but there’s plenty of support available. The university’s Careers Service runs workshops on CV and application writing, job hunting and preparing for interviews. To support your placement search, in your first and second year at Sheffield you’ll also have opportunities to meet with a range of employers, chat to recent psychology graduates about how they're applying their degrees to the workplace, and hear from current placement students about their experiences.
Summer placements
If you don't want to spend a full year on placement, summer or other vacation placements are a great way to gain valuable work experience between semesters.
Throughout the academic year, the Careers Service advertises a number of short placements, giving you even more opportunities to apply your knowledge and skills and gain experience in an industry that you're keen to explore.
Sheffield Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) scheme
Each year undergraduates can apply to join the Sheffield Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) scheme. This gives you a bursary to spend around six weeks working with one of our research groups over the summer break. You'll be able to get first-hand experience of major research projects and it can even lead to your name appearing in an academic journal.
Example past projects:
- Can theory of mind and language skills predict conversational competence in children?
- Loneliness and weight management behaviours: The role of motives and preferences
- Improving perceptions of autism: testing the effectiveness of a new prejudice reduction intervention
International undergraduate scholarships
We are offering scholarships of £2,500 for each year (subject to a 60% average) of your undergraduate degree. The maximum value is £10,000 for four-year programmes.