Gain invaluable work experience and explore your career options by taking a placement or year of professional experience during your studies*.

Placements offer an exciting opportunity to enhance work-related skills and develop a network of contacts, as well as strengthening career prospects and cultivating direct experience in a potential career field.

Year of professional experience

You will have the opportunity to take a year of professional experience following your second year. This is a fantastic opportunity to hone your skills in a real work environment, gain direct experience in your chosen field, and build up your CV.

Students have recently worked for:

• Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust
• Johnson Matthey
• Department of Energy & Climate Change
• Cross-Compliance Solutions
• CO2balance
• Network Rail
• Forest Research
• Thames Water

“Initially I started on a three-month unpaid placement with the Forestry Commission, and was offered a contract following that ... I gained a lot of experience and it was good fun to do as well.”

Ben Jones

BSc Environmental Science with a year of professional experience

Research projects

We offer opportunities for you to work with partner organisations on research projects. These provide a fantastic opportunity for you to work alongside employers, on a topic about which you are passionate, and develop a network of contacts. Recent examples of organisations with whom students have worked include:

• Thames Water
• Environment Agency
• Reading Borough Council
• Earth Trust
• Reading Buses
• West Berkshire Wildlife Group

Read how Professor Sally Lloyd-Evans has made placements part of her research

Placements within the University

Vacation placements are sometimes available within the University through schemes such as the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Scheme (UROP). This allows students to work as part of one of the Department's research groups during the summer.

The University's Careers Placement and Experience Centre provide all Reading students with information about a wide range of placement opportunities including:

• Summer Enterprise Experience & Discovery (SEED) internship scheme
• Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (UROP)

• Reading Experience and Personal Development (RED) Award

(*)Programmes with a Professional Placement Year (also known as 'Year in Industry' or 'Placement Year') are fully dependent on students securing their own placement opportunity, normally through a competitive recruitment process. The University provides dedicated career and application support for placement year students. Students who do not secure a placement or who are unable to complete the placement year due to extenuating circumstances, have the option to transfer to a three year variant of their programme with agreement from their school/department.