Graduate internship grants

Internships can be an effective tool for you to recruit skilled graduates or returners. Since the scheme began, 60% of our funded interns have stayed on at the company after the end of their internship.

We have found that interns can increase a company’s capacity to progress short and long-term projects. In addition, existing staff can develop skills through intern supervision and interns can bring new skills and a fresh perspective.

You can see how Oxford nanoSystems benefitted from our graduate internship grants here.

Our EnterprisePlus companies can apply for exclusive grants that will contribute to the salary of an intern for 3 or 6 months.

As part of their graduate internship grant, successful applicants will receive:

• £4,200 towards the intern's salary (irrespective of the duration of the internship).
• Support in recruiting the intern with a free advert for the vacancy on Chemistry World Jobs and social media.
• One years’ free Royal Society of Chemistry membership for the intern.

What is an internship?

An internship is a fixed-term placement offered by organisations to potential employees. An internship is different to a student placement and as such is only offered to a person no longer in education, i.e. it should be offered to someone looking for full time employment.

Interns should receive on-the-job training from an experienced supervisor and an opportunity to apply skills learnt at university in the workplace. An intern in a business is entitled to at least the National Minimum Wage and may qualify for employment rights if conducting regular paid work for an employer, see GOV.UK for further details.

Our graduate internship grants are intended to cover the salary of an intern working on a fixed term internship project and the application will be assessed on the basis of the quality of the technical project, alongside a number of eligibility criteria.

How many grants are available?

Our grant funding cycle has closed for applications in 2022.

Our grants opened to applicants on 1 January 2022 and closed on 1 September 2022.

Please be aware that, if you were successful in your application, we allowed 3 months for recruitment. If you anticipate needing longer to recruit then you will need to contact us.

If you have previously received an internship grant, you can apply for another grant 12 months after the start date of your previous internship.

You are eligible to apply for an internship grant if your company:

• Is currently a member of EnterprisePlus, our dedicated scheme to SMEs
• Is financially stable and has been trading for at least one year without any registered CCJs
• Satisfies the RSC in terms of due diligence and checks
• Will directly employ the intern for the duration of their internship
• Has not received an internship grant from the RSC in the past 12 months†

If you are awarded a graduate internship grant you will be asked to agree to the terms and conditions of the grant.

^† If the company has previously had an internship grant then you may apply again 12 months after the start date of the previous intern employed.

You can apply for a grant using the dedicated application portal. Here you can view your application as well as upload any necessary information for the recruitment and payment processes.

To apply, you will require the following information:

• Details of the person who will supervise the intern
• Details of the internship location and planned dates
• A description of the internship project and the expected learning outcomes

You will typically receive a decision on your application within one month of submission. Once a decision has been made, you will receive an email notifying you of the outcome.

• Quality of the technical project proposed by the company. The intern must be working on a project that has significant chemistry content with a defined outcome. The internship is not for routine work and should contain an aspect of chemistry-based research and development.
• Extent of the chemistry component in the project
• Ability for the intern to make concrete achievements during the internship
• Technical expertise and management experience of the internship supervisor
• Extent of the project to provide the intern with new skills and experience – both technical and transferrable
• Likelihood of a permanent role for the intern after the end of their placement
• Priority in awarding an internship grant is given to those who have not previously received one. If you have previously received an industrial placement grant or apprenticeship grant, this will not affect your ability to apply for an internship grant.

If you are unclear whether your internship would meet this selection criteria, please contact enterpriseplus@rsc.org and we will be happy to provide further information or set up a call before you apply.

If your application is successful then we will be able to conditionally award you £4,200 towards the salary of the intern. Please note that the payment is conditional on the basis of the internship meeting our terms and conditions.

Please familiarise yourself with the intern eligibility and ensure that you recruit your intern within 3 months. If you feel that you may need longer to recruit please contact us to discuss.

Once you have selected a candidate for your internship you will need to complete the CV and start form tasks in the online applications portal.

Before completing these tasks, please ensure you:

• Have a signed copy of the intern’s employment contract
• Have evidence of the intern’s most recent qualification – the intern must have at least a BSc qualification at the time of commencement of the internship and must not be in full time education
• Check the details of the employment rights of your intern – please ensure that the minimum wage requirements are met for the entirety of the internship period

Once your tasks have been submitted, we will process them and send your intern an email introducing them to the RSC internship scheme and providing details of how they can claim their one year’s free membership.

When recruiting your intern, please ensure that the successful recruit meets all of the terms and conditions for the grant.

At the time of commencement of the internship, the intern:

• Must be a newly recruited individual that has not been previously employed by the company
• Must have at least a completed BSc qualification in Chemistry or an equivalent subject
• Must not be in full time education (for example, Masters or Postgraduate students are not eligible as internship recruits)
• Must have graduated within the last three calendar years or be returning from a career break
• Should be available for full time employment at the end of their internship, i.e. they should not be due to start further education or another job at the end of their internship

We have selected these criteria to increase the change of retention following the project. Whilst it is not a necessity for the intern to be employed after the internship to receive the grant, if the intern does not meet the criteria above then you may not be eligible to receive your grant at the completion of your internship.

If you have any questions about your intern's suitability, please contact us prior to offering the position.

We understand that it can be difficult to find the right recruit at the right time. To help you with the recruitment process, we have created the following information to guide you through the recruitment of an intern for your Royal Society of Chemistry Graduate internship project.

This guide covers the sourcing, interviewing, and finalisation of the employment of your recruits.

Recruitment guidance 2019.pdf

How much should I pay my intern?

We offer £4,200 towards the salary of the intern regardless of the length of the internship or working hours of the intern. Please ensure that you familiarise yourself with the employment rights for interns as it is the company's responsibility to ensure that they are meeting the minimum wage requirements for the intern.

If you are employing your intern for more than 3 months or the hours worked will mean that the £4,200 does not meet the minimum wage then you will need to provide additional funding from your company budget to ensure that this requirement is met. You may find this government tool useful to check that the salary offered meets the minimum wage requirement. 

If you require guidance on the salary to offer your intern to help you attract high quality talent, see our 2019 Pay and reward survey, which offers a benchmark for salaries for chemists in the United Kingdom.

A number of our internship companies choose to offer additional funding to supplement the salary of their intern to ensure that they are offering competitive rates and securing the best talent for their roles.

Your intern will need to complete a feedback task in the application portal before they have completed three months of their internship.

You will have been sent an email asking you to set them up to provide their feedback as a recommendation, please ensure you set them up in the system as soon as your intern is recruited so we can ensure the recommendation is completed on time.

We will pay this grant as a lump sum 3 months after the intern’s start date. In order for us to process your internship payment, you will need to provide:

• Proof of payment of the entirety of the grant to the intern, normally payslips (ideally with National Insurance and address redacted)
• Your bank details for payment of the grant

Once you have these prepared, you can then fill out the feedback and payment task available in the application portal. Once we have received and processed these details, payment of the grant is typically a quick process.

Please note that payment of the grant is conditional on the terms and conditions being met.

Please also be aware that if you are employing the intern on a part-time basis you should discuss this with us first, as this may affect the payment date for the grant.