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Want to champion change on a high impact project? Introducing breakthrough careers for Graduates and Postgraduates as a KTP Associate.

Are you looking to:

  • Fast track your career?
  • Own your own project, delivering positive change?
  • Take on a role that bridges academia and business?
  • Apply your academic knowledge to a real-life challenge?
  • Gain a further professional qualification?
  • Manage your own substantial training and development budget (you can also use this to attend conferences, cover membership of professional bodies etc)?

A KTP could be the perfect launchpad, helping enhance your career by managing a challenging project central to a business’s strategic development and long-term growth.

You’ll ‘own’ your own project, linked to both a university and a business whose experienced teams will provide you with full support. Applying academic knowledge to a real-world challenge, this is a chance to deliver impact and shape your career.

  • What is a KTP?

    A KTP is a three-way collaboration that benefits all parties:

    • A graduate or post graduate (known as an Associate)
    • An organisation (a business of any size, in any sector or a not for profit organisation)
    • A university/research institution (Knowledge Base)
    • KTPs are designed to deliver an innovation project and bring about lasting, transformative change. As a KTP Associate, you lead the project with full support and input from the organisation and the Knowledge Base teams.

    KTP is one of the largest graduate recruitment programmes in the UK – to date there have been over 12,000 KTPs in almost every industry sector and in companies of all sizes: in micro-sized business to global organisations such as Unilever and Rolls Royce. Right now, over 100 knowledge bases and over 800 graduates are involved in KTPs.

    KTP projects last between 12 months and three years.

  • How does a KTP work?

    KTP projects last between 12 months and three years with approximately 70% of Associates offered employment by the host business at the end of the project.

    Projects can be in any sector and for businesses of all sizes. You will be jointly recruited by the business and the Knowledge Base (usually a university) who will be your employer.

    Based for most of your time at the business’s office you will have an academic supervisor to support you, plus the specialist input of a Knowledge Transfer Adviser from the Knowledge Transfer Network; and, of course, from the business team too.

  • Looking for a job where you can gain a further qualification?

    KTP Associates spend around 10% of their time in training and personal development. At the start of the KTP you get a training budget to manage – so you decide which courses would benefit you.

    You can choose a variety of training modules during your KTP: project management, marketing and communication, finance, leadership and/or personal development, as well as job-specific technical training.

  • What can I expect from KTP?

    KTPs span a wide range of academic disciplines and industry sectors. Your KTP could be anything from recipe development for a leading food business, developing marketing campaigns to reach the socially disadvantaged or applying AI to environmental sustainability or health; the projects are diverse; the opportunities are huge.

    Typical challenges might focus on designing and introducing new products or better processes, re-organising production facilities, introducing improved quality systems and technology, or developing marketing strategies to break into new markets. The possibilities for transformation via a KTP are almost endless; likewise for KTP Associates.

  • How to apply

    All KTP Associate vacancies are listed on the Ulster University website. To discover the opportunities available select “Knowledge Transfer Partnerships” in our vacancy category and click Search.