Our Mission
The Brilliant Club is an award-winning charity that exists to increase the number of pupils from underrepresented backgrounds progressing to highly-selective universities. We do this by mobilising the PhD community to share its academic expertise with state schools.
The simple, scalable and sustainable way The Brilliant Club works to achieve our mission is by recruiting, training and placing PhD researchers to work in state schools. We run two core programmes: The Scholars Programme and Researchers in Schools.
The Scholars Programme recruits, trains and places doctoral and post-doctoral researchers in state schools to deliver programmes of academic enrichment to small groups of pupils. Through a combination of university trips, in-school tutorials and online resources, we support pupils aged 10-18 to develop the knowledge, skills and ambition needed to progress to highly-selective universities.
Researchers in Schools offers a bespoke route for PhD graduates to enter the teaching profession as full-time classroom teachers. Working in partnership with other providers, we offer a programme of initial teacher training and ongoing professional development that equips participants to utilise their academic expertise to the benefit of pupils, schools and universities. Read more about Researchers in Schools here.
What The Brilliant Club Can Offer You
The Problem
In the UK today, there is an entrenched link between a pupil’s background and their access to higher education. The UCAS Multiple Equality Measure shows that 1 in 4 of the most advantaged quintile of English 18 year olds enter highly-selective universities compared to only 1 in 50 pupils from the most disadvantaged quintile.
1 in 4
of the most advantaged quintile of 18 year olds progress to a highly-selective university.
1 in 50
of the most disadvantaged quintile of 18 year olds progress to a highly-selective university.
Our Partners
The Brilliant Club works with more than 800 schools and colleges across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In 2018/19, we worked in partnership with schools, universities and other supporters to employ over 600 PhD researchers to reach over 13,500 pupils.
We are extremely grateful to our partner organisations and supporters
We are also grateful to our university partners across the UK for their continued support
Awards and Accreditation
We are grateful for the recognition our work has received from a number of awards and supporters.
Coming Up
We have a rolling application process for PhD researchers and hold regular information events at our partner universities. We also hold regular webinars for researchers; register your interest in attending one of these here.
Researchers in Schools Dates
For details of upcoming RIS events, including employer presentations and PhD career fairs, see here.
Find out more at researchersinschools.org