Two ways to get involved with EmergIT right now. Work out which one is right for you.
Join the founding team.
The founding sprint is open right now. We are looking for five degree-qualified graduates to help build EmergIT over a six-month sprint alongside their existing commitments.
Founding team criteria.
You are eligible if:
- You hold a degree in a discipline relevant to one of the five founding roles—business or management, computer science or IT, law, accounting or finance, or marketing and communications
- You are unemployed, underemployed, or working in a role that does not use your degree
- You can commit 15 hours per week for up to six months alongside your existing job, Universal Credit claim, or studies
- You are based in the UK
You do not need to be a recent graduate. The founding sprint is open to anyone with a relevant degree, regardless of when they graduated.
You do not need to be fully qualified. We are not looking for a practising solicitor or a chartered accountant. We are looking for someone with the right degree, the right discipline, and the drive to use it on something that matters.
If all four apply to you—your role is waiting.
Apply to the graduate programme.
The full EmergIT graduate programme opens for applications in Autumn 2026. This is the main programme—co-founder support, the £5,000 grant, AI tools, the peer cohort, and everything else the EmergIT model provides.
Graduate programme criteria.
You are eligible if:
- You hold any UK degree from any UK university—subject, grade, and institution do not matter
- You are unemployed or underemployed
- You have a business idea you want to develop—it does not need to be fully formed, but it needs to be real
- You are based in the UK
You do not need a specific type of degree. A degree in history is as valid as a degree in business. We are looking for the person, not the subject.
You do not need a polished pitch. We are not looking for a 40-slide deck and a five-year financial model. We are looking for a real problem you want to solve and a genuine conviction that you are the right person to solve it.
You do not need prior business experience. That is the point.
Applications are not open yet. Register your interest now and we will notify you the moment they are.
Still not sure which one is for you?
A quick way to think about it:
If you have a degree in one of the five founding disciplines and you are ready to commit 15 hours a week to building EmergIT itself—the founding sprint is your track.
If you have any degree and a business idea you want to build with co-founder support and a £5,000 grant—the Autumn 2026 programme is your track.
If you are not sure your idea is good enough yet—register for Autumn 2026 anyway. You have until then to develop it, and we would rather hear from 100 people who are not quite ready than miss the one person who is.
If you do not have a degree—EmergIT is not the right programme for you right now. We make no apology for that. Our model is built around people with degree-level knowledge and the specific kind of frustration that comes from having invested in that knowledge and found the doors closed anyway.