About the Programme

The Health Data Science Black Internship Programme is an exciting endeavour for early career Black data scientists – a heavily under-represented group in the sector. It is run by Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) and the UK Health Data Research Alliance (the ‘Alliance’) in partnership with 10,000 Black Interns initiative.

The programme is just one of several steps that we are taking to start to address this underrepresentation.

Our 2023 interns


The mission

The UK has an urgent need for new health data scientists – it’s a rapidly expanding field with the recognised potential to transform the future of health and care for all, and we believe that health data science should be as effective as possible in serving and reflecting the needs of the entire UK population.

The overall aim of our Health Data Science Black Internship Programme is to not only to continue to tackle the underrepresentation of Black people within the health data science sector, but to also provide motivated candidates with the experience they need to kick-start their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers.

The programme is championed in the Medical Research Council’s Strategic Delivery Plan 2022-25 as a way to develop a diverse research and technical workforce with the skills to address today’s innovation challenges.

Register your interest for summer 2024 here


In the news

For the G word podcast, interns and members of the advisory panel discuss the need for black talent in genomics and how the programme is breaking barriers while regaining trust to give researchers a broader insight into our genomic data.

Listen

For The Lancet, the programme manager and a former intern highlight how UK digital health initiatives are tackling racial inequality.

Read more

For Bloomberg Businessweek, head of people explains why the programme removes resumes from the hiring process and how this practice can improve diversity.

Read more

Watch our launch video below:


The 2023 Programme

The 2023 programme ran from 3 July – 25 August.

For information on the application process for interns and host organisations, please see below.

Information for applicants

Information for host organisations

 


 

Our 2022 programme

In our most recent programme we placed 80 interns with 44 host organisations in business, charity, government and academia and with members of the UK Health Data Research Alliance.

This was a major expansion from 2021 when we placed 48 interns – over half being women – at 23 of host organisations. The aim is to continue expanding the programme in the years ahead.

Our Class of 2022 interns