Health Data Science Black Internship Programme

About the programme

Our internships are a super way to gain hands-on experience, carrying out practical projects in the real world. It’s a great way to find out about a rapidly advancing area of science, meet fellow interns, looks superb on a CV – and can open doors to new opportunities. Our alumni go on to a range of careers including academia, additional internships and roles within health data and wider data science fields.

We are tackling underrepresentation of Black people within the health data science sector by providing you with an opportunity to expand your knowledge and gain the experience you need to kickstart, or advance, your health data science career.

The vast scope of the health data science sector includes – but is not limited to – genomics, bioinformatics, epidemiology, clinical trials, data privacy, data standards, medical imaging and instrumentation, health data access, health inequalities, modelling, patient-public advocacy, policy, clinical trials and biostatistics.

Eligibility

There is no prior experience, academic grade or coding requirement for this programme. Our internships for summer 2025 will be open to all Black people (individuals with African, Caribbean and Other Black backgrounds and those with Black mixed heritage) who are:

• Current students at a UK university at any level (undergraduate, post grad diploma, Master’s, PhD or returning student)
• Recently graduated from a UK university (2023 and 2024)
• International students currently registered at a UK university
• Of any academic background, but is ideally suited to individuals with a degree in maths, physics, engineering or computer / data sciences, and bioinformatics-allied subjects.
• Based in the UK for the duration of the recruitment process and internship

All applicants must have the Right to Work in the UK.

Apply now

Visas will not be provided to any candidate on the programme. Please reach out to us if you have any questions about eligibility:

Contact us

Whilst we are delighted our alumni often want to return to this internship, we are only offering this opportunity to those who are new to the programme and health data research, to maximise the benefit they receive from the wider training programme. To find out about upcoming HDR UK Training opportunities, please sign up to our newsletter here.

Is this internship for you? Watch our Open Day recording below:

Application and internship dates

Apply now

Virtual open day (Zoom): Thursday 24 October 2024
Deadline for applications: January 2025
Interview windows with host organisations: February – March 2025

The internship will be for 8-weeks on the following dates:

Internships: Monday 30 June – Friday 22 August 2025
Minimum working week: 35-40 hours (full-time), 20 hours (part-time)
Opening ceremony: Wednesday 25 June 2025
Closing ceremony: Wednesday 27 August 2025

Application form

There are two stages of application to us and both will need to be completed within the specified deadline for your application to be eligible for the programme.

Stage 1: Deadline – Sunday 5 January 2025 23:45

Through our Applied portal, where you will be asked about the following:

• Your eligibility to work in the UK
• An up-to-date CV
• Three personal-statement style questions on your experiences, skills and motivation

Please ensure that your details (phone, email, university name, course name and dates) are up-to-date.

Begin your application here

Stage 2: Deadline – Sunday 12 January 2025 23:45

After your application has been successfully screened in Stage 1, we will invite you to provide the following on Microsoft Forms:

• Your contact details (name, email address, phone number)
• Preferred internship location in the UK
• Any part-time internship requirements
• If you require any reasonable adjustments for interview
• If you require a laptop for the duration of the internship
• If you are open to internship opportunities that are longer than 8 weeks
• Your subject area and skills

You will be able to save a copy of your Stage 2 application submission.

Applying via 10,000 Black Interns

We are proud to be collaborating with 10,000 Black Interns on our programme.

Any candidates applying for an internship with us via the 10,000 Interns Foundation Pinpoint recruitment system will be directed to complete our Applied application process (Stage 1 and Stage 2).

Recruitment process

After the interview window has concluded, we will be in contact with unsuccessful candidates to let them know that they did not secure an internship with us for 2025.

Selection criteria

We don’t expect you to have developed all these skills just yet or have previous experience, but some of the skills you should have include:

• Passion for solving health data problems, no matter how big or small; and are strongly motivated to get things done.
• Sound quantitative skills and the ability to conduct analysis using data.
• Competent pattern recognition and predictive modelling skills.
• Appreciation for our mission and values as the UK’s national institute for health data science to unite the UK’s health data to enable discoveries that improve people’s lives, and balance this with a collaborative mindset to prioritise work.
• An interest and willingness to learn and develop new skills within health data.

We will look for these and your authenticity primarily in the answers to the personal statement-style questions in your application to us.

A diverse and inclusive culture

We aim to support you and ensure a smooth, transparent and fair recruitment process for this programme. We will provide:

• All information pertinent to recruitment to be listed on this webpage or clarified in emails to you
• A virtual Open Day hosted by our former interns about the programme including an opportunity for you to ask any questions
• A recruitment support package with tips on what to include / not to include in your CV
• Feedback on your application if you are unsuccessful
• A Next Steps call in January with guidance on how to prepare for interview
• Feedback from host organisations if you are unsuccessful at interview

We aim to accommodate specific needs and personal circumstances. Please make us aware of individual circumstances when applying by contacting us below:

Contact us

If you have questions or require adjustments to the application process, please contact us via email or telephone (+44 (0)770 847 8846).

HDR UK collects and stores personal data from the participants in this programme, including diversity and destinations data. HDR UK will share this data with the host organisations of the programme as part of the application process. HDR UK may contact you in the future to request information on your destination following your participating in the programme. HDR UK may also contact you to invite you to join in our alumni network. For further information on how HDR processes personal data please see our privacy statement.

Could your organisation host an intern?

Visit our partnerships page to learn more.