An internship programme to help talented Black health data scientists flourish in STEM careers
Tackling underrepresentation within health data science and providing motivated candidates with an opportunity to expand their knowledge and gain experience
Working together to transform prospects
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.
With the UK Health Data Research Alliance and the 10,000 Black Interns Foundation, we are committed to delivering the fourth year of our programme. We continue with our aim to tackle the underrepresentation of Black people within health data science and, with your support, provide motivated candidates with an opportunity to expand their knowledge around the sector and gain the experience they need to advance their 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.
Please see below for what it means to be a host organisation for 2024:
What we offer to host organisations
- Promote the programme to a national audience of students and graduates to generate a large pool of potential candidates
- Oversee the recruitment process from receipt of applications to sifting, whilst also ensuring that host organisations have suitable interviewees
- Manage the internship education and co-ordinate cohort-wide training programmes and activities throughout
- Support mentors for interns and mentoring guidance
- Highlight the impact from the programme and provide communications toolkits
- Provide ongoing support to you before, during and after internship programme
- Develop and deliver networking events for all involved in the programme
- Highlight relevant career opportunities across your organisation for alumni interns
What we ask from host organisations
- Pay interns the Real Living Wage for London as a minimum (regardless of where host or intern are based)
- Reimburse interns for their travel expenses for the opening and closing ceremonies according to your organisation’s staff expense policies
- Obtain organisational permission to host interns
- Let us know about logistical requirements in our pledge form
- Carry out interviews – (we will screen and match applicants for you)
- Conduct Right To Work in the UK checks
- Create an 8-week health data project for your intern(s)
- Provide a laptop if needed for your intern(s)
Dates for the Black Internship Programme 2024
- Webinar to find out more: Thursday 19 October 2023 (recording above)
- Interviews with host organisations: February and March 2024
- Opening ceremony: Thursday 20 June 2024
- Internships: Monday 1 July – Friday 23 August 2024
- Closing ceremony: Thursday 29 August 2024
If you have any further questions, please contact us below.
Impact
The Impact of Our 2023 Internship
Our Black Internship Programme is about more than providing excellent training opportunities - it actively celebrates the UK's diversity and talent. The programme itself, plus the opening and closing ceremonies were all designed to create strong and lasting links between the interns, their host organisations and HDR UK.
Host organisations joining our 2024 programme
We are pleased to work with organisations in health data across a wide range of sectors including academic, charities, civil service, industry and the NHS.
Caroline Russell, Head of Talent Acquisition at Genomics England, said:
“At Genomics England we have participated in the programme the last 2 years and had 4 interns over this time. We’ve been very impressed by these interns and saw that in a relatively short time, they all made an impact. We look forward to taking part in the programme for the third year in 2024. Thanks also to Dona and team for all the support throughout the process.”
Interested in hosting interns for summer 2025? Register below and we will be in contact in September:
Looking for details on the Health Data Science Black Internship Programme, or how to apply?
Visit our programme page, which has details about the programmes currently available.