Summer Internships

The Institute of Astronomy’s summer internship programme aims to provide undergraduate interns with research experience over the summer by working on projects supervised by a member of the Institute. It is expected that the internships will be carried out in person at the Institute, however if the pandemic situation prevents this, the internships will be conducted online and remotely. The internships are targeted at students who will have completed three years of study in their four-year integrated masters (England, Northern Ireland, Wales) or four years of study in their five-year integrated masters (Scotland). Students from any UK university are welcome to apply. The Institute of Astronomy and the Cavendish Laboratory recognise with deep gratitude the support of Mr David and Mrs Bridget Jacob and their establishment of The David and Bridget Jacob Internship Programme.

This year the David and Bridget Jacob internship will also be held at the Institute of Astronomy, for which applicants should be from a university within the UK other than the University of Cambridge or the University of Oxford in addition to the aforementioned career stage guidance.

Students interested in undertaking projects in any of the research areas covered at the Institute of Astronomy who meet the criteria above are encouraged to apply by Sunday, 26 February 2023 (see http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/research for a description of research carried out at the Institute and https://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/students/summer.research.programme for examples of past projects). Selection will be based on academic merit, and on knowledge and experience relevant to the projects. A decision can be expected by the end of March 2023. Successful candidates will be paid the National Living Wage for the eight-week duration of the projects.

The University of Cambridge and the Institute of Astronomy are committed to equality of opportunity, widening participation and to a proactive and inclusive approach to equality, which supports and encourages all under-represented groups, promotes an inclusive culture, and values diversity. We particularly welcome applications to this program from groups that are underrepresented at Cambridge, or in astronomy as a whole. The summer program at the IoA provides an excellent opportunity for such students to gain practical insight into STEM research and the knowledge and confidence to progress to postgraduate studies. To read more about the Equality and Diversity policies at the University please see Equality & Diversity at the University of Cambridge. For information on Equality and Diversity at the Institute of Astronomy, see here. 

As part of our commitment to equal opportunities, we will be able to offer a small amount of additional funding to contribute to travel or accommodation costs, if needed to enable your participation (if successfully selected). Details of this discretionary funding will be provided at a later stage in the process.

Selection will be based on academic merit, and on knowledge and experience relevant to the internship. Where two candidates are of equal merit then consideration will be given to any widening participation criteria that the candidate/s meet, for example, if one candidate has characteristics that are underrepresented at the University.

Please note, you will be required to prove you hold the right to work in the UK via a relevant immigration status in order to be eligible for this internship. Also note that in the event that the internships are held remotely, you would still need to be resident in the UK during the internship.

Application Information: Applications should include:

Mandatory information

i) a statement of interest, including an indication of the desired project area(s), maximum length one page, and

ii) a CV, maximum length two pages, sent to summer.students@ast.cam.ac.uk by the deadline.

iii) You should also ask an academic referee to send a reference letter to the same address by the deadline.

Optional information

As part of our widening participation agenda, if appropriate to their situation, we encourage students to give brief details of how personal circumstances may have affected their academic career to date, through, for example, caring commitments, illness, enforced career breaks or economic hardship. This can be included in the statement of interest and would not count towards the page limit.

Selection for the internship will be based on merit of education and experience. Additional information related to equality and diversity (in this section of an application) will only be consulted if there are two or more candidates of equal merit to take into consideration whether one is from a group that is disproportionately under-represented or otherwise disadvantaged within the workforce.