Now in its fifth year, the Population Data Science Summer Internship was created to provide real-world project experience to students interested in a career in, or supporting data science. But the programme is also having a positive impact on the host teams.
Jon Smart is the Chief Operating Officer and Head of Programmes within Population Data Science, overseeing major investments, including the SAIL Databank and ADR Wales.
“It has been extremely encouraging to see the year-on-year development of the summer internship. It’s always been a highlight of our annual programme, but to see the significant growth, and the innovation and diversity of truly impactful projects is something that we are very proud of.
The breadth of the specialities and experience held by our teams within Population Data Science is constantly developing and increasing, and the growth of the summer internship reflects this.
Since its creation we’ve seen a steady increase in applications to take part, but also the appetite from our investments who are looking to support an intern. Our teams enjoy hosting and helping interns develop their skills while supporting them to work on a real project with an output that will help them stand out as they enter the world of work. The interns’ work has in many cases inspired the project team to explore further, leading to a number of projects building on the intern’s findings, which has resulted in the intern being named in published work.
Hosting an intern also allows our teams to build their own skills, developing their ability to manage and improving how we work, how we communicate, and questioning ourselves about why we do something the way we do, which encourages innovation.
At the heart of the internship programme has been the ambition and motivation that we are supporting the new generation of data scientists, analysts and developers to gain skills that will help them to transfer their academic learnings into skills for the workplace. We can see that ambition is being realised with several interns returning to us as employees, with others keeping in touch as they develop in their careers.
I’m delighted that we’ve been able to increase the scope of their exposure this year by introducing our cohort to the policy landscape in Wales, showing them how their research can help to inform government decision making.
The unique construction of the ADR Wales investment has been instrumental in making this happen, and we see this new opportunity as something that we can continue to build on for the years ahead. At the heart of ADR Wales and the ADR UK investment is the premise that great research must always have a purpose and the ability to inform, whether that is through new methods or research findings. Providing this year’s interns with exposure to how government works with research, and the vastness of careers available to work within government alongside data, has broadened their understanding of what is possible with their skillset.
The Population Data Science Summer Internship embodies the ADR Wales and ADR UK goal of enabling others to safely, ethically and effectively use data for the public good. We are very proud to be involved and look forward to helping to shape and support the programme for the future.”
For further information on the Population Data Science Summer Internship Programme, click here.