Policy Scotland is offering three internships for postgraduate taught students and postgraduate researchers at Glasgow University.
Policy Scotland’s mission is to undertake and support research that connects to policy and practice so that evidence-based approaches deliver social gain, promote community benefit and tackle inequalities. By so doing, we can give new ideas from the University, Scotland and the UK the widest possible exposure through briefings, workshops, public seminars and our website.
Working as an intern for Policy Scotland provided me with valuable understanding of collaboration between academia and policymakers.
Susanna Karvinen, Doing an internship during a global pandemic – What I learned at Policy Scotland, Policy Scotland intern 2021
To achieve this mission we draw on the expertise of UofG academics and their networks to foster collaboration between researchers, practitioners and policy makers working on a range of issues including inclusive growth, inequality and poverty. We aim to pool this collective expertise in order to flesh out initiatives, test the effectiveness of interventions, generate better evidence and engage a variety of audiences.
In the context of mapping the impact of COVID-19 and supporting the process of social and economic recovery we have organised our work around four main urgently needed insights themes:
- Community resilience and addressing disadvantage
- City economies
- Education, children and families
- Housing and infrastructure
What the internships involve
The interns will:
- undertake research and knowledge exchange tasks
- provide support to Policy Scotland in delivering its programme of events (including lectures, seminars and workshops)
- support the generation and production of publications and online material.
In the coming year, one internship will support our role as the convenor of the Academic Advisory Group for Glasgow City Council’s Social Recovery Taskforce and its workstreams, liaising with academic colleagues from Glasgow and the other universities in the city region and policy leads from the Council and its partners and turning academic work into policy briefings.
A second internship will support the work of Policy Scotland and the Centre for Sustainable Solutions on the Green Recovery Dialogues and follow-up events and in Policy Scotland’s involvement in preparations for the COP26 (UN Climate Change summit) in Glasgow. There may be an opportunity for involvement in preparations for international events planned for the summit.
The third internship will support the work of Professor Maclennan in involving colleagues in urban studies, the Adam Smith Business School and other groups in a webinar/seminar series on City Economic Change that will culminate in an international exchange with the University of Nankai through the Joint Graduate School. A second strand of work will be to re-establish the More Different Futures international housing policy network run by Policy Scotland.
The interns will also support research and engagement in the thematic areas of Policy Scotland’s Urgently Needed Insights project. Other projects are under consideration as elements in Policy Scotland’s portfolio of knowledge exchange and academic engagement activity including:
- communications and digital media
- knowledge exchange, networking and engagement with policy practitioners
- promoting community resilience, tackling inequalities and social policy interventions
- public policy and the policymaking process
Experiences of the 2020 interns
Susanna Karvinen – policy & communications intern while undertaking the MSc International Relations programme.
Adelaide Brown – social policy intern while undertaking the MSc Sociology programme.
Clara Pirie – policy intern while undertaking the MSc in Education, Public Policy & Equity programme.
How to apply
The internships will be remote, for up to 10 hours per week for 16 weeks.
You must have a degree in a relevant subject and be working towards a PhD or postgraduate taught Master’s qualification at the University of Glasgow in a relevant discipline. You must be based in the UK for the entire duration of the internship.
The deadline for applications is 8 February 2021.
For more details and to apply, log into the University of Glasgow Careers Service website and search for Policy Scotland.
