My role as a Research Intern at the College for Policing

I am working for the College of Policing as a Research Intern, part of the Knowledge, Research and Practice team. The placement scheme I am part of is the Government Social Research (GSR) sandwich year under the Civil Service.

It is going well so far, and I am really enjoying my role and working with the team. I’ve been involved in a couple of projects in my time here so far, specifically working with survey analysis. And with this I have already learnt and developed skills in social research which will be valuable to the final year of my degree! It has definitely been different starting my placement year during the pandemic - but all challenges have been covered really well by the organisation and I have been made to feel very welcome and a valued part of the team.

I was emailed the link of how to apply to the GSR sandwich year whilst I was searching for a 2020 summer placement - at the time I couldn’t find any placements in the area I was interested in. This placement looked really interesting and along the lines of where I wanted to take my career after university and gain experience, so I applied!

My advice would be to get in touch with the University Careers Service to find your potential areas of interest. They are really helpful and can provide you with companies or organisations which run both summer and year long internships. Also, keep a look out for emails from tutors and leaders with opportunities you might be interested in and don't forget to look at the application deadlines!