Data Science Internships Overview

Overview

This scheme aims to connect NHS real data and issues with academic thought and research through short-term PhD internships. The benefit to the NHS is the added value that academia brings to evidence-based research but on timescales that allow the insights to be acted upon. For the student and university, the benefit is an avenue to conduct related research in an industrial environment and access to NHS data where appropriate.

We are looking for PhD students working in a quantitative discipline but with an interest in applying their knowledge and gaining experience of creating solutions for the NHS. The student will be funded through an NHS employment contract during the duration of the internship covering between three and five months.

Our aim is to continually build on previous learning whilst having an avenue for including the latest research and approaches. Where possible we will work in an open and transparent way ensuring that learning is shared and insights made available for others to reproduce. At the end of the project the applicant will submit a final report suitable for publication in open literature, and presentations to NHS England on their results including their experience of the project. The nature of the output will depend on the specific project.

Key priorities of the internship will be:

Note: we welcome applications from students on visas that restrict their weekly working hours as we are looking to match the right student to the right project which will result in an innovative and usable project, which is by no means directly correlated to the number of hours available.

Please email datascience@nhs.net with any queries and questions. Please do not send CVs or personal data here.

The Role

The successful candidate will sit within the Data Science Team as a permanent NHS England employee for the duration of the internship. During the internship the candidate will be expected to progress their chosen project autonomously with supervision from internal colleagues as well as their current academic supervisor(s). The candidate will be expected to be focused on the project and self-driven during the internship period, providing regular updates on progress and issues.

Within the topic area of the chosen project, there will be some freedom to direct the development of the research and knowledge but this will also need to be balanced against creating a learning outcome or tangible output, that benefits the PhD scheme objectives and is in a shareable state for future projects to pick up and continue the development.

As the candidate will be an NHS England employee during the internship period, standard employment checks and some mandatory training are required.

A key aim for the intern will be to progress the research project ensuring learning and outcomes are shareable with NHS England and where appropriate made suitable for publication.

Projects

A list of currently available projects can be found on the scheme site with links to project-specific details on GitHub. These projects are updated in July/August and we welcome project proposals from both prospective students and interested organisations.

During the project period, the student will be allocated an NHS England supervisor and in some instances a project-specific mentor. It is also required that an academic supervisor from the hosting university is identified before the student can accept the internship place.

Funding

For the entirety of the internship, the applicant will be paid as a NHS Band 6 (spine point 1) post according to NHS Terms and Conditions (AfC) pay scales.

Application Process

Eligibility criteria

Applicants will need:

Timelines

Applications Open — Start of October

Applications Close — End of October

Each application will have its content extracted and anonymised before multiple reviewers assess the application.

Interviews — Mid to late November

Outcomes Communicated — By the End of November

January Wave Start — Mid-January (Flexible)

April Wave Start — Mid-April (Flexible)

How to Apply

Please email jonathanpearson@nhs.net directly to apply.

Your data will be stored in a secure space for the duration of the application and then deleted once outcomes have been communicated. A record of name, contact and feedback provided will be retained for audit purposes.

Please include: