Health Services Research Intern

Full-time annual salary: £13.15 per hour (£23,933 full time yearly equivalent)     

Contract Length: 12 weeks (23 Sept – 13 Dec) 

Hours: 7 hours per day, 4-5 days per week   

Application Deadline: Wednesday 26 June 11:59pm (the vacancy may close early if we receive a high volume of applicants, so please apply early to avoid disappointment)     

Interview dates: Approximately 7 – 21 August    

Location: Hybrid: Stratford, London for 1-2 days per week and working from home the rest of the time OR home based (any home working needs to be in the UK)   

Positions: 1    

Please note: You must be eligible to work in the UK to apply for this vacancy. Cancer Research UK is not able to offer visa sponsorship.

We are now recruiting for our Autumn 2024 Internship programme!     

We are now accepting applications for our September internship intake. We’re really excited to be recruiting interns and we have some great internships available across the charity.   

Are you looking for an exciting internship opportunity at one of the UK’s largest health charities?      

Why we need you     

Cancer Research UK is the world’s largest charity dedicated to beating all types of cancer. We now have an opportunity for you to join us as a Health Services Research Intern.   

What will I be doing?      

You will be part of the Social and Behavioural Research team, supporting specifically our high-profile Cancer Prevention & Services themed areas of work. 

Role and Purpose    

The Social and Behavioural Research (SBR) team conducts and commissions methodologically robust research and evaluation covering the prevention, diagnosis, screening, and treatment of cancer.

Our work is targeted to address key evidence gaps - important for influencing policy and clinical practice – through in-house and commissioned research. Insights gathered from our portfolio underpin CRUK’s vision and strategy and inform our recommended changes in health policy and practice to improve the outcomes and experience for all.       

We are looking for an enthusiastic intern to contribute to our Health Services Research workstream which sits in the Cancer Prevention & Services area of work. The workstream designs and manages targeted research, supporting policy development activities and influencing key decision makers across health systems. The work covers a range of key topical areas with examples of our current health services research work including: 

• Investigating the barriers and facilitators to health innovation being adopted across UK health systems.  
• Scrutinising the gap between clinical research policy and practice in the UK: An international comparison approach. 
• Improving the data landscape on cancer inequalities.  

In this role, you will learn how we manage research projects and activities, and about how we commission targeted research in the social and behavioural sciences to increase the effectiveness of policy in practice.  

More specifically, we would like you to: 

• Conduct desk research into the lifespan of health innovation development, reporting how they become fully implemented across health systems.  
• Create and present written summaries and slide decks of findings from this desk research project. 
• Attend and contribute to project update meetings where you will share findings with different teams. 
• Support the development of tools and resources that can be used by researchers and those involved in service innovation and evaluation.   
• Attend wider team meetings including Social & Behavioural Research and Policy Development to understand wider topics of work and their relevance to health innovations.  

You will also be an integral member of the SBR team during the placement, gaining exposure and insight to our full research portfolio and external partnerships. There will be opportunities to meet other teams based on your own declared interests.  

As an intern at Cancer Research UK, you will have access to a structured development programme that includes training in project management, CV writing and preparing for interviews. You will also have the opportunity to engage with wider Cancer Research UK fundraising activities and develop key experiences in an impactful and vibrant working environment.  

Key Responsibilities:   

• Conduct literature reviews on current evidence in health innovation pathways. 
• Creating resources for health system audiences.  
• Writing summaries and reports of evidence searches.  
• Contributing to the day-to-day activity of research projects.  
• Collaborating with colleagues across different teams and the Policy, Information and Communication Directorate.  
• Maintaining communications and project updates across teams in PIC.  

What skills are you looking for?      

You’ll be able to bring to the role:      

• An interest in social and behavioural research, cancer innovation or health policy. 
• Strong written and verbal communication skills. 
• An understanding of research and evaluation methodologies including literature searching. 
• Comfortable with interpreting evidence and research findings and applying them into a wider context.   
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.  
• Good organisational skills, the ability to prioritise multiple tasks and projects to meet deadlines.  
• Ability to work with a variety of different stakeholders from different perspectives (researchers, policymakers, health system professionals).  
• Proactive and self-starter approach to new projects and opportunities.  

What will I gain?     

This role will add real value to Cancer Research UK so we want to ensure you’re getting a lot out of it too. As an intern you’ll go through a structured development programme with skills training in project management, CV writing and interview skills and you’ll have a buddy to help you settle in. You’ll be eligible for many of our benefits, including paid holiday, and you’ll gain key experience to help you launch your career.      

How do I apply?     

Please apply online by uploading your details and answering an application question. Please complete an application form for only one Internship role.    

One of our values at CRUK is Being Human. Whilst we understand that AI has it's benefits, we want to hear about why you’re personally interested in CRUK and what is motivating you to apply. We have noticed some applicants being less successful in their applications when using AI due to lack of real life examples. To level the playing field and ensure fairness for all candidates, we strongly encourage responses to be written in your own words, drawing from personal experiences and knowledge. We discourage the use of AI when completing your application form and throughout the process.  

Application Process:     

Stage 1: Online application with SJT 

Complete an online application form – you’ll be asked to answer a motivational competency question and upload your CV.        

Once the roles are closed, you will then be invited to complete our situational judgment test. The test poses real life scenarios that a CRUK intern might be met with in their day to day role and asks how you would tackle that scenario. This is un-timed and multiple choice. Please let us know if you think you might require adjustments for this assessment.     

In our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, we operate an anonymised shortlisting process. Please therefore ensure that you have completed the work history section of the application form in full and that you have answered all application questions, as this is the information we will be using to shortlist. CVs are required to be uploaded for all applications, as they will be collected for use later in the process.  If you experience any problems submitting an application, please email earlycareers@cancer.org.uk        

Stage 2: Audio Submission    

If you are successful in the previous stage, you will be asked to complete an audio submission, answering competency-based questions. The questions will be emailed to you and you will have a few days to submit a response via an audio recording (no video required).       

Stage 3: Interviews     

If you are successful in the previous stage, you will then be invited to a face-to-face interview at our head office with representatives from the team you are applying to.       

The Internship will start on Monday 23 September 2024.   

Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, in particular those from ethnic minority backgrounds who are currently under-represented.

Unfortunately, we are unable to recruit anyone below the age of 18, so that we can protect young people from health & safety and safeguarding risks.