Policy Summer Internship London 2024

We are now recruiting for our Summer 2024 Internship programme!

We are now accepting applications for our July internship intake. We’re really excited to be recruiting interns and we have some great internships available across the charity.  We will also be recruiting for our Autumn internships later this year. To be notified once these applications are live, please visit our website to sign up.

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 Policy Intern.

What will I be doing?

This internship is an ideal opportunity for people at the beginning of their career as a policy professional and will provide opportunities to develop skills in policy development. You will do this by contributing Cancer Research UK's work to ensure people affected by cancer are receiving the best possible care, looking at robotic surgery for treatment of cancer in the UK. You will have the exciting opportunity to contribute to CRUK's general election work and will get experience of working in fast-paced policy team in what is likely to be an important general election year.

Role and purpose

Health Policy

Treatments (70% of the role):

You will get the opportunity to lead the development of an internal research report on the use of robotic surgery for the treatment of cancer in England. Robotic surgery is an exciting, innovative area that could have significant positive impacts on the NHS, with the potential to increase capacity for the healthcare system by improving surgery efficiency and reducing patient recovery times. The area has been consistently gaining interest in recent years and we discuss this in our recently published Programme for UK Government: Longer, better lives. It also links to an important area of CRUK’s strategy to support the translation of new innovations to patients and ensure that this is done in an equitable way.

The overall aim of the project report is to inform CRUK's policy development around robotic surgery, identify where CRUK should focus future work, and to continue building on our Programme for Government and the mission set to Government to ‘Bring tests, treatments and innovations to patients more quickly’.

As robotic surgery is an emerging, innovative treatment area, this project will involve researching the enablers and barriers to the adoption of robotic surgery in England, exploring where there are potential inequalities in access, developing a greater understanding of the policy landscape in this area, and identifying where CRUK could contribute a valuable cancer specific perspective. The project will help us develop our policy lines on robotic surgery and identify where policy change is needed to help support its adoption. The role will involve:

Research (desk-based, internal and external stakeholder engagement, and monitoring of the policy environment) Producing appropriate policy outputs for the project, adapted for differences audiences (e.g. internal policy scoping report, briefings senior managers)

This project will help demonstrate your policy experience and skills to prospective employers, build your professional network within health policy, and make a lasting impact towards Cancer Research UK’s influencing work on the adoption and impact of innovations within the NHS.

Health policy election work (30% of the role):

Building on our Programme for Government we are launching a campaign in the lead up to the next general election to ensure that cancer is a priority for all political parties. To support this work, you will work with members across the policy and public affairs teams to ensure that our latest Programme for Government policy products are fed into this campaign. This will include designing briefings and explainers for MPs and party officials and gaining an understanding of how to adapt policy documents for different audiences. This work will give you the opportunity to work on areas we first set out in the Programme for Government including cancer diagnostics and national leadership for cancer and clinical research.

As a team we also work reactively based on political announcements and the external context.

You may also provide support

• Analysing new reports and writing summaries for internal audiences, including senior leadership.
• Working reactively to analyse government announcements and providing support with any CRUK press comments.
• Monitoring and tweeting from the CRUK_Policy twitter account.
• Attending Parliament for events and policy monitoring.

Key responsibilities

• Lead a project exploring robotic surgery for the treatment of cancer in England, including scoping for future CRUK policy development in this area and engagement in robotics and innovations for cancer services
• Contribute to the development of Cancer Research UK’s policy positions on cancer care.
• Conduct research into policy issues affecting the delivery of cancer care.
• Write informative and persuasive briefings for internal and external audiences
• Work with colleagues across the organisation to inform and influence policymakers, including contributing to public facing outputs
• Stay up-to-date with policy and political developments, sharing knowledge with colleagues to ensure Cancer Research UK’s work is well-informed, accurate and reliable
• Help to build and maintain relationships with external stakeholders, including civil servants, ministers, MPs, clinicians and people affected by cancer

What skills are you looking for?

You’ll be able to bring to the role:

• Analytical skills, including the ability to understand complex problems and develop creative solutions
• Research skills, including the ability to organise research findings and identify well-evidenced trends and findings
• Written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to write engaging and compelling communications for a range of audiences
• Demonstrable interest is some or all of the following: policy, healthcare, science and innovation, cancer or medicine
• Awareness of UK politics and the NHS, with demonstrable political interest and a commitment to neutrality
• Interest in the role technology and innovations in improving the delivery of healthcare
• Strong organisational skills and experience managing competing priorities and a complex workload
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Attention to detail and ability to deliver high quality work
• Curious and interested in learning new things

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. We want to hear about why you’re interested in CRUK and what is motivating you to apply. So, we discourage the use of AI when completing your application form and throughout the process.

Application process

Stage 1: Online application

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

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: Assessment

If your initial application is successful you will then be invited to complete our new 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.

Stage 3: 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 4: 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 1st July 2024.