Research internships offer students a unique opportunity to apply their learning in real-world settings, gain hands-on research experience, and develop valuable skills alongside leading academics.

Over the summer, the Care Work Partnership was pleased to welcome Jack Tilstone and Jacob Towers to the team. Before they returned to university for their final year, we asked them to share their experiences.

What were you hoping to get out of the internship when you applied?

Jack: As a student studying Economics and Politics, I am really interested in all the work and research that is done behind the scenes of the policies I see on the news. The Care Work Partnership is led from the Health and Social Care Workforce Research Unit in the Policy Institute at King’s College London, so this was the perfect opportunity to gain a closer insight into that world. I wanted to better understand how a research paper is developed from the original idea into something which can be used to inform policymakers, the public, and academia. 

Jacob: I study mathematics and wanted to gain some relevant academic and research experience to expand my knowledge and see if academia is the right area for me. I already have an understanding of statistics and data, the internship gave me the opportunity to see how data is interpreted and used to inform evidence-based policy.

What did you know about the research area before you started?

Jack: Before I started, my only experience with research papers was through my essays at university, focussed primarily on political economy. I had little interaction with the field of adult social care, and only really knew about bits I had seen in the news, or which had been relevant to politics. 

Jacob: I had some basic knowledge about the research topic. Before I started, I already knew there were persistent challenges with staff turnover in adult social care and that not enough people are going to work in these areas. Also, that we have an ageing population and falling birth rates, which means fewer working age groups to fund pensions and public services. 

What did you spend your time doing? Can you describe what you worked on and what you learned? 

Jack: Jacob and I visited the Health and Social Care Workforce Research Unit in the Policy Institute at the beginning of our internships to spend a day in the office, where we were able to join a staff meeting. We listened to reports about ongoing papers and studies, as well as discussions about new projects in the pre-approval stage. It was informative to hear about projects at such different stages of development, demonstrating much of the journey from an idea to the finished article. Additionally, the meeting also contained regular workplace discussions – a consultation about staff parenting facilities was discussed, for example. I thought things like this were a really valuable insight into office life. 

Jacob: The staff meeting included updates on ongoing projects, workplace discussions and gave us a better understand how universities are organised. For example, there was a discussion about the process for claiming expenses.  

After the workday, we went to the HSCWRU staff summer party.  Socialising with colleagues gave me experience of what it's like to belong to a team. 

Jack: Over the summer, we helped screen articles in Rayyan for a study about why people stop working in adult social care. Rayyan is a platform commonly used by researchers to conduct literature reviews. It gave me a better understanding of one of the more practical sides of the research process, and it was valuable to be involved in a stage of research I wouldn’t usually see or think about when reading a finished paper. 

Jacob: The literature screening in Rayyan was a large part of my work experience over summer. Rayaan has a built in AI assistant which predicts if an article is relevant and should be included but my job was to check this, especially the articles the software wasn’t sure about. This gave me valuable experience of an important part of the research process. It was all new for me, as Maths degrees don’t involve many essays requiring references and literature reviews.   

Another thing I learned about was GDPR and data security. As our internship was in a research environment, it was important we understood how personal data (e.g. interviews) are stored securely and destroyed after they have been transcribed.   

Jack: I also helped the research team with knowledge mobilisation. I already had experience in Canva, so I was able to make a few infographics with the aim of making the findings more accessible. I tailored graphics to different audiences, thinking about what information would be most relevant to them, and how much detail to include for example. The research team are designing a knowledge library on the Care Work website and I hope my infographics will be published there. 

What will you take away from the experience? 

Jack: Overall, the experience gave me a much better understanding of the work which goes into policy research, as well as what life as a researcher looks like. The opportunity to contribute myself gave me insight into the skills required for policy research and the process behind the studies which inform the policies I end up reading about and studying further down the line. The internship was an enlightening experience as well as being really enjoyable, and will certainly help inform my career decisions after university. 

Jacob: I now have a good idea what life as a researcher is like and a good insight to working in a university setting. It is an area I would be interested in doing more work in as it was a nice work environment and the research offers real world benefits and helps people. 

Jack and Jacob have now returned to University for their final year. On behalf of the Care Work Partnership we wish them all the best and lots of luck in their final exams!