Beacon Internships

The overall aim of the Beacon Internships is to create opportunities to upskill ‘under-represented’ communities in clinical research, through mentored internships in clinically-aligned projects. 

These Beacon Internships are designed for flexible working, allowing better access to those who have caring responsibilities or different internship-access requirements. The Beacon Internships may be delivered throughout academic term-times and throughout academic holidays, in order to provide the opportunities to engage at the most appropriate time for the research project and interns. We have successfully delivered the following internships:

• Ethnic Minority – for all ethnic minority communities
• Pride – LGBTQAI+ community
• Gender – for all under-represented genders, such as female-identifying, non-binary and transgender
• Neurodivergent – for all neurodiverse communities
• Lower income – for those from a lower income background

The opportunities for representation do not need to be limited to those above – we are working to expand in many other areas. Each of our internship positions have been developed and reviewed with substantial engagement from those communities, to ensure these reflect the language, culture, sensitivities and desires of students wishing to develop their clinical research backgrounds.

These internships align with typical Athena SWAN goals – critical for Higher Education institutions in their work to best create teaching and research excellence. Here, you can see five links between the Beacon Internships and typical Athena SWAN ambitions:

Awareness and up-skilling	The provision of tailored equality, diversity and inclusivity opportunities supports with the awareness of the importance of these opportunities, and encourages this kind of opportunity to be replicated in future clinical academic endeavours for both staff and students involved in the internships.
Communication	These internships provide increased opportunities to connect students and staff through academic networks, and allows for greater communication and collaboration between these two groups.
Connectedness	These internships help widen the collaborations occurring between staff and student bodies, and aims to also lower the walls between the academic and research divisions of academic institutions in the hope to encourage closer collaboration and to make collaborative development more achievable.
Curriculum	These internships provide an opportunity to support students from diverse backgrounds who are underrepresented in academia, as well as providing opportunities to work with positive role models where people can identify with their seniors and see themselves represented in a clinical academic role.
Student empowerment	The activities as part of the internship aims to empower students in their academic development as well as providing platforms to facilitate opportunities to be mentored by those that are in a similar under-represented group as themselves for positive role models. This relationship and the academic growth of the individual will support the individuals in their ability to speak up confidently, facilitating the development of a more engaged and inclusive environment.

University of Warwick Internships 2023-2024

There are six internship opportunities for Warwick Medical Students during the 2023-2024 academic year:

• Ethnic Minority – for all ethnic minority communities
• Pride – LGBTQAI+ community
• Gender – for all under-represented genders, such as female-identifying, non-binary and transgender
• Neurodivergent – for all neurodiverse communities
• Widening participation – for those from a low income background
• Parent and carer – for those with caring responsibilities