Information for Organisations

A short-term internship programme supporting you tackle a problem or project of your choice whilst also providing Social Sciences students with invaluable work experience.

• No cost to you - we’ll provide the student with a financial incentive 

• You provide the project which has an outcome of your choice

• 70 hours with the intern during the Easter vacation period (Dates to be agreed between you and the intern, to take place between 7 April-25 April 2025)

• If you have a larger project in mind - host 2 or more interns to work together

• Create partnerships with ourselves and students 

• Tap into our talent pool with no long-term or complex investments

• Students from a range of Social Sciences degrees 

“Izzie helped immensely with content creation and content strategy, which saved us lots of time and provided us with a new insight which we will integrate into our strategy”

If you have a project in mind - Complete this form with details of the project you’d like to submit (you'll need to make a copy of the Google Form or download as a word doc - either way please send back to t.horton@sheffield.ac.uk)

We are aiming to get expressions of interest from organisations asap, with the view of confirming projects by January. We’ll then match students during February and aim to introduce you to your student(s) by early March

If you want to offer a project but don’t know exactly what it would look like yet, contact us at t.horton@sheffield.ac.uk  - we appreciate you may need to confirm the exact project nearer the time of the internship! We aim to confirm projects during January, to start marketing to students and matching to projects early March. 

An ideal project should be…

• Clear and concise, especially highlighting key areas and outcomes you’d like your intern to focus on

• Grounded in the reality of your organisation, so that your intern can authentically engage in the ‘real world’ of work

• Project completable in 70 hours (or multiples of70 hours if you would like to host more than one intern)

• Dates to be agreed between you and the intern, to take place between 7 April-25 April 2025

• In person, virtual or in hybrid manner

We welcome projects from organisations in any industry or sector.

So whether you are an SME, Government organisation, or a large commercial organisation, we would love to see if this project can help you.

Here are some example projects.

We are particularly interested in projects that fall into the following categories

• Policy and Community Development

• Media, Public Relations and Design

• Sales, Marketing and Communications

• Financial Services

• Research and Analysis 

• Built Env (Architecture, Landscape, Planning, Urban Design & Property)

• Natural Environment (e.g. Ecology and GIS)

• Local or National Government

Feedback from employers last year: 

“They developed a research document with case studies we didn't know about, which were really helpful”

“They moved forward a project we've been struggling to get going”

“The intern finished a proof of concept model which will help us make our research project more accessible and useful to the public”

“Great talent at no cost to us - helpful as we are a very small business”

“The student was able to offer us an essential outside eye”

“much research was produced which is vital for funding bids that I am soon to complete”

You won’t be charged for offering a project - we provide the student with a financial bursary. 

We ask that you:

• Provide a worthwhile project brief based on a real-life scenario or problem that your organisation wants to explore

• Support your intern, including providing feedback upon completion of the project (our agreement form outlines this commitment in more detail)

• Provide the opportunity to collaborate with your team, either face-to-face or virtually in line with your current working environment

• Ensure that your project includes an outcome, such as a set of recommendations, a presentation, a report, or something similar - we want to enable students to describe their achievements and contributions in future job applications

Our Commitment to you: 

There’s also no need to sift through applications; we’ll match students to you based on their skills, interests, and compatibility with your project. If your project requires more than one intern, or you can offer more than one project, students can work in pairs or small groups in your organisation.

• Students undertaking your projects will be 2nd year students with varying levels of previous work experience. 

• We will be training the Interns in advance so that they are ready to take on your challenge. 

The pre-project training will cover; growth mindset, commercial awareness, business communication, confidence and wellbeing. We will ensure that the students understand their responsibilities and agree to our expectations of them whilst taking part in the project. 

Complete this form with details of the project you’d like to submit (you'll need to make a copy of the Google Doc or download as a word doc - either way please send back to t.horton@sheffield.ac.uk)

We are aiming to get expressions of interest from organisations asap, with the view of confirming projects by January. We’ll then match students during February and aim to introduce you to your student(s) by early March

If you would like to discuss project ideas, please email Tracy Horton t.horton@sheffield.ac.uk (Project and Skills Development Officer) and we can have a chat. 

Workplace Insights is being run and funded by the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Sheffield.

Do I need to sign anything? 

Yes, we ask you to accept our agreement document once we have confirmed your project and before we match a student to work with you