WGSSS student Susannah Paice  writes about her placement with Amgueddfa Cymru. 

Why did you apply for an internship with Amgueddfa Cymru? 

In the Spring of last year, I was getting to the point in my PhD research where a break would make sense. Since the initial data collection and analysis was done and everything was going to be nicely wrapped up for a conference presentation that summer, the timing was perfect.

I was keeping an eye out for internship opportunities in the WGSSS newsletter because I had heard good things about other people’s experiences, but I wasn’t sure if I would find anything to suit my interests and skill set. 

As it happened, the Heritage Skills internship opportunity came up just as I started looking, and I got excited about it even though the project didn’t relate closely to my field of research (second language acquisition). The heritage sector is something I’m interested in but haven’t been hugely involved with before, so I thought the internship would be a good way to try it out. Also, as someone who has gone straight through academia with only minimal experience of the outside world, I was hoping to get a taste of what it would be like to work in a different sector. 

What did your role at the internship involve? 

The overall aim of the project was to gather information that could be synthesised into a report on the state of heritage crafts within Amgueddfa Cymru. That report could then form the groundwork for a larger craft strategy, which was to be developed at a later date. 

In practical terms, week 1 was spent getting to know my supervisors and familiarising myself with the context of heritage crafts in the UK. The first month was a combination of independent research and talking to employees at St Fagans about all sorts of figures and themes that would be relevant. This period was quite daunting because it highlighted to me how much I didn’t know about the sector and how big the project could easily become. By the end of the second month, I had gone on (funded!) trips all around Wales to visit the other sites and interview Amgueddfa Cymru employees including craftspeople, curators, marketing teams, site heads, directors, and just about everybody in between. The final month was spent conducting the very last internal interviews, speaking to people from other organisations relating to heritage crafts, collating the themes that came up, and, of course, writing the report. 

Aside from the site visits, most of the internship was spent working from home. I went into St Fagans around once per week for interviews and to look at onsite materials, and I also made some trips to the National Museum in Cathays to visit the library. I had weekly(ish) meetings with my main supervisor up until the final few weeks, at which point I started having additional meetings with the Research Development Officer, who looked over drafts of the report and helped with the final formatting. 

Did the internship help develop your research skills? 

Definitely. Most of the skills that were needed during the internship were ones I had already used during my own research to a small degree, but this project gave the opportunity to practise them further. The most obvious skill I used was interviewing. Before the internship, I had conducted less than 15 interviews in my whole career, and during my three months with Amgueddfa Cymru, I did around 40. As a naturally shy person, having that experience is an invaluable confidence boost. 

At the start of the internship, I was worried about making mistakes and not doing everything in the way my supervisors envisaged. As time went on, it became clear that my supervisors, although always willing to help, were very busy people. A three-month project is very different to a three-year one, and I had to learn how to use my time very efficiently. After a little flailing, I eventually figured out that I was capable of managing the details of the project and could get everything done in time. 

What advice would you have for anyone considering an internship as part of their doctoral training? 

1. Be willing to look at areas outside of your field. It’s your skills that the host organisation wants – any subject-specific knowledge can be acquired along the way. Of course, it’s important to be interested in the internship project, but I would recommend thinking about the skills you want to practise as well as the content. 

2. Don’t be put off because you think that hundreds of other people will be applying for the same internship. There’s a chance that the one you’re interested in is too niche for most people, and even if it is popular, you have a great skill set already and stand as good a chance as anybody. 

3. Ask people who have completed an internship about their experiences. These will differ depending on lots of factors, like the host organisation and the type of project, and having more information might help you decide if you want to apply for an opportunity. Most people are also happy to help however they can, so don’t be afraid to ask to see their successful application forms if you think that would be helpful. 

WGSSS student Isabel Lang writes about her three-month placement in the Children, Young People and Education research team within Senedd Research

I have always valued internships and their importance in offering opportunities to network, build confidence and resilience, and learn new skills

My passion for research began during my undergraduate degree in Social Science at Cardiff University, where I learned how research can be used to better understand people and to make a positive difference in society. My particular interest in social research led me to apply for a masters in Social Science Research Methods (Social Policy) at Cardiff University

After securing funding for four further years of study from the WGSSS through their 1+3 studentship, my masters was followed by a PhD, which I am now in the second year of. It explores university students’ views on student wellbeing and university culture using multi methods, and is based within the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University and affiliated with DECIPHer.

I have always valued internships and their importance in offering opportunities to network, build confidence and resilience, and learn new skills. I am very grateful that the WGSSS studentship supports students to take time out of their PhD to undertake an internship that is relevant to their research, with their PhD funding and submission date extended for the equivalent time of their internship.

An ideal opportunity

I was excited to see the three-month UKRI policy internships advertised as they combined my interest in research and policy, which was sparked by a ‘Research Applications’ module I undertook in my master’s degree, where I learnt in more depth about how research contributes towards policy development and evaluation, and how research can have a positive impact on people’s lives.

The UKRI policy internships offered around 125 placements at 25 host partners of different influential policy organisations, which gave the opportunity to have a first-hand insight into how policies were developed across the UK, and the role of research in this process.

The internship application process included writing a short policy brief, which I chose to write on social prescribing because I am interested in the topic, it relates to my PhD research, and was often being discussed in Welsh Parliament at the time, with university researchers providing evidence on the topic in the Senedd, highlighting its relevance and importance.

Interview time…

After applying I was invited to an online panel interview to assess my appropriate skills and knowledge required to carry out a Parliamentary internship. I prepared by reading different resources about the four UK parliaments and the function of certain offices within them, looking particularly at recent work undertaken on wellbeing and education and how this related to my own experiences, knowledge, and research.

The panel included three interviewers who worked in different parliamentary settings across the UK and they were all really nice and friendly. A lot of the interview questions related to topics similar to those that I had studied in my master’s degree, such as different types of evidence and research impact.

Part of the team

When I received an offer to undertake the internship, I felt surprised and excited. I was pleased that I was chosen to undertake the internship at Senedd Research due to my interest in Welsh policy and research, with my PhD focusing on a Welsh context and also being a student in Cardiff.

In Senedd Research I was placed within the Children, Young People, and Education (CYPE) research team, which I was immediately welcomed into, and felt that everyone was really friendly and supportive. I was pleased about joining this team because the areas they cover align well with the topic of my PhD research.

Although the main area I would focus on for my internship would be on CYPE topics, there was flexibility if I wanted to get involved in other research topics and with other teams too

The CYPE research team is made up of four researchers who do a wide range of work on different topics relating to children, young people, and education, from childcare to university services. For example, the researchers write briefings on different topics, summarising evidence in an accurate and impartial way, for CYPE committee members to use in committee meetings.

The CYPE committee is made up of six members from different parties represented in the Senedd, who look at policy and legislation and hold the Welsh Government to account in areas relating to children, young people, and education, as well as health, care services, and social care relating to children and young people.

There are other Senedd committees and research teams which focus on other topics, such as transport or the economy, which often overlap with the areas that the CYPE research team and committee cover, such as education funding or transport for apprentices, and therefore researchers sometimes work across different committees. Although the main area I would focus on for my internship would be on CYPE topics, there was flexibility if I wanted to get involved in other research topics and with other teams too.

A varied workload

The internship was organised as a flexible 37.5 hour working week. There was no expectation to come into the office every day, especially as I was living in Bristol, so I decided to commute into the office every day for the first week which was filled with induction activities and meetings, and then usually one day a week for committee meetings for the remainder of the internship. I liked that the internship gave a mixture of working from home and going into the office, to experience the benefits of both.

Despite working from home most of the time my team remained very much in contact, with online meetings daily to catch up and check in. This was really helpful in learning what the other researchers were working on and meant that I always felt very supported.

Throughout the internship, my main tasks included:

• Writing responses to enquiries from Senedd members or from their research support staff, which included a range of questions relating to children, young people and education where members expected an impartial, evidence-informed response from a relevant researcher.
• Writing a briefing for the CYPE committees’ scrutiny of a private members bill on outdoor education, and also helping to write a briefing for the Economy Trade and Rural Affairs (ETRA) committees’ scrutiny of the Minister for Economy. I also wrote a briefing for the petitions committee meeting on a petition on childcare entitlement in Wales created by a member of the public which received many votes from the public to be discussed in the Senedd. This briefing was published online and provided background information on childcare entitlement and an overview of the petition.

It was interesting to see how different people gave evidence, from university professors to government officials

• Writing an article and a constituent factsheet on childcare entitlement in Wales and England.
• Sending a weekly email to the CYPE research team, including relevant recent and upcoming Senedd events, and talking through this in weekly meetings.
• Attending weekly CYPE committee meetings on ‘access to education and childcare for disabled children and young people’, which was the main enquiry topic the CYPE committee was looking into at the time of my internship. This involved different stakeholders, including members of the public (e.g. young people or parents), teachers, support staff, university researchers, professionals/experts/staff in different relevant organisations, all providing evidence and their opinion on this topic to the CYPE committee. This meant that I was able to observe various CYPE committee meetings covering different topics relating to the enquiry. It was interesting to see how different people gave evidence, from university professors to government officials.
• Attending weekly CYPE internal team meetings involving the clerk, deputy clerk, legal advisors, researchers, and citizen engagement manager, to discuss recent and upcoming work of the CYPE committee and research team, and relevant information and events.
• Attending a workshop for all the Senedd researchers where we received a talk from a BBC Wales news correspondent about their role, which was very informative and insightful on what a research career in the BBC might entail.

Overall, it was nice to have the opportunity to get involved in different things and produce different pieces of work, and I found it interesting to explore topics that I hadn’t researched in-depth before, such as childcare entitlement. I also enjoyed practising different writing styles to what I had been using in academia, as Senedd articles summarise information very concisely and are written in a style that is easy to read and accessible to a lay person.

What did I learn?

This internship has taught me about the importance of evidence being presented concisely and accessibly, and how evidence is used to shape and scrutinise policy. Also, the importance of collaboration between different groups of people (e.g. the public, researchers, and staff in third sector organisations) to develop evidence that can be used to improve policy and practice. This knowledge is invaluable for my PhD and beyond, and will influence how I collect data and present the findings of my own research.

It was really nice and reassuring to share the internship experience with others in similar positions and hear about what they had been up to working on different topics

Highlights from the internship include becoming a part of a lovely and inspiring team, getting to know Senedd researchers and what their roles were, and observing public and private committee meetings. Also, getting to know two other PhD student interns from different subject areas and universities, who were placed in different Senedd research teams. It was really nice and reassuring to share the internship experience with others in similar positions and hear about what they had been up to working on different topics.

My future plans include maintaining the networks I formed in this internship throughout my PhD research and beyond, and aiming to utilise my PhD findings in some way such as informing the public and future policy and practice. Also, to hopefully undertake another internship to gain more experience and network with other students and professionals.

I would definitely recommend other students, particularly those interested in similar topics, to apply for internships such as the UKRI policy internships scheme.