Charity Insights 2015 Launched

For the fourth year Imperial College Careers Service is launching its Charity Insights bursary scheme.

Charity Insights offers students who will be continuing with their studies at Imperial in the 2015-16 academic year the chance to experience work in the UK not-for-profit sector through a 4 week summer internship. Students find their own charity and project to suit their own career goals and then apply to the Careers Service for funding of £245 per week.

It is available for undergraduates and PhD students and offers the chance to get that all important experience on your CV, make new contacts outside of Imperial and develop employability skills.

Internship at the Royal Society

Previous Charity Insights students have worked in a wide range of charities such as Greenpeace, Blue Ventures Conservation, The Big Issue Foundation and the Royal Society conducting various projects including research, GIS mapping, publishing, marketing, data analysis and more.  

Previous participants said:

"It has opened up my eyes to the different options available for graduates within the non-commercial sector that still have some relation to science.” (Aleks Berditchevskaia, PhD Student, Bioengineering)

“I’ve come out having seen a whole different side of the world – a far cry from what life on campus can lull you into thinking the real world is like – and that I wouldn’t have ordinarily seen were it not for Charity Insights.” (Will Prince, third year Physics)

• “Working at the intersection of policy, economy, and environment has been an outstanding learning lesson for me” (Juha Leppanen, first year Maths)

The scheme also enables students to put the skills gained at Imperial to good use and give back to the community. Organisations that have been involved really value the work that participants have completed stating:

"Thomas presented a well-researched answer to a question the Trust has long been asking.  When the issue is addressed by the Trust I’m sure his report will be pivotal and I would have great confidence in it." (Sean O'Hea, Cornwall Wildlife Trust)

“Alex has been very enthusiastic, diligent and hardworking, and full of good ideas, and has been a real pleasure to work with. She’s been able to tackle some projects that we hadn’t got round to working on yet due to time constraints. She has used her neuroscience expertise to guide and advise us on particular on-going projects in this area.”

(Helen Eaton, Royal Society Publishing)

You can read more about 2013 and 2014 participants' experiences on their blog. Applications are open now and the deadline for applications is 15 May at 12.00.