2025 Internships at University of Edinburgh’s Scottish Graduate School of Social Science
Internship host: University of Edinburgh, School of Chemistry
Part time or Full time: 3 months full-time or 6 months part-time
Location: Edinburgh / Hybrid
Project Title
Understanding the barriers and enablers for current and aspiring neurodivergent leaders in academia.
Project Details
This internship will provide essential input into the InFrame funded project: It’s not me, it’s you: enabling neurodivergent leaders to thrive. It is one of a cohort of culture-change projects towards collegial leadership.
The overall project will help realise more inclusive and effective research cultures by developing evidence-based training for leaders and researchers based on the lived experiences of neurodivergent researchers, drawing from first-hand accounts across the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews.
Research organisations that don’t enable neurodivergent thinkers to thrive harm their own performance. Research and research culture are diminished by excluding such individuals, who contribute innovative thinking and unique problem-solving capabilities.
The wider project aims are:
- To identify institutional practices and environmental factors that influence neurodivergent researchers’ and research-enabling colleagues’ sense of belonging, performance, and leadership potential.
- To raise awareness of neurodivergent researchers’ experiences and develop evidence-based training resources that equip research groups and institutional leaders to evolve practice and policy.
- to understand the lived experiences of neurodivergent researchers, particularly regarding leadership, and collate and share “success strategies” of such researchers.
This internship will mainly focus on the first and third aim. It will involve conducting a survey (likely to produce a mix of quantitative and qualitative data) and follow-up interviews with researchers across the three universities (Edinburgh, Glasgow, St. Andrews).
The intern will also be involved in analysis of results to reveal experiences, challenges and successful adaptations from neurodivergent researchers, identifying patterns, barriers and opportunities for institutional improvement.
The exact tasks will depend on the stage of the project when the intern joins (the whole project runs from 1st May 2025-30th April 2026) and whether the internship is full or part-time.
The tasks will also be shaped by the skills and experience the successful intern brings to the project.
Potential tasks may include survey design, survey implementation, data analysis, scheduling and conducting interviews, thematic analysis from survey and interviews data.
Building a body of evidence to inform positive action in practice, you will gain live experience of creating research impact.
Ethical approval has been sought through the University of Edinburgh ahead of the internship beginning.
Working space is available in Edinburgh, however we are also open to a hybrid working pattern.
It is anticipated some travel to Edinburgh/Glasgow/St. Andrews will be necessary to conduct interviews and meet institutional leads.
Skills Required
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- Qualitative (primarily) and Quantitative Analytical experience and evaluation skills, including thematic analysis
- Research skills including designing and administering research surveys, qualitative data collection and using mixed methods
- Ability to work independently and manage own time
- Interest in and/or lived experience of neurodiversity
- Interest in/experience of leadership development
- Experience conducting interviews or focus groups
- Experience of data analysis tools such as Excel, NVivo
- Experience in data visualisation
- Research Data Management skills, including working with personal & sensitive data
Skills to be Developed
• Academic research management skills
• Communication and writing skills
• Engagement and impact
Timing and Working Hours
- Preferred start date asap and before the end of June 2025
- 3 months full-time or 6 months part-time
- Hybrid
Challenge-Led Pathways aligned to this placement
• Health, Wellbeing and Communities
• Social Inequalities
Challenge-led pathways give students the opportunity to develop capacity for interdisciplinary connections within the social sciences and beyond. More information on challenge-led pathways can be found here.
About the Host
The School of Chemistry in the University of Edinburgh, in partnership with Schools in the University of St. Andrews and Univeristy of Glasgow have been awarded funding by the Inframe Catalyst fund for a project investigating the experiences of neurodivergent researchers and research leaders to understand how their different ways of thinking alter their experiences of and access to leadership role.
This will require gathering information from neurodivergent researchers using both quantitative and qualitative methods – this internship is central to providing this social science expertise.
In addition to the core team from the School of Chemistry, the project is also supported by a Community Knowledge Analyst from the Inframe team who will work closely with the intern, providing guidance on research methodology, ethics, data governance and designing outputs for positive culture change impacts.
For further information about our school please visit our web page (opens in new browser tab)
Contact for Queries
Director of Professional Services: Diane Gill, Diane.gill@ed.ac.uk
How to Apply
To apply for this internship create an account on SGSSS Apply and start a new Internships application selecting “University of Edinburgh, School of Chemistry” from the host options.
The deadline for applications is 4pm on Monday 28 April.
- Submit application via SGSSS Apply
- Download Student Information Document
- Download the Internships FAQs
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