Science Communication & Society

Internship information

An important part of the SCS specialisation is the internship period. Students will get the opportunity to get to know the field and to apply what they have learned during the courses.

The internship will be in the field of science communication (e.g. science journalism, museum education, new media, health communication). As we have a large network of internship organisations, a wide variety of internships are possible, for instance at science museums, popular science magazines, newspapers, patient organisations, educational organisations, websites, radio, and television.

More information for prospective internship organisations can be found here. The total internship period may consist of one internship, or can be divided into 2 smaller internships. Within the internship period, at least 10 EC should be spent on science communication research. See student projects for more examples.

Therefore, there are three types of internships:

• Practical internship: a full time internship at an organisation, working on practical assignments; e.g. working as a science journalist, a museum educator, a patient information officer or an educational developer. This internship needs to be combined with a separate research internship, for instance at the SCS department.
• Research internship: a full time science communication research study at an organisation or at the SCS department (linking to our own research); e.g. a content analysis about a certain topic portrait in the media, measuring impact of a science communication event or studying the learning process of museum visitors.
• Combination of practical and research internship: a full time internship within an organisation that includes a research component, relevant to the practical work; e.g. working at a science museum on a certain topic and simultaneously doing research about the prior knowledge and interest of a target audience about that topic.