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Developing Employment Skills

Summer Internship

We present opportunities for young people in our local community to develop employment skills.

Four-week paid internships, based on Edinburgh BioQuarter, are offered each year to local pupils motivated by science.

Experience as a summer intern

Kuba Skarzynski, an S5 pupil from Castlebrae Community Campus, took part in a 4-week paid summer internship at the Institute for Regeneration and Repair (IRR) on Edinburgh BioQuarter.

In this video, Kuba speaks about what he learned and the hands-on experience in various labs of DNA separation and PCR, used to produce multiple copies of a gene or DNA.

Thank you to all of the staff at IRR who supported the summer internship programme and to the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform (UKRMP) for generously providing funding.

CRM Summer Laboratory Internship

Origins

In June 2016, following a visit from our neighbouring high school to the Centre for Regenerative Medicine (CRM), pupil Kelsey Wallace plucked up the courage to ask if there were any work opportunities over the summer.

This led to the establishment of an annual CRM Summer Internship – a four week long paid internship, offered each year to a 16+ pupil from Castlebrae Community High School motivated by science.

 

Internship Programme

We offer experience of different roles and research areas within Biomedical science. This can be through a single project or a rotation between different research groups and core facilities.

Interns gain insight into the diversity of careers, skills and people working in health research and innovation.

 

What Our Interns Say

Kelsey Wallace, 2016 Intern

“I never really liked biology until I came here. School science is so different to science at the centre; it’s more interesting and feels more relevant and real to that which we do in school.

It’s made me feel more confident about what I want to do when I leave school. I’ve not decided yet but I have ideas of biochemical science or nursing, so the work here was very relevant. I told my classmates about the work and they all felt it was inspirational. It’s made biology easier for me, I understand it now, especially the cell work as at the centre it was so much more advanced.

When I first came to the centre I felt awkward, I didn’t know what to do with myself, now I know what I’m doing, I know exactly what to do and when to do it, I feel more natural. I feel like I could go to another science building and get into it, feeling more confident.”

-Kelsey Wallace, Castlebrae Community High School

 

Tomas Soto, 2019 Intern

In 2019, we offered an internship to a pupil from Holy Rood RC High School, another high school local to the BioQuarter.

“The month that I spent at the CRM is one that I will never forget. It was my first real experience in an area that I’m really interested in and I was able to learn about so many different parts of biology as well as about working in a lab. I also had the opportunity of meeting amazing and very interesting people from whom I got very good advice.

Even now, I am not able to describe with words how fun and just how different it felt from going to school. Although I had to give up my summer, it now feels like it was a small price to pay for the incredible opportunity I had and I would recommend it to anyone who has the chance to do it.”

-Tomas Soto, Holy Rood RC High School

 

Read Tomas Soto's article in full

What Our Hosts Say

” …the experience was informative and valuable on multiple fronts, as a valuable learning experience for intern and mentor.”

“I would definitely recommend getting involved. It was rewarding and good for communication skills and self-reflection.”

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