Strategic Evidence Internship 2024

We are now recruiting for our January 2024 Internship programme!

We are now accepting applications for our January internship intake. We’re really excited to be recruiting interns and we have some great internships available across the charity. We will also be recruiting for our Summer internships next year. To be notified once these applications are live, please visit our website to sign up.

Are you looking for an exciting internship opportunity at one of the UK’s largest health charities?

Why we need you

Cancer Research UK is the world’s largest charity dedicated to beating all types of cancer. We now have an opportunity for you to join us as a Strategic Evidence Intern.

What will I be doing?

Your role will be to review, interpret, and communicate relevant cancer screening evidence and insights to ensure our work to influence policy and practice is evidence-based and impact-led. This will involve developing a briefing for a strategic priority area in cancer screening through collation and synthesis of key evidence, data and insight, which you will gather by reviewing the literature and consulting experts. This work will directly inform our influencing activity, as well as our work to inform and support health professionals.

Role and purpose

The Strategic Evidence team is responsible for ensuring evidence is front and centre of activity which aims to drive impact for people affected by cancer through improvements in policy and practice. We work across a broad scope of topics including early diagnosis, treatment, cancer outcomes, inequalities, and innovations. Working in the team will provide a unique opportunity to develop knowledge and expertise across a range of topics and audiences, and to gain insight into how we work as an evidence function, in collaboration with others, to set strategic priorities for cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Optimisation of health services and existing interventions is a key priority in the Strategic Evidence team, including cancer screening programmes. Cancer screening saves lives by detecting cancers at an early stage before symptoms have developed, and in some cases, by preventing cancers from developing.

Key responsibilities

• Review and interpret evidence, data and insights on strategic priority area.
• Work with internal experts to identify gaps and gather insights.
• Produce a written briefing on strategic priority area.
• Disseminate evidence, data and insights to relevant audiences internally and externally.
• Develop other content or outputs as required to support dissemination
• Support the wider Strategic Evidence team in reviewing and triangulating evidence, data and insight across priority areas.

What skills are you looking for?

You’ll be able to bring to the role:

• Keen interest in improving cancer outcomes.
• Strong research skills: able to search for relevant information with a thorough attention to detail
• Ability to translate complex information for a range of audiences in different formats. An ability to disseminate information in creative/innovative ways is desirable.
• Confident and proactive self-starter able to work at pace.
• Good written and verbal communication skills
• Interpersonal skills with an ability to build relationships with a range of different people.
• Ability to work as a part of a team
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office (e.g., Word, PowerPoint and Excel)
• An understanding of or keen interest in health, biology, biomedical science and/or public health

We’re always looking for people from a wide range of backgrounds, who can bring different perspectives, so you don’t need to have had previous charity experience to apply. Cancer is something that impacts everyone, and we want our workforce to reflect the diversity of the audience we work with.

What will I gain?

This role will add real value to Cancer Research UK so we want to ensure you’re getting a lot out of it too. As an intern you’ll go through a structured development programme with skills training in project management, CV writing and interview skills and you’ll have a buddy to help you settle in. You’ll be eligible for many of our benefits, including paid holiday, and you’ll gain key experience to help you launch your career.

How do I apply?

Please apply online by uploading your details and answering an application question. Please complete an application form for only one Internship role.

One of our values at CRUK is Being Human. We want to hear about why you’re interested in CRUK and what is motivating you to apply. So, we discourage the use of AI when completing your application form and throughout the process.

Application process

Stage 1: Online application

• Complete an online application form – you’ll be asked to answer a motivational competency question and upload your CV.
• In our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, we operate an anonymised shortlisting process. Please therefore ensure that you have completed the work history section of the application form in full and that you have answered all application questions, as this is the information we will be using to shortlist. CVs are required to be uploaded for all applications, as they will be collected for use later in the process.  If you experience any problems submitting an application, please email earlycareers@cancer.org.uk

Stage 2: Assessment

• If your initial application is successful you will then be invited to complete our new situational judgment test. The test poses real life scenarios that a CRUK intern might be met with in their day to day role and asks how you would tackle that scenario. This is un-timed and multiple choice. Please let us know if you think you might require adjustments for this assessment.

Stage 3: Audio Submission

• If you are successful in the previous stage, you will be asked to complete an audio submission, answering competency-based questions. The questions will be emailed to you and you will have a few days to submit a response via an audio recording (no video required).

Stage 4: Interviews

• If you are successful in the previous stage, you will then be invited to a face-to-face interview at our head office with representatives from the team you are applying to.
• If you would like a copy of our Candidate pack to read more about our benefits and culture please email earlycareers@cancer.org.uk

The Internship will start on Monday 8th January.

There’s a place for everyone at Cancer Research UK. Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We're committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone can be themselves and reach their full potential.

We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, in particular those from ethnic minority backgrounds who are currently under-represented, and believe that a diverse workforce will help us to beat cancer sooner.

If you’re interested in applying and excited about working with us but are unsure if you have the right skills and experience we’d still love to hear from you. We don’t expect everyone to meet all of the criteria listed.

We want to see every candidate performing at their best throughout the job application process, interview process and whilst at work. We therefore ask you to inform us of any concerns you have or any adjustments you might need to enable this to happen by emailing us at recruitment@cancer.org.uk.

Unfortunately, we are unable to recruit anyone below the age of 18, so that we can protect young people from health & safety and safeguarding risks.

Contract length

• 12 weeks (8 Jan – 29 March)