image: HDR UK’s Black Internship Programme Class of 2022
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Credit: Tim Chamberlain Nucocreative.com
On Friday 1 July, Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) launches its Health Data Science Black Internship Programme for 2022 helping to tackle the underrepresentation of Black people within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers.
The programme, run in partnership with the UK Health Data Research Alliance and 10,000 Black Interns helps to kick-start the careers of recently graduated Black data scientists by providing opportunities for them to work on health data science projects within some of the UK’s leading health, research and academic organisations.
The UK has an urgent need for new health data scientists in this rapidly expanding field which has the potential to transform the future of health and care for all. A report commissioned by The Royal Society states that for the years spanning 2007/08 to 2018/19, just 3.5% of Black STEM academic staff held a professor post compared to 6.6% of Asian staff and 11.9% of White staff.
This programme is just one of HDR UK’s initiatives that supports our belief that health data science should be as effective as possible in serving and reflecting the needs of the entire UK population.
The webinar launch event on Friday 1 July 2022 will be attended by the interns, host organisations and the programme’s advisory board. From Monday 4 July 2022, an impressive 81 interns will start their eight-week paid placement with over 40 host organisations.
Ribka Aschalew, 2022 Health Data Science Black Internship Programme Intern at The Health Foundation, said:
“I have a huge passion for science and technology, with a particular interest in data and Artificial Intelligence. Through HDR UK’s internship programme, I look forward to gaining invaluable insights into how data science is harnessed in the health sector, and to developing my skills as an analyst and researcher.”
Dr Katherine Boylan, Head of Innovation at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), said:
“Having interviewed an outstanding group of candidates – and part-funded by NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre – we are delighted to have appointed three new colleagues under the Black Internship Programme to support data projects across our Trust, hosted infrastructure and Clinical Data Sciences Unit (CDSU). I look forward to welcoming our new colleagues to the MFT Innovation Team.”
Tammy Palmer, Head of People, Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) said:
“Following the success of last year’s programme, we are thrilled to welcome this year’s cohort of talented Interns. It is incredibly exciting to once again be supporting the next generation of health data scientists. A huge thank you to all of our Host Organisations for their support and commitment to helping ensure the programme’s success again this year.”
The interns will not only learn about health data science in action but will also carry out their own clearly defined research projects.
The confirmed organisations include among others:
Alleviate
Barts Health NHS Trust
British Red Cross
Bupa Healthcare
Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre
Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute
Centre for Healthcare Modelling and Informatics (CHMI)
DARE UK
DataCan
DataMIND
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
Environment Agency
Genomics England
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust </…….