Internships offer the opportunity to develop capabilities relevant to a range of research careers including academic, industry-based, and entrepreneurial. UniSA Business PhD graduate Dr Laura Hodgson's internship experience provides insight into what's involved in an internship and the development (and other) benefits they offer.
Throughout her doctorate, Laura had a mix of valuable development experiences including teaching, presenting at conferences, engaging stakeholders, participating in the 3MT, and doing an internship.
Laura's 5-month internship during the final year of her PhD, with the Victor Harbor Horse Tram, was an investigation into the economic, historic, and tourist value of the Victor Harbor tourist attraction (Link to report). Laura said the experience added to her research skills and allowed her to collaborate with the Local Government Area. “The internship was an amazing experience to have. It allowed me act as a consultant on this research project, developing project methods independently. Also, communicating with the council got my confidence up in terms of my research skills and my writing”.
Laura shared that developing her research skills and engaging with stakeholders helped build her employability. Laura made important professional connections, contributed to the council, increased her research confidence, partnered with industries and governments, and was able to use her internship supervisors as her referees. “I had lots of valuable experiences on the way - I think these certainly helped me with my employability and gave me some confidence. It got me back into the South Australian local government. Doing the Horse Tram work just allowed me to get some different experience doing research for local government again, and then I ended up taking a position with the Local Government Association.”
Laura strongly encourages commencing PhD students to plan and apply for an internship during their HDR journey. “The timing of the internship has to be right. If you have the opportunity to do an internship, I recommend doing one in the second half of your PhD, once you've got some writing under your belt and once you've done your data collection. By then, you've got a handle on research methods as well. So, with your experience and background, you can put together a project proposal fairly easily.”