Internships

At Cambridge Digital Innovation we aim to work with the wider University community, and this includes students and postdoctoral researchers. CDI supports students and postdocs through internships to conduct research on topics of interest to us, and our partners, as well as the intern.

During the internships, individuals will have an opportunity to gain experience in developing their research skills, writing and presenting outputs to a range of potential audiences through various channels, and collaborating closely with the CDI team and partners. Cambridge Digital Innovation has worked with interns in a variety of ways, including specific research projects with our ecosystem partners and support for research or business idea development.

Our internship experience

Philip Wilkinson (Land Economy, Sidney Sussex 2019)

“In the summer of 2018 and 2019 I worked as Research Intern with Professor Michael Barrett and Dr Karl Prince as part of Cambridge Digital Innovation. During the first summer of 2018 I was tasked with attempting to help understand the value that commercial firms gained from being a part of the Wellcome Genome Campus. This allowed me to develop concepts that I had previously explored as part of my Land Economy degree, as well as begin to develop an understanding of theories and concepts I had not come across before but was interested to explore. It was my first time working on a longer-term research project of three months, which while daunting, was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

“Throughout my time I developed new skills and built on existing ones, which under guidance from both Professor Barrett and Dr Prince helped me to become a better researcher and academic as a result. I read around areas that would be relevant for the Wellcome Genome Campus, performed interviews with key members on the campus, and produced outputs such as presentations and research blogs that can currently be found on the Cambridge Digital Innovation website. I found the topic so interesting that I asked if Professor Barrett would supervise me for my dissertation, titled ‘A network analysis of an innovation ecosystem‘, which built on some of the areas I found highly relevant to my degree in my third year. The result of which was a strong grade in my dissertation as well as allowing me to work on something that I could see had a real-world practical application, developing a deeper understanding of agglomeration and network theory. I continued to build and develop on this idea in my second summer with Cambridge Digital Innovation, following up interviews with key members on the campus, delivering a presentation to some of the leadership team on campus and producing a short theoretical paper based on the concepts explored.

“It was a great experience to be able to work with both Professor Barrett and Dr Prince, their advice being invaluable, helping me to become a much better researcher than what I was when I began. While I found some of the topics and tasks challenging during my summers at Cambridge Digital Innovation, it gave me an opportunity to go beyond what I would traditionally be learning in lectures and explore concepts that I found highly interesting. Alongside working with two great individuals, Professor Barrett and Dr Prince, it was an opportunity I was definitely grateful to have and I plan on keeping in touch with both of them as I continue my journey through academia in my masters at UCL and future professional life.”

Research from our interns