King's Health Partners (KHP) brings together research, education and clinical practice across three NHS Foundation Trusts - Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital and South London and Maudsley - and a world-leading university, King’s College London. We are pleased to launch the 2025 KHP Summer Internships programme. In this pilot year, we have several internships available for King's College London students from any faculty. The internship pilot is an initiative in support of the KHP Strategic Principle of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). 

The mission of KHP is to 'pioneer better health for all, together' and the internships are for projects related to one of the KHP 2030 strategic priority areas; Personalised Health, Population Health and Digital Health and Data Science. Priority will be given to projects with a strong focus on mind and body; equity, diversity and inclusion; or patient, public involvement and engagement. It is an invaluable opportunity to gain work experience across a range of KHP functions and should be of interest to any student who wishes to develop their skills in research. The projects will be of interest to students from all King's College London faculties, including non-health faculties. If you are interested in working with colleagues at KHP, we would strongly encourage you to apply for a summer internship. 

Interested students should identify a suitable project from the project list and submit an application.

Aims and Objectives

The internship pilot is designed to bring in voices to KHP that are less well represented. Recognising we need more diversity amongst the kind of work we do at KHP, interns will have an opportunity to work on a discrete project with colleagues from the KHP central team and with colleagues in the partner organisations, as well as get a wider experience of the operations of an academic health sciences centre.

Eligibility

Candidates must:

  • Be a currently enrolled King's College London undergraduate or postgraduate student (see below);
  • Live in the boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark or Lewisham (parental home or residence for more than a year);
  • Not be in their final year i.e. during summer 2025 they must be still registered with King's College London.

Candidates should also:

  • Have good academic results to date (above the 50th centile);
  • Be looking to enhance their career progression;
  • Demonstrate an interest and enthusiasm for research/projects;
  • Be able to indicate which of the following characteristic or activities apply:
    • In receipt of the King's Living Bursary;
    • Are from an ethnic group that is underrepresented at King’s College London (Asian Pakistani; Asian Bangladeshi; Black Caribbean; Black African; Gypsy, Roma or Traveller; mixed backgrounds featuring one of these groups);
    • Care experienced, young carer, estranged student or forced migrant;
    • Taken part in the Realising Opportunities, K+, or Sutton Trust Summer School WP programmes.

Candidates with no previous internship/studentship experience are particularly encouraged to apply, and will take precedence, other factors being equal.

Only one application per student will be accepted.

The Internships

The available projects are:

KHP Haematology run a number of Education & Training workstreams and looking for support in the following areas;
 
Education event support – all pre-event prep and on the day support for the following events all happening in September & October.

  • Sickle Cell study day – a one day course for Nurse & AHPs
  • GVHD preceptorship – a two day course for approx. 50 clinicians across the UK
  • VTE Together – a two day conference for approx. 100 delegates from across the UK
  • AA & BMF preceptorship – a two day course for international delegates

KHPHaemPearls – Podcast series

We have recently finished our first podcast series for GPs consisting of 10 episodes. We are looking to dive deeper into the topics and create a second series. We are also looking to explore new areas such as podcasts for patients and secondary care staff. Support includes all prep work, recording on the day, podcast editing & publishing. 

Ageing Well with Sickle Cell is the first project to be awarded the Strategic Crown Fund by King’s Charity. The project focuses on the quality of life of people over the age of 35, living with sickle cell.  This often-forgotten group of patients experience issues and barriers that the general population typically only experiences after the age of 65, leading to such things as premature frailty, renal and heart failure to name a few. In collaboration with the Sickle Cell Society, we aim to define what matters most to these patients and identify the unmet needs that are currently preventing this group from ageing well.
 
We are seeking a dynamic and motivated Intern to join our team. This is an excellent opportunity to gain practical experience working within the Ageing Well with Sickle project to develop and strengthen skills and contribute within an innovative environment. 

Responsibilities:

  • Support with research strategy and implementation;
  • Assist with the creation of marketing materials, including social media content and email campaigns;
  • Work as part of the project working group to identify opportunities for data analysis and reporting;
  • Participate in meetings, workshops and focus groups to learn about the project and its objectives.

King’s Extended Medical Degree Programme (EMDP) is the UK’s flagship widening access to medicine programme, established in 2001, and recognised by Government and regulatory bodies as a model of good practice. The programme specifically enrols students from non-selective state schools, is one year longer than a standard 5-year undergraduate medicine programme (MBBS) and offers supportive provision whilst integrating the same curriculum and final qualification. Over 90% of EMDP students are from a black and minority ethnic backgrounds compared to 56% on King’s conventional MBBS programme, they are more likely to work to support themselves financially, and more likely to live at home with parents/family.

With close to 1000 graduates from the programme thus far, this project seeks to understand the career destinations of those graduates. Recent analysis demonstrates that students enrolled in the programme are more likely to remain working in London, and to pursue careers as General Practitioners, compared with peers graduating from the conventional 5-year programme. In this project, you will use nationally collected data to compare the long-term career destinations of graduates and consider factors that influence those career choices. The analysis will help provide a key evidence base for the effectiveness of such widening participation initiatives and help understand to what extent programmes like the EMDP help diversify the medical workforce in London and beyond.

Projects will be funded for between four to six weeks (total of 150 hours).  Each internship is worth up to £1,500.  

  • Once interns are selected for a project, they will then be put in touch with their supervisor to confirm start and finish dates and working patterns. With agreement, both parties may devise their own duration option and work pattern which must work for both the intern and supervisor.
  • As part of the internship, awardees will take part in an induction process which will take place during the first week of the internship at the KHP offices, either Ground Floor Counting House, Guy's campus, or Windsor Walk, Denmark Hill (dependent on the office location of the supervisor).  Following the in-person induction, the arrangements for ongoing meetings and other activities will be agreed between the supervisor and intern and likely to include in person and hybrid activities.
  • All awardees are required to submit a report on the work undertaken and how their experience has influenced their career plans. Final payment of the internship will not be released until the report has been submitted.
  • KHP also require awardees to be prepared to reflect on the benefits of the internship experience one year on, primarily to ensure that the methodology used for awarding this funding is beneficial to the next steps of career development.
  • Please ensure that you read these notes carefully when making your application and especially bear in mind the assessment criteria and the marks awarded (details given below).  Ensure that you provide ALL the information requested, marks are lost if not.
  • For first year students who have not yet taken any formal examinations, the results of tests and assessments achieved so far should be given.

How to apply

All student applications must be submitted using the online application form and the anonymous equal opportunities monitoring form by midnight 22 June 2025. 

Assessment

Applications will be assessed and ranked by a panel of staff to the following assessment criteria:
a)    The student’s previous examination results (5 marks). Please ensure full details of marks/grades received are given.
b)    The student’s supporting statement, giving reasons why the application is being made (10 marks). This should include reasons for your chosen project preferences and highlight the skills and experience you will bring to the role.

The Decision

•    Applicants will be notified of the outcome by two weeks after the application deadline;
•    The decision of the panel is final – there is no right of appeal.

Key Dates

  • Student applications open – 6 June 2025 (Students);
  • Student applications close – midnight 22 June (Students);
  • Projects Start – before end July 2025 (All);
  • Projects Finish – 1 October 2025 (All).

Deadline:
22 June 2025, 11:59pm