CIPM Internships
Internships/Work experience placements
The Centre for Infection Prevention and Management is periodically able to offer unpaid internships to work on research projects within the group. These are available to graduates with qualifications relevant to the subject area who are looking for experience. Internships may be for different durations but are not normally for periods of less than 3 months. Please read the guidelines and contact j.allibone@imperial.ac.uk if you have any questions.
Case Studies: Karl Valentin
'the internship gave me a feel for what it is like to participate in active, ongoing research projects in multidisciplinary, applied, and highly relevant context".
— Karl Valentin, Intern.
Karl Valentin is an anthropology graduate interested in Public Health and Health Management Research. Prior to the internship and subsequent work at CIPM Karl has worked in an NHS Public Health department, both as a researcher and part of the smoking cessation team.
Karl worked as an intern alongside Dr. Raheelah Ahmad and Dr. Yiannis Kyratsis over a 3 month placement during which he focused on innovation adoption and behaviour change. Karl participated in a number of ongoing CIPM projects during the internship, with work ranging from conducting secondary research, collating data and preparing draft materials for papers. As part of the internship Karl participated in the International Health Management Research Collaborative Seminars and presented a short presentation on his previous research in the NHS.
Following the internship Karl was invited to continue work at CIPM on a project basis to conduct an academic systematic literature review. Working closely with Dr. Ahmad and Dr. Kyratsis, Karl designed the search protocol and strategy and executed the search; including sifting titles and abstracts for relevance, assisting in the development inclusion criteria and critically appraising papers.
Sarneet Singh
'This internship has helped with many aspects of my medical degree, including having a broader understanding of the infection control policies on the wards and the impact of the highly varying degrees of attitudes between different health professionals.'
— Sarneet Singh, Intern
Sarneet Singh is currently a fifth year clinical medical student at Imperial College London, and has a particular interest in how the implications of infection control compliance affect patient care. Sarneet is currently working as an intern alongside Dr. Lydia Drumright and Rachel Edwards for a period of a year with CIPM work stream-1b on a project entitled, ‘The Application of Behavioural Sciences and Social Marketing to Infection Control and Antibiotic Prescribing Behaviours’. Sarneet focussed on broadening her understanding of the literature on the barriers and facilitators that drive behaviour surrounding compliance of infection control policies. From this, Sarneet suggested possible questions for a questionnaire that may be implemented on the wards, in particular focussing on health care professional’s understanding of infection prevention guidelines and policies and how this affects their compliance. She was also able to go on the wards with Rachel Edwards, assisting with a peripheral vascular device audit.
