Internship

Master’s internships

Are you a student enrolled in a master’s program in (applied) data science / computer science or a related field, and interested in gaining experience in bioinformatics? Or are you enrolled in a bioinformatics/life science program and would like to do a research project related to computational genomics? We have multiple projects suitable for a master’s internship/thesis! Please consider the following before applying:

• We can only offer internships that involve a minimum of 6 months of research work.
• We do not offer funded internship. Students are welcome to bring in independent funding to support their internship.
• Students must already bring strong programming skills in a language appropriate for bioinformatics, specifically (at least one of) Python, R, C/C++, Rust. Additionally, linux/bash skills and experience with high-performance computing are desirable.
• For the students with technical/quantitative background, the knowledge of biology is not required. We expect you to bring in good foundation in data science and/or algorithms. An interest in learning the biological background behind our project (particularly the data generation process) is desirable.
• For students with life science background, the knowledge of data science or algorithms is not necessary. We expect you to bring in a solid understanding of molecular biology and (regulatory) genomics. An interest in learning the statistical and algorithmic foundation of data analysis is desirable.

For students enrolled in (molecular) life sciences or related programs, we also have opportunities for specific mixed (wet+dry lab) projects from time to time. Feel free to clarify this in the email if you are interested in such projects.

If you are enrolled in the UU BiBC program, with a life science background, you are welcome to apply to us for your second, 6 month internship (under GSLS profile: general research), once you have gathered sufficient technical skills with your first internship.

Application process

Step-1: For the application, send us your CV containing:

• relevant courses and grades.
• link to an online code repository (github/gitlab) showcasing your programming experience. If that’s not available, send us a report of a practical assignment which highlights your programming and (optionally) your data science skills.
• a short motivation statement about your research interests.

In your email, clearly indicate the expected start and end date of your internship, and provide a link/document form your master program that outlines the internship process. If we have a spot available, we will require a reference letter from the supervisor of your current/previous internship based on a form which we will provide to you. Please confirm with them in advance whether they can fill this form for us (takes 5-10 minutes).

Step-2: We will schedule an interview (preferably on-site), which includes a short presentation from you (10 min) about your background and previous project experience, and a 1-on-1 discussion of potential projects that might be suitable and interesting for you. If you can not provide a referees detail at step-1 and we still have a spot available, we will need a longer interview at this stage.

Step-3: If you are invited, you can prepare a project pre-proposal/abstract based on literature search and the information provided by us. You (together with us) also identify an external examiner who, together with your daily supervisor from our lab, will read and approve your proposal. Once the proposal is approved by everyone, your internship can begin.

In some master programs a detailed proposal is part of the project itself (or part of interim assessment). This is different from step-3 above.

Bachelor’s internships

We can support bachelor’s thesis projects for UU enrolled life science or biomedical science students from time to time. Contact the thesis coordinator of your program for details. We do not support students from other programs/universities for bachelor’s thesis.