The N8 Centre of Excellence in Computationally Intensive Research (N8 CIR) offers paid eight-week internships that give students the opportunity to contribute to real research projects while developing computational and digital research skills.
Working alongside researchers and digital Research Technical Professionals (dRTPs), interns gain hands-on experience of research, software, data and high-performance computing while exploring potential careers in digital research and innovation.
Interested in applying for a Summer 2027 internship?
We expect opportunities for Summer 2027 to be advertised in Autumn 2026 for principal investigators and January 2027 for students. N8 CIR expects to support up to four internships at each N8 university.
Interested in supervising an internship?
Researchers and digital Research Technical Professionals can propose projects for the scheme.
Student eligibility and application process
N8 CIR internships are open to penultimate- and final-year undergraduate students studying at an N8 university (Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York). You cannot apply if you have previously been awarded an N8 CIR internship.
Applications are welcomed from all undergraduate degree courses. Previous experience of computing or data management may be helpful but is not essential. A willingness to learn and a genuine interest in the project are more important.
Students can only apply for projects at the university where they are currently studying.
Students should check the application requirements for their university before applying, as deadlines, eligibility criteria and limits on the number of projects students can apply for may vary between institutions. Full guidance will be provided alongside the advertised projects.
What does the internship involve?
Successful applicants receive a £3,500 stipend to undertake an eight-week research project.
Projects are hosted by researchers and digital Research Technical Professionals from across the N8 universities and provide opportunities to apply computational approaches to real research challenges.
Interns are expected to:
- Complete an eight-week project between June and early September, which can be over non-consecutive weeks
- Attend an online welcome meeting in June
- Prepare a presentation of their research
- Attend a project showcase in September, where they will present their work
What kinds of projects are available?
N8 CIR internships span a wide range of research areas and disciplines, united by using computational methods and digital research infrastructure.
Previous projects have included:
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning
- Digital health and healthcare data
- Digital humanities and cultural data
- Research software development
- Research data management
What students gain
N8 CIR internships give students the opportunity to:
- Develop coding, computational and technical skills through practical research
- Gain experience of research methods and digital research practice
- Work with researchers and technical specialists
- Contribute to impactful projects with real-world applications
- Build confidence in communicating and presenting their work
- Explore careers in research and digital Research Technical Professional roles
Previous internships
Explore projects completed by previous N8 CIR interns and learn more about their experiences.
Publications from Internships
In some cases the research completed during an internship results in publications.
- Arnstein, L., Wetherell, J., Lawrence, R. et al. Addressing hypersensitivity in density functional theory for reliable machine learning. npj Comput Mater (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41524-026-02191-x
- S. RajKumar and B. Baruah, "Bridging Education, Research, and Industry: The Role of Computational Internships in Higher Education," 2026 22nd International Conference on Information Technology Based Higher Education and Training (ITHET), Lilihammer, Norway, 2026, pp. 1-6, doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/ITHET69978.2026.11585144.
- W. Yang, M. Wang and D. Wojtczak, "Abstract Attack Intention Inference Using Low-Rank Gated Arithmetic Interactive Attention," 2025 IEEE International Conference on Cyber Security and Resilience (CSR), Chania, Crete, Greece, 2025, pp. 166-173, doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/CSR64739.2025.11129983
Questions?
For questions about the internship scheme, student applications or project proposals, contact the N8 CIR team at enquiries@n8cir.org.uk.