£12.71 basic rate + £1.53 holiday pay
Advertising End Date
17 May 2026
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  • Postgraduate Widening Participation Research Intern - GROW Your Future Micro Internship

Role & Department Overview

This micro internshipis for 30 hours in total (including 4 hours for training) and is aimed at students who have limited professional prior work experience and are looking for an opportunity that supports them to develop their employability skills.
 

To apply for this micro internship, students must be part of GROW Your Future. 

GROW Your Future is an opt-in scheme for UK undergraduates and postgraduate taught students who also meet specific Widening Participation criteria, e.g. students who are: 

    • first in their family to go to university; 
    •  in receipt of a Lancaster Bursary; 
    •  received free school meals  
    •  over 21 when they start their first undergraduate degree; 
    •  Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic; 
    •  disabled (including learning disabilities, physical or mental health conditions); 
    •  care leavers or have caring responsibilities, or estranged from family
    • a refugee or asylum seeker, from a gypsy or Traveller community, or from a military family

 For more information and to sign up see the following link GROW Your Future | ASK - Lancaster University

As stated above, the GROW Your Future Micro Internship Scheme aims to support students with limited professional work experience, therefore priority will be given to students who meet this criteria. This includes students who may have already completed a GYF micro internship. 

Role Overview
 

This micro internship offers an exciting opportunity for a Lancaster University student to contribute to a strategic piece of widening participation research focused on postgraduate education. The role will support Lancaster University in undertaking a focused sector scan of current postgraduate widening participation (WP) practice, with a particular emphasis on postgraduate taught (PGT) provision, to help inform future Access and Participation Plan (APP) development and wider strategic thinking ahead of the next APP cycle.

The internship will sit within Lancaster University’s widening participation and student success work and will contribute to the institution’s understanding of how UK universities currently define, target and support underrepresented postgraduate students. This is an excellent opportunity for a student interested in higher education policy, equity, research, widening participation, student success or social mobility to gain experience of desk-based research, evidence synthesis and strategic analysis in a university setting.

The overall aim of the internship is to build a concise but robust evidence base on current sector practice and identify approaches that may help shape Lancaster’s future work around postgraduate access, belonging, success and progression.
 
Preferred start date: 1st of June 2026
 
Expected end date: 31st of July 2026
 
Weekly hours: Approx. 3-4 hours per week
 
Location: Remotely (in the UK) and on the Lancaster University campus

Job Description

Main Responsibilities:
 
  • Conduct a structured desk-based review of relevant UK university webpages, Access and Participation Plans, student support pages, strategy documents and sector reports to identify and synthesise current sector practice in postgraduate widening participation, with a particular focus on postgraduate taught (PGT) provision
  • Explore how institutions approach postgraduate / PGT access and recruitment, including contextual admissions, transition activity and widening access criteria used at application stage, alongside how institutions define and identify underrepresented postgraduate students through widening participation eligibility criteria
  • Review examples of targeted postgraduate support, including financial support (such as bursaries, scholarships, fee support and hardship funding), student success and belonging activity (including mentoring, peer support, induction, transition and academic confidence support), and wellbeing or wraparound provision designed specifically for postgraduate or underrepresented postgraduate cohorts
  • Develop and maintain a clear evidence log/sector mapping spreadsheet to record institutional approaches, and identify common themes, emerging patterns, notable gaps and examples of strong, innovative or sector-leading practice across the sector
  • Distinguish clearly between access-focused, financial support, belonging/transition, wellbeing, and student success interventions, and use this analysis to produce a short final summary (written report or slide deck) highlighting key findings, implications for Lancaster, and practical considerations and recommendations for future postgraduate widening participation planning and Access and Participation Plan development

Person Specification

We are looking for a student who is enthusiastic, curious and able to work independently on a focused research task. You do not need to have extensive prior work experience, but the ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate some of the following:
 
  • An interest in widening participation, student success, equity, social mobility, higher education policy, or research 
  •  Strong attention to detail and the ability to work carefully with information from multiple sources 
  • Good written communication skills, including the ability to summarise information clearly and concisely 
  • Confidence in carrying out desk-based research and reviewing online information independently 
  • Ability to identify patterns, themes and key findings from a range of sources 
  •  Organised approach to managing information, including confidence using spreadsheets or similar tools to record findings 
  •  Ability to work independently, manage time effectively and meet agreed deadlines 
  •  Analytical thinking and an interest in understanding how policy and practice differ across institutions 
  •  Confidence using Microsoft Office (particularly Excel and PowerPoint/Word) or equivalent digital tools 
Desirable (but not essential):
 
  •  Previous academic or project-based experience involving research, literature review, data collection, or report writing
  • Interest in postgraduate study, widening participation strategy, or student support in higher education 
This role would particularly suit a student who is curious, analytical, detail-oriented and interested in how universities can better support underrepresented students to access and succeed in postgraduate study.
 

As this internship is aimed at students who do not have prior professional work experience, please draw upon examples from extracurricular activities, hobbies, interests, volunteering and part time work in your CV and cover letter.  

Please also outline in your CV and cover letter why you believe this micro internship will benefit you and your career progression. 

Working in this role will help develop the following skills and experience:
 
  • Exercising professional judgement
  • Emotional intelligence
  • Curiosity
  • Planning and organising
  • Problem solving
  • Research
  • Resilience
  • Self-motivation
  • Teamwork
  • Time Management
  • Verbal communication
  • Written communication
 
 
 
 
 
 

You are required to submit a cover letter to support your application. Applications without a cover letter will not be considered.

Please note: Unless specified otherwise in the advert wording, this role is only open to individuals living in the UK.

Under the terms of this work, we endeavour to provide the advertised number of hours however, hours are not guaranteed and that work may cease if there is a fall in demand. 

Adverts that display a closing date should be treated as a guide. We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so we advise you to submit your application as early as possible to prevent disappointment.

Apply

Help and advice on making applications can be found on the Lancaster University Careers pages. Visit www.lancaster.ac.uk/careers.

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