Hi everyone! Over the last few months, I’ve received a lot of queries regarding applying to research internships. And I wanted to answer them shortly, in this blog, with a disclaimer to begin with.

DISCLAIMER

I did only one research internship (NTU Singapore, ROSE Labs), and there are people who are more qualified than me to answer this, but I’ll make my best attempt.

Here is how I will suggest to apply:

Assumptions

  1. You are interested in Research.
  2. You are not doing a research internship because you think getting into an industry is really tough, and emailing a professor will be easier.
  3. You know what field excites you, not necessarily “your passion” - but still your interests.
  4. You read papers in some frequency. (can be anything, I am too much a developer to comment on this 😄)
  5. You have your work hosted somewhere, for others to see and judge! ;)

Process

Gather information:

  1. Find the research papers that interested you the most.
  • Take a note of the authors, and co-authors.
  • Take a note of the institutes that funded this research.
  • Take a note of their timezone.
  • Does the author work in a lab? Take a note of that lab.
  1. Find the institutes that offer research internships (preferably paid). Not all of them do, but most of the times - professors have some funds.
  • Can be outside India.
  • Prefer institutes with good labs for your field over the best institutes with absolutely no active labs for your interests.

Review

  1. Check if the professors/institutes have openings in their labs? Most of the times, their home page will tell you about the status.
  2. Sometimes, Post Docs are also active in interviewing research interns, so it doesn’t have to be all about professors/institutes.
  3. What is the field of interest of the person? Is it something that aligns with you (you may not know in the first glance, but if you are excited about what they do… then the answer is yes!)?
  4. Note that: for labs, a lot of times they pair with industries and other academic institutions

Reach Out

Assuming that the Review process is followed thoroughly

  1. Email the profs/post docs/researchers:
  • Try scheduling emails in their mornings, worst case: their time zones.
  • Mention the research you’ve done about their work.
  • Mention any relevant papers you’ve written (or read from their work, and share any feedback -> only honest feedback, please don’t write random things).
  • Talk to them about how you can contribute, if you don’t have an idea on this - let them know about what you’ve done so far.
  • Keep it brief.
  1. Wait for a few weeks.
  2. Gentle ping, in case they haven’t gotten back to you.
  3. If they didn’t, it’s okay.❤️ There is a lot to explore, keep doing your work!

A suggestion

This process changes over time, depends on the labs, I tried my best to share the generalized version of it. However, remember that if you are honest to the work you do -> people will eventually recognize your talent, and you’ll get the opportunities you ever needed. Have patience, and enjoy the work.

Hope it helps you all. Thank you!