Swinburne‘s Health sciences internship program expands
In Summary
- Swinburne’s School of Health Sciences internship program has had its biggest ever student cohort
- Students worked for 6-weeks with the School of Health Sciences and relevant industry partners
- Students involved celebrated their achievements with an event in Swinburne’s ATC building
Swinburne’s School of Health Sciences internship program has concluded for 2017 with its biggest ever student cohort.
The 6-week program runs each summer and sees Swinburne undergraduate students offer assistance as part of a research project in Swinburne’s School of Health Sciences, often with a relevant industry partner.
Partners this year included St Vincent’s Hospital, National E-therapy Centre and Tectonica.
Researching a future
The program offers students the chance to gain valuable experience and to think about their career, program director and psychology lecturer Dr Julian Oldmeadow says.
“Students can gain research experience that sets them apart from others and the program also gives them a taster for what research is like, so they have a better idea of what a career in this area might look like,” Dr Oldmeadow says.
“Through this experience, we hope to encourage students to continue studying and eventually consider a research career.”
After launching the internship program in the summer of 2014 with 30 participants, the program expanded this most recent summer to include 43 students, including participants outside of the Faculty of Health, Arts and Design.
Sarawak success
This year saw the inclusion of students from Swinburne’s Sarawak campus for the first time.
Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical and Electronic) student, Derrick Ling interned for a project at the Sarawak campus designing a prototype that could be used for testing the mental mapping skills of an individual.
“Most of my time was spent thinking of different ideas, and doing research to back them up,” Derrick says of his input on the project.
“The highlight of my internship was the ability to assist the visually impaired in recognising and remembering the pattern of a real life location.
“I would definitely recommend it to other students. It’s a good experience to have for preparing and improving their skills.”
Celebrating research
Students involved in the program celebrated their achievements with an event in Swinburne’s ATC building, where they were able to present and discuss the projects they had been working on throughout the summer.
Applications for the summer 2017 program will be open from August.
For further details, please contact Dr Julian Oldmeadow.