Queen Mary Learner Interns Programme

If you are an academic or professional staff interested in leading a LIP project, we invite you to register your interest by contacting the Queen Mary Academy before July 2026: Email: qmacademy@qmul.ac.uk

When you get in touch, please include: 

• the theme or strategic priority your project will address 

• a brief overview of how students will collaborate and cocreate with you 
• the intended impact or enhancement outcome

Your project should align with the priorities set out in the 2030 Strategy for Education and the Student Experience and The Queen Mary Education Approach , including: 

• employability and real-world experience 

• authentic assessment 

• student access, progression and outcomes 

• promoting an AI positive culture 

Project Leads work in partnership with one or more student interns to: 

• guide a focused educational enhancement project 

• meet periodically with the intern to support progress and provide academic direction 

• contribute to interpreting findings and shaping recommendations 

Benefits

As a Project Lead, you will benefit from: 

• support from a trained LIP intern 

• meaningful insights into student experience and needs 

• opportunities to enhance teaching and curriculum design 

• visibility through internal dissemination (e.g., Festival of Education) 

• opportunities to generate co‑created evidence of educational impact to support promotion (see Academic Careers Framework) 

What LIP Interns do? 

Interns work in partnership with Project Leads to: 

• gather and analyse student voice
• support small‑scale educational research aligned with strategic priorities
• contribute ideas, feedback, and creative solutions
• help shape improvements in teaching, learning, and student experience at Queen Mary 

Each intern collaborates with the Queen Mary Academy and academic partners to conduct research. Findings are shared internally and externally through publications, presentations, and events. Training is provided to support all aspects of the role. 

What you gain as a LIP Intern

As a LIP student intern, you will benefit from: 

• employment through QTemps (for up to 80 hours)
• a valuable professional experience, with an opportunity to collaborate with diverse teams on inclusive and strategic projects  
• a structured onboarding programme with opportunities to develop skills in research methods, communication, project design, and delivery
• the opportunity to act as a co-researcher and contribute to shape the student experience at Queen Mary
• the opportunity to present your work at the Festival of Education 
• a vibrant community of peer LIP students
• support to apply to SEED awards
• an experience that contributes to your Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) 

Recruitment

Recruitment for LIP Interns opens every September, for a short period of time.  

All roles are advertised through QTemps, the university’s student recruitment service. 

• Recruitment dates and application links will be announced on this webpage at the start of the academic year.
• Roles are paid, flexible, and designed to fit around your studies. The internship is a 80-hour contract.  

 If you are interested in educational development, research, or improving the student experience, this is an excellent opportunity to gain experience and make a meaningful contribution to Queen Mary. 

Find out more about the projects. If you’d like to access the final project outputs. Please contact the Queen Mary Academy. 

Find out more about the projects. If you’d like to access the final project outputs. Please contact the Queen Mary Academy. 

Find out more about the projects and read the final reports.

These educational research internships were established to capture the views of our diverse student population on their holistic student experience. In 2021/22 interns worked on two projects:

1. Understanding students' views of what constitutes Teaching Excellence
   This work aims to increase understanding of our diverse students' perceptions of Teaching Excellence at Queen Mary.
   
   
2. Developing Student Confidence
   This work aims to capture the student voice on how best to develop student confidence whilst studying at Queen Mary. This work will inform the development of tailored support for our students to ensure that they can reach their full potential.

Follow the link to read about the Reflections from the 2022 VP Student Research Interns.

As part of the Going for Gold initiative, student research interns undertook projects on student retention, BAME attainment gap and commuting students. The final reports are available to download.

Exploring the factors that impact student retention rates 2019 [PDF 652KB]

BAME Attainment Gap Report 2019 [PDF 1,105KB]

Commuter Students Research Report 2019 [PDF 791KB]