For over a decade, the Medical Research Council (MRC) has partnered with the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) to offer their prestigious policy internship scheme to all MRC-funded PhD students.
The scheme gives individuals first-hand experience of the medical science policy environment and insights into how research can impact policy, while also providing an opportunity to connect with valuable stakeholders.
Clare MacRae is a GP and MRC Clinical Research Training Fellow investigating how households and living arrangements impact health and care outcomes. Laura Bailey is in the Oxford-MRC Doctoral Training Partnership investigating how circadian clocks regulate the immune system.
Here, they share their reasons for applying for the policy internship scheme, their experiences of it, and future outlook.
An opportunity to learn first-hand how policy affects health
Clare MacRae
From the beginning of my academic career, I have wanted to understand how my research could inform policy to address important health challenges. I learn best through hands-on experience and, therefore, wanted to embed myself into a policy environment to really understand the culture and processes.
A short-term placement was the best way to achieve this, making the MRC-AMS policy internship ideal because it offered national-level policy exposure as part of my PhD fellowship.
Laura Bailey
As my PhD progressed, I began looking beyond my research to see how scientific discoveries are put into practice in health policy. I noticed that the drivers of change, the sometimes unclear yet vital interactions among academia, government, industry, and charities, play a crucial role in making change happen.
Like Clare, I believe that being embedded in a system is the best way to understand it. I wanted to gain clarity on how these different forces come together to shape policy.
A variety of valuable experiences
Laura Bailey
My experience with the internship scheme was incredibly positive. Everyone was welcoming, collaborative, and eager for us to ask questions and learn. I was given projects to take ownership of and deliver to various members of the policy team, and we worked on a diverse range of tasks.
I also found attending events, such as roundtables, workshops, and symposium talks, invaluable. These events offered excellent networking opportunities and a rare chance to observe high-level discussions among policy stakeholders and academics.
I was also encouraged early on to explore beyond the policy team and see what the other teams at the academy were doing. I even got to observe a grants panel and completed two secondment days, one with MRC in public policy engagement and another with IQVIA in their real-world evidence team.
Overall, the internship really surpassed my expectations in the wide range of valuable experiences I was given to help me develop so many valuable skills.
Clare MacRae
Laura’s experience was very similar to mine and I echo what she has said. One of the most useful aspects for me was acclimatising to a new culture and an environment outside the NHS or academia.
What really struck me about the academy was their very strong commitment to supporting the best science with the greatest likelihood of improving human health. The experience was brilliant, and I strongly encourage others to apply.
Supportive of future work
Laura Bailey
This internship scheme was a great opportunity to develop both my writing and broader communication skills. These skills will benefit me no matter what I do next, including right now, as I work on my thesis!
The internship also really helped me shift my focus from the details of my own research to the bigger picture. It’s easy to get stuck in the details when you’re in the research mindset.
Hearing perspectives from different voices, including those of the end users of health research, was eye-opening. I’m incredibly grateful for the chance to gain these new perspectives, which have fundamentally changed how I approach my own research.
Clare MacRae
From a personal development point of view, I cannot think of a better opportunity. It has led me to build new connections and has opened up opportunities since my internship that I wouldn’t have had without it. Anyone aspiring to lead a research group should seriously consider doing this or something similar.
For me, it was transformational, and I strongly recommend the lived experience of policy to learn how to maximise research impact, particularly for clinical academics in training.
Find out more
The 2025 applications are now open and will close midday BST 22 April 2025.
For more information, please visit the academy’s internships page. Read the top tips article from previous interns.
Laura is a circadian biologist and final-year PhD student in the MRC Doctoral Training Partnership at the University of Oxford, working in the Radcliffe Department of Medicine. Her research explores how circadian clocks regulate the immune system, particularly their role in controlling inflammatory gene expression in macrophages.
She previously studied biochemistry and is passionate about understanding how biological rhythms influence health and disease.
Clare is a General Practitioner and a Senior Clinical Research Fellow at the Usher Institute at the University of Edinburgh. She also collaborates with the NIHR Children and Families Policy Research Unit at UCL.
During her MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship, she focused on using quantitative methods to explore multimorbidity within households, by investigating how living arrangements impact health and care outcomes.
She is extending this research to understand how long-term conditions in family members and housing quality affect the health of children.