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Karan Bali is a PhD Student in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at the University of Cambridge. Here he reflects on his policy internship at CSaP, which he describes as a life-changing experience.
I applied for a Policy Internship at CSaP because I wanted to see how my degree in Biotechnology, which is mainly lab-focused, could be relevant to wider society and translated into the real world situations such as policy making.
During my internship, I was involved in many projects including doing data analysis and supporting existing research as well as writing news articles and event reports about the Centre’s workshops or seminars. One of the highlights for me was taking part in the different workshops, which were varied on different subject matters such as bioterrorism and climate change. I was lucky enough to witness first-hand the bilateral exchange of knowledge between policy professionals working in government and high-profile academics.
I represented CSaP at many networking events, the most notable of which was a Counter Terrorism Workshop. It was a great opportunity for me to gain valuable exposure and I really enjoyed meeting with researchers and real world experts in the field along with senior officials within the government. Attending events such as these helped me to understand the importance of policy making while dealing with problems and to solidify how workshops actually provide tangible benefits and transfer concrete information between researchers and academics.
While working at CSaP, I learnt how to write in the language of policy. Before, I was already proficient at writing in the language of academia, but as I progressed through my internship, I got experience in producing engaging news articles and event reports for different audiences. Additionally, working at CSaP also helped me to learn a lot in different subjects such as 5G, clean tech and artificial intelligence. It was almost like going back to undergraduate education because each workshop was like a sort of a valuable educational experience on a particular subject.
"Both personally and professionally, the internship opportunity at CSaP has been a genuinely life-changing experience."
As an intern, I not only became part of many projects and attended events but also felt that my work was really valued and I was actually providing benefit to the organisation. Moreover, all team members of this small and dynamic organisation were so welcoming, supportive and friendly. For instance, when I asked team members for a bit of career advice or a contact name in a particular subject, they always helped me and put me in contact with someone.
I strongly recommend the internship at CSaP, especially for PhD Students that have an interest in policy making and have been in the lab for years. It is a great chance to see how academia benefits society through influencing policy decisions and how your research impacts in the wider world and society.