Reflections on a TASO internship

As an organisation embedded within the Evidence Quarter (EQ), TASO were able to recruit two research and evaluation interns through the EQ Internship Programme. As they come to the end of their eight weeks, Hannah and LaJane share their reflections on the experience.

LaJane’s experience 

I was not sure what to expect going into this internship, but I knew I was interested in widening participation and its links to education. I wanted to learn more about the realities of working in research and wanted to develop my research skills. I was particularly excited to meet the team and learn more about TASO’s current projects.

I was mainly working on the student mental health project. My role involved reading a lot of different studies on mental health interventions, learning about evaluation and then categorising those studies. Different categories included type of research, intervention type and strength of evidence. Through this I was able to apply what I had learnt about different evidence types, especially type 3 causal evidence.

I was also able to meet with the different partners on the project and attend a consortium meeting. It was eye opening to listen to everyone’s thoughts and see how TASO engaged with their partners. To be able to contribute to an ongoing project and in something which I care about made work very fulfilling. Alongside this, I was involved in drafting briefs, a Letters trial and presenting.

What initially surprised me was how small the team is! Attending weekly team meetings allowed me to learn more about the other departments and hear about what they do. I was able to see the whole team collaborate firsthand during the launch of the Summer Schools report, working together to make the launch a successful one. I was also surprised with the number of ongoing projects, there was always something to get involved in and lots to learn about. I was especially interested in the small n and race equality gaps projects and was able to learn a lot more about them.

Through this internship, I am now more confident in evaluating different studies. I have gotten more experience in looking at different types of data and being able to identify key findings from them. I have learnt so much about different types of mental health interventions and student mental health. I have really developed my critical thinking skills and have learnt more about how to best organise my time.

For the future, I will look into furthering my understanding of statistics. I would also like to do work in the widening participation area. Knowing that this is an area which people are interested in and care about is very validating.

Overall, I’ve had a great time at TASO, have learnt a huge amount and have developed lots of different skills.

Hannah’s experience

Before my TASO internship I had a keen interest in research around helping disadvantaged groups access higher education (HE). This interest came from my psychology degree and previous internship on HE curricula reform. TASO seemed like the perfect opportunity to develop my research skills and gain a deeper insight into working in this field of research.

My focus was on the evidence toolkit which I updated with up to date research. This involved scanning many research papers and understanding the values of TASO when it comes to types of evidence that inform the impact. I enjoyed the opportunity to help with other projects such as writing a briefing, editing a blog, creating presentations, working on a Letters trial and just learning about the projects that TASO are currently working on.

Being present in the team through meetings, general chat and my office days was incredibly rewarding as I felt a part of the team. The team made such an effort to make us feel welcome and I valued this experience. Initially I expected the team to be bigger and in some ways, more distant but they were such a close group of people and I admired that there wasn’t a hierarchical structure, it didn’t matter what role you were in; you were a part of TASO. This helped my confidence and I felt I could express myself which was extremely encouraging and has helped my career going forward.

This internship has improved my evaluation skills and I can recognise robust evidence a lot easier than I could before. It has strengthened my passion to work within research and ignited an interest in working in the outreach part of the interventions to gain a practical insight to the studies being conducted. I come away from TASO with a lot more knowledge and bundles of confidence for my future career.

If you are interested in interning with TASO or another organisation within the Evidence Quarter, please keep an eye out on the TASO and EQ website.