Internships

Internships lasting three months are available in the former Centre for Economic Botany (CEB), now part of the Sustainable Uses Group.

We are currently involved in a wide range of research topics relating to useful plants, focusing on the United Kingdom and on the world's tropical arid and semi-arid regions. An internship here offers the opportunity to gain experience in aspects of economic botany and ethnobotany relating to collections, taxonomy and information retrieval and dissemination. Internships do not involve fieldwork or, in CEB, work with living plants. Interns will also become familiar with the range of work carried out in a large botanic garden and local and online resources.

Changed arrangements for 2008-

Owing to building and staff changes in the Sustainable Uses group, the format of internships has changed. Rather than offering all-round experience, interns are now assigned to a particular project, although within this they can expect to work on varied topics:

• Economic Botany Collection Curation and research into an important historical and ethnographic collection. It is not planned to offer any internships in the EBC in 2008, except the Canadian Museums Association YCW internship which will probably be advertised in June and run for 6 months from October 2008. It may be possible to host some 2-3 week internships. Contact: Mark Nesbitt (ecbot [at] kew.org)

• Ethnomedica Collaborative oral history project on medicinal plants in the British Isles. Contact: ethnomedica [at] kew.org

• Chinese Medicinal Plants Authentication and pharmacology, and curation of medicines and voucher herbarium specimens. Specialist postgraduate-level knowledge of Chinese medicines required. Contact: cmpac [at] kew.org

• Biochemistry - the Biological Interactions team can occasionally offer internships, but postgraduate-level laboratory experience of pharmacology is usually required. Contact: Prof. Monique Simmonds m.simmonds [at] kew.org

How to apply

Most interns have had a biological training, but a background in anthropology, archaeological science, archives, scientific herbalism or history of science may also be appropriate for work with the Economic Botany Collection or Ethnomedica. In general we prefer interns who have completed an undergraduate or postgraduate degree, as this allows them to undertake more advanced work.

Horticulture students will find the Horticulture internships more appropriate.

The first step for potential applicants is to read these notes, and to read carefully the CEB web pages. Then email the appropriate contact a short curriculum vitae, and a letter about your interests, career plans, academic or field experience, and proposed dates. Please give names and email addresses for two referees. Preliminary enquiries should be made as far in advance as possible.

Funding

Although we are not able to give financial assistance with these internships, European Union students from outside the UK may be able to access partial funding through the Leonardo programme, or other funding offered by your university or local government. Special funding is available through the Canadian Museums Association for Canadian residents aged under 30.

London is an expensive city. Interns should budget about 90 pounds/week for accomodation, and a further 50-100 pounds/week for food, laundry, travel etc. We can assist with booking accomodation within walking distance of Kew. Working hours are Monday-Friday, 36 hours/week excluding lunch breaks, with flexible working hours.

Volunteers

We also receive welcome assistance from a number of volunteers who live in the region and come to the Centre for one or more days a week.

Further information

For further details, please contact the Centre for Economic Botany by email (preferred): ceb-enq@kew.org, or by writing to: Centre for Economic Botany, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AE, UK. Fax: +44 (0)20 8332 3717.

We remain in touch with almost all of the 50+ interns who have worked in Sustainable Uses Group, increasingly through our Facebook group I was an intern at CEB/Sustainable Uses Group, Kew Gardens. All past and current SUG interns are encouraged to join.

With many thanks to these past interns, volunteers and sandwich students, 1998-:

Canada: Kate Daley, Kristine Kozicki, Jenny McCune, Kristin Mozel, Trish Owen, Barbara Ozimec, Victoria Pitkin, Robin Smith, Emily Tector

France: Florent Bernad, Melanie Broin, Sophie Laroche, Olivier License, Anne Ponce de León Iglesias

Germany: Eva Cue Bär, Sabine von Mering, Judith Seidel, Julia Wellsow

Japan: Fumiko Ishizuna;

Netherlands: Caroline Servaes

New Zealand: Fleur Maseyk

Singapore: Maryam Hanafiah

South Africa: Renee Street

UK: Clare Armsworth, Simon Behr, Dan Brierley, Kasia Brookes, Alison Catterall, Caspar Chater, Laura Clifton (Kelly), Caroline Cornish, Loren Crawley, Rosalie Dobson, Rosie Fox, Laura Harrison, Heather Hickman, Cicely Marshall, Bryony Morgan, Claire Morgan, Georgina Pearman, Jane Sackett, Louise Sayarer, Ellie Suggs, Claire Teeling, Lucy Wilmot

USA: Jay Bost, Jessica Dolan, Ben Van Ee, Laura Furmanski, Ellen Hooker, Liana May, Martha Pagen, Paul Scanlon, Sharon Sanders, Jess Wallis