Doing internships during your Bachelor’s and/or Master’s studies is a great way to gain more research experience.

You get the opportunity to find out if you enjoy doing independent research as well as which research field captivates your interest the most.

Prospective employers, whether in academia, industry or other sectors, highly value internship experience as it shows initiative and wider exposure to different work environments, technical know-how and research cultures.

ISTA offers a supportive environment for research and professional development. It provides access to state-of-the art facilities from bioimaging to nanofabrication and scientific computing through centralized Scientific Service Units.

ISTA an open and international culture with a scientific staff from more than 70 nations. ISTA offers career development services for young scientists to prepare them for their next steps, and provides numerous social and fringe benefits such as accommodation, cafeteria, sport & leisure, language courses, the free ISTA shuttle bus, and childcare on campus depending on availability.

As an intern at ISTA, you will be guided by your supervisor as you work on your internship project(s). Depending on your background and research interests, as well as the research focus of the group you join, there is a wide scope for differences in the types of projects you can work on.

Interns in life science labs (e.g. biology, neuroscience) or experimental physics and chemistry/materials typically perform experiments, do literature searches, and learn new techniques that help address specific research questions.

In the theoretical sciences, such as mathematics, computer science, data science & scientific computing, and theoretical physics or computational chemistry interns write proofs, read related literature, and sometimes even get the opportunity to co-author papers on their results.

You may also do your internship with our staff scientists. They are fully trained researchers who provide domain-specific skills, expertise and experience not usually present within research groups.

If you’d like to find out what kind of research is conducted at ISTA, the best way to do so is by exploring the different research areas of our faculty or our staff scientists.

There are two ways in which you can apply to join ISTA: the ISTernship summer program and year-round scientific internships.

The ISTernship summer program is a scholarship program with a centralized application and admissions process. The benefits of joining the ISTernship program are that you will be part of an international group of interns and have the opportunity to showcase your research results in the ISTernship Poster Session – where a poster competition is promoted, attend mini-lectures on a range of research topics specially offered to ISTerns, as well as obtain additional support with housing. This is a prestigious program where you have ample opportunity to take part in the vibrant research scene at ISTA.
Applicants do not need to reach out to professors to apply for the ISTernship program since the selection process is conducted via a centralized call.

The second way you can join as an intern is through year-round scientific internships, which is where you get in touch directly with the faculty member whom you’re interested in working with and agree with them when the internship start and end dates will be. The duration of these internships can be up to one year.