Mentoring and Internships
There are several opportunities for students and researchers interested in more in-depth learning at the Biometry Hub.
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Undergraduate Internship
The group offers an undergraduate internship program in data analytics in agricultural, plant, environmental, biological sciences and science education. The aim of the undergraduate internship is to give interns a better understanding about biometry and how data scientists contribute to bio-research. This internship program is designed for students interested in increasing their knowledge and skills in the design of experiments and programming in R.
Interested students are encouraged to apply. Internship placements are limited to three students in July, and another possible round from mid-November to mid-December. The students are invited to be located at the Biometry Hub office for their program, and benefit from ready access to our staff and resources. Online and flexible formats are also available to satisfy COVID restrictions. The typical duration of the program is three weeks full-time.
As an intern, you will be working in a friendly, engaging, and vibrant team, learning from us the skills and the culture. We will do our best to identify your strength in the area of biometry and focus on your personal development potentials.
Benefits for students
Students who have joined our internship program in the past five years all have developed strong interest in research work. As the pioneer student of the program from 2017, Enqi Wu is now a PhD student at South Australian Research Development Institute (SARDI).
An overview of skills development
- Research skills
- R programming skills
- Problem solving skills
- Communication skills
See more information about past interns at https://biometryhubinterns.netlify.app/
Experiences in the internship
During the internship, students have the opportunity to increase their knowledge in a variety of areas. These include workshops including an Introduction to R workshop and an Introduction to Experimental Design workshop, but also through attendance at the regular StatsPD@Waite seminar series and discussions with researchers and other students in fields such as Machine Learning, Honours study experience, Sampling and Statistical consultancy.
Prerequisites
Applicants are expected to have a working knowledge of basic statistics concepts and data analytics practice (at the level of completion of the Research Methodology course at the school of Agriculture, Food and Wine at Waite, or equivalent).
Research presentation
Upon completion of the internship program, the student produces an rmarkdown report, written to the standards of undergraduate assessment. The student will also present exit seminars related to their internship work and what they have learned.
Where to from here
The Biometry Hub offers summer undergraduate research projects in the area of field sampling, design of comparative experiments, data visualisation and statistics communication. Supervision is available for Honours projects in statistical and data science applications in agricultural, viticultural and other plant and animal sciences.
To apply for the undergraduate internship, click the link below:
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Early Career and Student Statistician Internship
More information coming soon
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Research Internship
The Biometry Hub and SAGI-STH (Statistics for the Australian Grains Industry in the Southern Region) present a problem-based research internship program in data analytics in agricultural and biological sciences. This internship program is designed for researchers interested in increasing their knowledge and skills in the design and analysis of complex experiments, statistical modelling and programming, and advanced and high-performance computing while continuing to work on their own research projects.
Interested researchers are encouraged to apply. Internship placements are limited to two researchers at a time, and acceptance to the program is conditional upon matching the goals of the researchers with the expertise available in the Biometry Hub. The researchers are invited to be located at the Biometry Hub office for a large part of their program, and benefit from ready access to our staff and resources. Online and flexible formats are also available to satisfy COVID restrictions. The typical duration of the program is four weeks full-time or part-time equivalent.Fields of internship:
- Advanced linear mixed models in comparative experiments and plant and animal breeding
- Statistical genetics, in application to plant and animal genetics*
- Field sampling*
- Plant bioinformatics
- Computational methods for Big Data and High Performance Computing
- R Programming and Shiny apps*
- Environmental covariate modeling in field designed experiments*
* 2022 Priority field
Prerequisites
Applicants are expected to have a working knowledge of basic statistics concepts and data analytics practice (at the level of completion of the SAGI-STH Training Program, or equivalent). Applicants are also expected to be familiar with the basics of their requested field of internship. Prerequisites are assessed by the Biometry Hub for each application.
Schedule and Costs
Schedules are developed for each successful applicant individually. Typically the initial phase of the internship is conducted intensively, requiring regular contact and in-office (or equivalent) presence for several days a week, over several weeks. During later weeks, meetings can be eased to a minimum of one day a week in-office/online presence. For the entire duration of the internship, the researcher is a recognised Research Visitor of the Biometry Hub, with access to a supervisor/mentor and Hub resources.
In 2022-2023, this internship is free of charge for GRDC-related projects. For other inquires, a separate project will need to be negotiated.
Expenses for travel/living away from home
It is assumed that travel/living expenses during the internship are covered in full by the applicants. The Biometry Hub does not provide any financial support.
Output
Research Presentation
Upon completion of the internship program, the researcher produces a full-scale report, written to the standards of reproducible research. The researcher will also present an exit seminar related to their internship work and what they have learned.
IP/Authorship
While it is understood that internship participants are working on their original research, it is expected that the impact of the internship program will be properly acknowledged in official reports, presentations and research publications. When appropriate, authorship issues must be openly discussed with the staff of the Biometry Hub following the standard rules for authorship of research outputs.
Applications
A formal application must be submitted. The applicants must identify a field from the list above, and include an explanation of how developing those skills will benefit their relevant research program and improve research productivity. All applicants must ensure that their applications are endorsed by their relevant project/research management. Any GRDC contribution must be clearly stated.
To apply for the research internship, click the link below: