Review of the HDR UK Black Internship Programme

HDR UK's Black Internship Programme has been running since 2021, providing opportunities for Black students and recent graduates in science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) subjects to gain meaningful insights into health data science, to encourage them to consider pursuing a career in this field, and thereby helping to improve diversity within the sector.

The Programme is now in its fourth year and provides participants with an 8-week paid internship with a host organisation in the health data science sector, including academic institutions, the NHS, and industry partners. To date, 315 interns have either completed or are in the process of completing an internship with a host organisation.

We are commissioning an independent review of the programme, to objectively determine whether it has met the intended outputs and outcomes.

Review objectives:

Evaluate the programme design and implementation, including the approach to engaging the target internship audience and host organisations.

Determine if the BIP has achieved its intended outputs and outcomes.

Understand the programme's value to and influence on HDR UK and the wider health data science sector.

Generate recommendations for the scope of the next iteration of the programme.

Review design:

We recommend the reviewers use the Context, Input, Process, Product (CIPP) framework to structure the review, as a well-established model for evaluation of educational programmes (Stufflebeam, 2003). However, we are also open to alternative framework suggestions made by the consultants.

Suppliers are invited to propose a detailed review methodology, utilising the CIPP framework, or something similar. We anticipate this will involve a mixed method approach, comprising a desk review of documents, qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis using survey data gathered from programme stakeholders, descriptive analysis of quantitative programme data, and comparative analysis of similar internship programmes.

Deliverables:

1. Preliminary results workshop and validation of review findings

2. Evaluation report

3. Cleaned datasets of all data produced for the review

Upon receipt of the deliverables, HDR UK will be producing a manuscript for publication in such format it deems most appropriate. Tenderers are invited to provide input and suggestions as part of their tender into recommended format and/or potential contribution towards the production and publication of the manuscript.

Selection:

The format for tenders and selection criteria are provided in the tender documentation found in the link below. Tenders will be evaluated in accordance with the criteria set out in the documentation. The highest scoring tenders may be invited to an interview to clarify elements of a written tender.

Timings in relation to this ITT can be found in the ITT documentation at the link below.