Internship projects for postdocs and early career researchers

This program is open to postdoctoral and early career researchers with employment at KI, or on a KI stipend, before and during the internship. Career service offers about 30 internship positions (per year) distributed in 2 calls (Spring and Autumn), with a financed salary, at a company or organization within both private and public sector every year.
This program is financially supported by Omställningsmedel, the Committee for Research (KF) at KI, and participating organizations & companies

Next announcement: Autumn 2025

Application opens: September 2025

Internship information webinar: October 2025

Mingle with companies: TBA

Application deadline: October 2025

Internship performed during: Nov 2025-May 2026

For updates: Check this page or follow our newsletter. Stay tuned.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply you need to:

Hold a PhD (at the time of application)
Have a temporary and/or permanent employment at KI, or be on a KI stipend
(during the whole time of the internship)
Get consent from your supervisor and HR responsible

General procedure

In short, the organizations provide us with project proposals and the projects will be announced by KI Career Service. You can apply to up to three projects. The organizations proceed with interviewing the candidates and make a final selection.

KI Career Service announce the selection.

In case we receive more applications than we have spots available (due to funding limitations) priority is given to applicants who have never done an internship with this KI Program.

Doing an internship with the same company/organization again is not allowed!

The participating organizations are co-financing the internship program. There is a possibility for the company to extend the internship, covering the cost of the salary.

Graphical overview of the internship process for postdocs and early career researchers organized by KI Career Service

Application process

Get permission from your supervisor and the HR responsible at your department and fill out the confirmation document (see below, under "documents").
Save the document with your NAME: Firstname-Surname_Confirmation.pdf
Tailor your CV(s) and Cover Letter(s) for the project(s) you want to apply to (max 3). Save them with your NAME: Firstname-Surname_CV_Company.pdf and Firstname-Surname_Cover-Letter_Company.pdf
Upload your documents to the relevant project in the section "Current internship projects":
- Your supervisor confirmation under "... Supervisor Confirmation Letters ..."
- Your CV(s) and Cover Letter(s) under the project you want to apply for
  
  Late application will not be considered, and we advise to apply well in advance.
You can look at or amend your applications afterwards by logging in to the recruitment system.

If you encounter problems, please email career-service@ki.se.

Current internship projects

You can apply to maximum 3 projects.

***Important:
Find the link to upload the Supervisor Confirmation Letter in the list of the projects below

Deadline for application - October 16th!

Note: we will advertise internship projects for both PhD student and Postdoc/Researcher programmes at the same time. Make sure you apply to the right one applicable to you; PhD Students (1 month) or to Postdocs and Researchers (3 months).

You can sort the projects by clicking on the "Internship" column header, so they are grouped by target group.

Also, don't forget to upload your supervisor confirmation in the separate "Internship" in the list below.

There are many projects, so note that you can scroll down! (Change device/browser if it wouldn't be visible)

Very important: Please download the project descriptions you apply (max 3). The offered project descriptions will not be available online after the application deadline! Thus, it will be very important to have the projects saved in case you, as an eligible applicant, get invited for an interview!

Q & A for applicants

Q: Can I apply without a confirmation letter?
A: No. Career service need to know that your supervisor agree on you spending time on the internship project.

Q: My supervisor is away traveling and cannot sign the confirmation letter this week. What should I do?
A: Ask the supervisor to confirm that he/she support your application in an email to career-service@ki.se. Also ask the HR to sign the confirmation letter regarding your contract situation. When supervisor is back you send us the final version, with all signatures.

Q: Can I submit a confirmation letter that is signed electronic?
A: Yes. Information on how to e-sign documents .

Q: I am a postdoc on a contract that ends soon. Am I eligible to apply for the internships?
A: In the confirmation letter there is a question: Can the employment contract be prolonged? Yes/No - You need to check this detail with HR admin at your department. If the answer is yes you can apply to the internship.

Q: I have defended my thesis recently/ earlier this year. Can I apply for these internship projects?
A: Yes, if your supervisor sign the confirmation letter and also thick the box “If selected for an internship, the contract/stipend will be extended”

Q: Should I send my internship application directly to the company?
A: No. You need to apply through the application system and KI Career service check that you are eligible to participate in the internship program.

Q: I am not employed as a postdoc or research associate. Can I apply for the internship project?
A: If you hold a PhD, are employed on a time limited/fixed term contract with KI or on a KI stipend and have a signed confirmation letter you can apply.

Q: I am a postdoc on stipend/fellowship. Can I apply?
A: Yes, if you hold a PhD, have a KI stipend and a signed confirmation letter. If you have fellowship from external source, you need to ask the funder if it is possible to spend time on external collaboration - the internship project. Welcome to contact us and we can look into your situation.

Q: I just submitted my CV(s) and supervisor's confirmation letter, what happens now?
A: Career Service will check your confirmation letter. If you are eligible, the companies will get access to your CV. They have a couple of weeks to read all applications, interview candidates and give us their ranking. We will communicate with you if you are selected and ask if you would like to accept or decline the offer. It might be that you are ranked as top candidate by multiple companies, in which case you get to choose. Once all the internship positions have been assigned, we will inform anyone who did not get selected.

Q: When will the selection be finished?
A: Career service aims that the process should be finalized within four weeks after submission deadline. You will get the information from Career service.

Q: Will my supervisor get reimbursed for all costs, including also INDI?
A: Yes.

Q: How will my supervisor get reimbursed?
A: Your department admin (usually HR staff) fill in the form found on this page and send it to career service.

Q: I did an internship previously. Can I apply again?
A: Yes. If your supervisor agree and sign the confirmation letter. You can not apply to the same company again.

Q: I have found an internship on my own. Can I get reimbursed from KI Career service?
A: No.

Q: I have an internship suggestion for a new company that would be of interest to many researchers. What should I do?
A: You can suggest a company to Career Service and we reach out to them and ask if they are interested in collaborating with KI.

Q: I am a PhD student and want to do an internship. What should I do?
A: There is an internship programme for PhD students, but to be eligible you first need to take the doctoral course “Career skills for scientists”.