I’m Ooreoluwa Ayinde, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) product manager, and my summer began with a recommendation.
While I was studying for my MSc in AI and Data Science at the University of Hull, one of my lecturers, Dr Vincent Zakka, told me about the Health Data Science Black Internship Programme.
I was so surprised to see there was a programme like this: a paid internship, run by Health Data Research UK (HDR UK), that places Black students and recent graduates with host organisations across healthcare, academia, government and industry. Each intern works on a real health data project, supported by a mentor, a line manager and training every Friday, and no prior experience or coding is required. It exists because Black talent is still underrepresented in health data science, and it does something practical about that. So I applied.
The whole experience felt like a day at an amusement park, and the application was the queue. It took about three months from form to offer. Once I was through the gates, everything moved quickly. I started on 29 June, just after finishing my master’s, and onboarding took a single day: my laptop arrived, everything was set up, and I was working, mostly remotely with the odd office day.
Then came the main ride. The usual placement is eight weeks, but mine was twelve, which gave me time to see a project through. That project was the landscape review of Trusted Research Environments (TREs), the secure spaces where approved researchers access sensitive data. I helped redesign the survey, adding questions on industry access, AI and machine learning, and then cleaned and organised the responses. From there I moved into product management, acting as the main contact for an external contractor and taking a dashboard of the findings from idea to design stage.
I did not do any of this alone. The DARE UK team trusted me with real work, gave me honest feedback, and treated me as a colleague from day one. With that support behind me, I went to Sheffield in September and co-presented a talk on UK TRE infrastructure at the Research Software Engineering Conference (RSECon26), the highlight of my summer.
Working with the team also taught me more than the technical things I expected to learn. The lessons that will stay with me are the basic ones no course really teaches: writing a clear email, preparing for a meeting, speaking up with confidence, and planning my week around deadlines I set myself. I have never been a planning person, but I am one now.
So, I leave the park with real experience of health data research and product leadership, far more confidence, and a framed certificate as my souvenir. Thank you to HDR UK, to everyone at DARE UK, and to my fellow interns in the Black Internship Programme Class of 2026. If you are thinking about applying, join the queue.
The ride is worth it, and you will find me near the entrance, already looking for the next one.
Applications are now open for the 2027 Health Data Science Black Internship Programme – apply now!
Expand your health data science knowledge and gain the experience you need to kickstart your career in this field.
The internship programme is a super way for aspiring data scientists to gain hands-on experience, carrying out practical projects in the real world. It’s a great way to find out about a rapidly advancing area of science, meet fellow interns, looks superb on a CV – and can open doors to new opportunities.
Click below to learn more about the opportunity and apply.
