International Research Internships

[plasticookies]

Hey,

 

Does anyone have any experience getting international research fellowships? I'm thinking about what to do for my gap year if I don't get in this round. I'm not quite ready to commit to grad school and I would really like to travel and experience other cultures.

 

I know people have done this before, but how do you go about doing it? I know there are a bunch of programs you can apply to in the US, but I'm looking to go elsewhere. I'm thinking my best bet right now is to just contact investigators whose work I am interested in, but does anybody know if investigator generally have money to pay a random international researcher? Do they look favourably on random research students? How do you even present the idea to these investigators (i.e. how do you express your interest in their research AND sneak in the fact that you're from another country)?

 

Hopefully my inquiry is somewhat coherent. Anyone with experience doing something like this, please chime in. I would love to hear about your experience. Thanks!

[superconnected]

I am currently in a research position at an international university, though this one was arranged through my undergraduate school in Canada. (PM me if you want to discuss details of this.)

 

I have a couple questions for you:

I'm a little confused about what you mean by fellowship - could you clarify a bit what kind of thing you are looking for?

Have you done research before? (Specifically do you have the necessary lab/ research skills to be self-directed?)

 

 

As for your questions:

In my experience (and as a massive generalization), PIs are underfunded and not interested in paying new people unless they have a lot of skills already in place to be useful. Even when they do want to hire new people, if you are coming over independent of graduate school there tend to be a lot of bureaucratic hoops to jump through to get working passes - something that probably doesn't appeal very much to the professors who could simply find someone local.

 

As far as the letter is concerned I would open with a bit of an explanation of exactly who you are (i.e. a Canadian student who just finished their BSc..?), as opposed to sneaking in the foreign aspect later on. Also, make it clear that you are very interested in NOT ONLY their research but the country/city/location where you are going. For me this seems to be the biggest concern among the PhDs here: whether I am enjoying the city, like the local food, feel safe, have adjusted to the climate etc.

 

Have you thought about talking to profs who you have worked with before in Canada? The academic community as a whole tends to be very internationally mobile, so chances are they have significant connections at universities in a lot of different countries. I think this is your best bet for landing an international placement. You could even do a little PubMed stalking and see where their old coauthors are working now.