CISS Invites Undergraduate Applicants for Summer 2025 Social Science Writing Internship
Call for Applications: 2025 Social Science Summer Writing Internship Program (SWIP)
The Social Science Summer Writing Internship Program (SWIP) will be recruiting five interns for its Summer 2025 cohort! SWIP, which launched in Summer 2024, is a collaboration between the Center for Innovation in Social Science (CISS) and the Writing in the Disciplines program. See here to learn more about our first cohort.
What is SWIP?
SWIP provides summer writing internships to undergraduate students studying social sciences by placing interns at a social science research institute or related department on the BU campus for a nine-week period in the summer. The program provides mentorship, a cohort experience, and hands-on practice and workshops for students with a background in social science. Interns will receive a $2500 stipend.
Program Details and Structure
- SWIP interns will be placed at a social science research institute on the BU campus for the nine-week period of roughly June 2 – August 8, 2025. Interns must be on campus during the internship period, so this is a great opportunity for undergraduate students who are around Boston this summer.
- The intern will work for approximately 15 hours per week and also will attend a 90-minute weekly writing workshop/seminar led by Senior Lecturer Stephen Hodin on Tuesday mornings.
- Each intern will receive a stipend of $2,500.
- Placement sites will include Center for Innovation for Social Science,Center for Forced Displacement, Institute for Global Sustainability, and CAS Communications Office.
- Interns will work closely with their site supervisor, and will carry out tasks including:
- Writing news, feature, and personality profile articles, that describe the research, teaching or outreach activities carried out at their site. The student intern will develop story ideas through their own research and through consultation with their site supervisor.
- Interviewing faculty and students affiliated with their site, and producing short videos or podcasts (to be hosted on the site’s website) that showcase the research, teaching or service activities of the featured personnel.
- Assist with the institute’s website updates, including writing brief news items, summaries of recent research publications, brief statements publicizing events and achievements, and more.
- In consultation with their supervisor and SWIP Instructor Stephen Hodin, the interns will also be encouraged to design and compose a summer writing project based on their own social science research interests.
- Where appropriate, some student interns may transform a course paper or research project into a proposal for UROP funding, a scholarly journal article. or conference presentation.
Eligibility: Summer interns must be rising-juniors or rising-seniors in Summer 2025. Students must be currently enrolled at Boston University. Priority will be given to applicants majoring or minoring in a social sciences or related program in the College of Arts & Sciences.
Application Materials: Applicants must submit: (a) a resume; (b) brief (1 page) cover letter describing their interest in the program. The letter should include the name of one faculty member who could serve as a reference. These documents should be submitted as a single PDF file here. We will not accept applications submitted via email. (c) Please have one faculty member submit a reference letter on your behalf to Shannon Landis (ciss@bu.edu), Center administrator (CISS). The subject line must include the applicant’s name. Finalists will be asked submit a writing sample at a later date. Applications must be uploaded by 5 pm ET on Monday March 10, 2025.
Timeline. Applications and reference letters are due Monday March 10, 2025 by 5 pm ET. Finalists will be notified during the week of March 17 and interviews will be scheduled over two weeks. Offers will be extended in late March.
Questions: See here for more information about SWIP or reach out to CISS director Deborah Carr (carrds@bu.edu) or Writing in the Disciplines director David Shawn (dshawn@bu.edu).
The inaugural Social Science Summer 2024 Writing Internship Program (SWIP) cohort (L–R): Nathaniel Clizbe (CAS’25), Anne Joseph (CAS’25), Rayea Jain (COM’26), Mika Yao (CAS’ 25), Devin Rauscher (CAS’26), with Dr. Stephen Hodin, SWIP coordinator and writing program senior lecturer.