Below is a list of all current opportunities. Those interested in other areas IIHS is engaged with are also encouraged to apply. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis:
Communications – TNUSSP (Tamil Nadu Urban Sanitation Support Programme)
This internship will involve supporting project communications on the TNUSSP and City Wide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS) projects. It includes, but is not limited to assisting in the development of communications calendar and execution of the project communication plan, content development and editing assistance across all communication material. It also includes providing support to all media related activities including building and maintaining all such relationships, documenting and archiving all project communication output. The intern is also expected to proactively support updating and monitoring of social media and other academic profiles.
Candidates must have a Bachelor’s / Master’s in journalism, media, development studies, public policy or any related disciplines. The internship will be based in Chennai.
Practice – TNUSSP (Tamil Nadu Urban Sanitation Support Programme)
This internship is with the Tamil Nadu Urban Sanitation Support Programme (TNUSSP). The candidate will primarily work with the governance team on a range of themes including implementation of governance mechanisms, sanitation planning, water-sanitation policy analysis, etc. The intern is also expected to support other work areas of the Programme as required.
The internship will involve undertaking secondary research (may need to be supported with field visits and/or telephonic interviews) and providing support in data collection and interpretation (including map generation) and developing and updating reports (including writing excerpts and coordinating with team members to collate information from government officers). Additionally, they may need to accompany TNUSSP team members on select field visits to collect and collate information. To know more about TNUSSP, visit: https://muzhusugadharam.co.in/
The ideal candidate will have a background in research, data analysis and be related to the planning/ development sector through either education or experience. They must be familiar with MS-Office and be fairly proficient in English writing and presentation skills. Knowledge of Arc-GIS/ Q-GIS and Tamil language will be an advantage.
Candidates with a bachelor’s or master’s degree (including final year students) in public policy, governance, development studies, urban/ environmental planning and other related fields may apply. The position is available at the earliest. The intern will need to be physically present in Chennai during the internship period.
The intern will work with the Urban Informatics Lab and Geospatial Lab at IIHS and assist with developing methods for high-resolution mapping of population and socio-economic indicators using Bayesian models for spatial data. The applicant is expected to have a strong understanding of probability distributions, statistical modelling, and inference. In particular, a good knowledge of Generalised Linear Models in terms of the theory as well as the practical model fitting workflow is required. Coding experience with R, Python, or a similar programming language is needed. Understanding of Bayesian modelling will be a plus. A strong motivation to learn advanced Bayesian modelling concepts and tools (e.g. Stan, PyMC, R-INLA) in a short span of time will be needed to complete this internship successfully.
Academics & Research (Research Communications)
The intern will support the Research Communications efforts of the team. This includes: Developing and producing content for channels such as social media, newsletters, and the IIHS website; Creating engaging content from academic/research publications for social media and newsletters; Monitoring the IIHS Research Twitter handle on a regular basis, including posting, creating content and monitoring analytics; Drafting content for internal communication requirements; Assisting in programmatic responsibilities including day to day administration, internal coordination, desk research, data mining etc.
Minimum eligibility will be a graduate or post-graduate degree in mass communication/literature. Good content writing skills and familiarity with the use of digital media are a priority.
Position #1:
Intern for Developing Capacity Building Framework
This position is for a project aimed at the planning and implementation of Transit Oriented Development in Bangalore. For this, the intern will collaborate with members of the Urban Practitioners’ Programme at IIHS, assisting in the literature review, stakeholder interviews (in-person and online) and development of training materials such as SOPs and Manuals.
The ideal candidate will have the skills to review and compile research in disciplines of urban planning, public policy or transportation planning. A basic understanding of Bengaluru’s urban development is desirable. Some familiarity with design tools for graphic production and presentation skills will be very useful to have.
Minimum eligibility will be a Bachelor’s degree. Candidates from diverse backgrounds with overlapping interests in transportation planning and urban development are encouraged to apply. The position is available at the earliest. We expect a commitment of at least 3 months and the intern will need to be physically present in Bangalore during this period. Excellent writing skills in English and a working knowledge of Kannada will be an advantage.
Position #2:
Intern for Analysing Governance Structures and Institutional Capacities
This position is for a project aimed at the planning and implementation of Transit Oriented Development in Bangalore. The intern will collaborate with members of the Urban Practitioners’ Programme at IIHS and external experts, assisting in an extensive review of public documents, and rendering support in process mapping and documentation.
The ideal candidate will have the skills to review public documents such as annual reports, circulars, and legislations, summarise results with attention to detail and be willing to do fieldwork (subject to the on-ground pandemic situation). A basic understanding of a metropolitan city’s governance and institutional framework is desirable. Some familiarity with design tools for graphic production and presentation skills will be very useful to have.
Candidates with a Master’s degree in public policy, governance, development studies, urban planning and other related fields may apply. The position is available at the earliest. We expect a commitment of at least 3 months and the intern will need to be physically present in Bangalore during this period. Excellent writing skills in English and a working knowledge of Kannada will be an advantage.
Campus Development (Engineering)
The intern will support the campus development team in: planning the campus activities and tracking the Gantt; data collection for campus activities at site for analysing productivity; rate analysis and market-rate database collection; documentation of MoM’s; preparation of method statement for all activities; QA & QC documentation.
A Bachelor’s / Master’s degree in Civil Engineering with proficiency in Autocad and MS office, and good writing and communications skills, is desirable.
People Function
The Intern will assist in: Scheduling of Institutional training programmes; Co-ordinating the development and delivery of the institution-wide regular induction events for all new staff members; Ensuring that training feedback/ evaluation forms are completed and returned for each training event; Tracking attendance for all training programmes, whether internal or external, and reporting out to the L&D Lead; Creating and maintaining training activity records; Updating the L&D master tracker, ensuring information is accurate and up-to-date, and producing reports as required; Contributing to the identification of L&D needs within the institution; Building and maintaining strong relationships, collaborating with the L&D Lead, instructional designers, other facilitators, and business leaders to deliver learning outcomes and address cross-functional issues.
A Bachelor’s / Master’s degree in HR or related field, with Intermediate Level proficiency on MS Office skills, is essential for this position. Applicants need to have strong communication skills, both written and spoken; and must be well organized, detailed-oriented and good at team working.
Practice & Urban Informatics Lab
The intern will collaborate with members of the Urban Informatics Lab and the Practice team at IIHS, assisting in data extraction, transformation and analysis. The current opening is for a project aimed at understanding recent patterns in real estate and housing in Indian cities.
The ideal candidate will have the skills to collect and synthesise data from multiple public resources with a curiosity to explore and find meaningful patterns for producing comprehensive stories that convey insights to the intended audience. Good coding skills and some exposure to web scraping are expected. A basic understanding of cleaning and analysis of tabular data and data visualisation is desirable. Some familiarity with research in urban planning, public policy or economics will be very useful to have.
Minimum eligibility will be a Bachelor’s degree. Candidates from diverse backgrounds with overlapping interests in data and social sciences are encouraged to apply. The position is available at the earliest. We expect a commitment of at least 3 months from the intern for this project.
Academics & Research (Data Intern)
The intern will contribute to the analysis of NSS (National Sample Survey) /PLFS (Periodic Labour Force Survey) employment and Census data for a project report on employment trends in the state of Rajasthan.
The intern will work closely with academic researchers to perform a variety of tasks including, but not limited to: Assisting with data exploration – creating tables, cross-tabulations and any other data cleaning/analysis work required to generate insights; Creating data visualization (charts, figures, tables) for project reports; Writing clear and concise summaries of the visualization, tables and any related analysis; Reporting to project leads on all of the above-mentioned activities.
An ability to clearly summarize and visualize data is necessary. The ideal intern will have the curiosity and skills to explore data to find meaningful patterns and then to produce clear and concise summaries that convey the insights to intended audiences. Applicants should ideally have a Bachelor’s / Master’s degree in economics, social sciences, public policy, or related fields with 0-2 years of experience. Intermediate to advanced-level proficiency on MS Excel is required, along with a basic working knowledge of Stata and Matlab/R. The work requires strong attention to detail and someone who is flexible, self-motivated, independent and able to manage multiple tasks efficiently.
Geospatial Lab (Data Creation)
The intern will assist in: Data creation and maintenance of GIS data resources; Reviewing GIS data for accuracy; Producing accurate maps and other representations of data; Recording and documenting details of map updates, additions and/or deletions.
A bachelor’s or a master’s in geoinformatics or related fields is essential for this internship. Candidates are expected to have experience in QGIS and spatial data management, with the ability to process and analyse spatial and non-spatial information.
Geospatial Lab (Developer – Mobile GIS and Survey Platform)
The Geospatial Lab (GSL) would like to explore mobile-based GIS, and Visualisation on Android and iOS, to keep up with emerging technologies and to support its open-source initiative in building a mapping platform that is cross-functional and disciplinary in nature. This internship would involve building a system to communicate with a host of services currently under development or deployed internally/externally, keeping in mind the existing tech-stack used in GSL. The intern will assist in Researching different tech-stacks on Android (Phase 1) and/or iOS (Phase 2) that would communicate with existing databases, with deployment on IIHS internal servers as well as Azure Cloud-based deployments; Detailed documentation of the developmental process on GitHub/Read The Docs; Development of a prototype to showcase 3 sets of outputs – Visualization of GIS and Remote Sensing datasets, Custom data collection tools built on ODK-X, GPS-based point/track collector.
A bachelor’s degree in computer science/information science or related fields is essential for this internship. The intern should have proficiency in programming languages (Java and Python), experience in Android/iOS development, experience in UI/UX, and experience in database management and querying languages (MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, etc.) Experience in GIS & Cloud Computing (AWS/Azure/GCP) is desirable but not mandatory.
Practice (RERA)
The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act was introduced in 2016 to regulate the real estate sector, and establish the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) in every state of India. This internship will cover various aspects of implementation of RERA (Real Estate Regulatory Authority). The intern will assist in: Assessing status of real estate regulation in different states, including the functioning of RERAs; Documenting state-level best practices in real estate regulation; assessing RERA websites in terms of accessibility and availability of information; Assessing legal aspects of real estate regulation, including RERA Act and RERA Rules; Project management and operational support as needed, including developing content for the website, maintaining minutes of meetings and other documentation; Assisting on relevant land projects or other related projects at IIHS, if required.
A Bachelor’s / Master’s degree in any discipline, with advanced-level proficiency on MS Excel and MS Powerpoint, is essential for this position. Applicants need to have strong communication skills, both written and spoken; and must be well organized, detail-oriented and possess the ability to take initiative and work independently. The internship is based in Delhi.
Urban Practitioners’ Programme (Jal Jeevan Mission capacity building programmes)
The intern will assist in: Preparing course modules and material; The delivery of training programmes, collecting feedback, follow up, and preparation of completion reports; Preparing forms and formats pertaining to the JJM (Jal Jeevan Mission) capacity building programmes and other related work; Tracking attendance of participants attending the programme; Developing an end-user feedback process on project implementation from participants; The creation and dissemination of knowledge products; Preparing documentation plans with timelines: writing and submitting reports/case studies / and other material.
A Bachelor’s/Master’s degree in Civil/Environmental Engineering, Environment Science, Infrastructure or related field, with Intermediate Level Proficiency on MS Office skills is essential for this position. Applicants need to have strong communication skills, both written and spoken; and must be well organized, detailed-oriented and good at team working.
Campus Development (Architecture)
The Intern will: Support the campus development team in the documentation of ongoing site activities (e.g. Amphitheatre construction, Landscape works, Road finishes, external services, building construction works, etc), including the preparation of architectural drawings, as-built drawings, 3d renderings, sketches, etc; Development of primary and secondary case studies with a focus on sustainable building design and construction processes; Participation in site meetings with different stakeholders of the project and documenting/ minuting the discussions; Assisting in the preparation of teaching-learning material and publications based on ongoing activities at the site.
A Bachelor’s / Master’s degree in Architecture or Urban Design with proficiency in Autocad, SketchUp, Adobe Photoshop, Indesign, MS office, and good writing and communications skills is desirable. The Intern may be required to travel in case there is a need.
Communications & Design
Social Media Intern: The Intern will be involved in monitoring IIHS’ social media handles on an everyday basis. The Intern will also help with social media postings, both from an ideation perspective as well as execution. A proactive attitude to look at other, similar organisations and institutions will be appreciated. Minimum eligibility will be a bachelor’s degree. Content writing skills and familiarity with the use of social media tools are a must. Design experience or a desire to learn design tools will be an added advantage.
Intern for Content Writing: The Intern will help with collating information for institutional newsletters and assist with other content writing requirements including writing for social media posts. The Intern must have an eye for detail and the ability to coordinate with multiple teams. Minimum eligibility will be a bachelor’s degree. Previous experience with writing in any form, across any platform is a must.
Design Intern: The Intern will help with daily graphic design tasks, formatting, page layouts and typesetting. Minimum eligibility will be a bachelor’s degree. The Intern must have a good eye for design, be current in their understanding of design trends and tools, and proactive.
Intern for Website/Wordpress: The Intern will help with updating the existing digital assets including the IIHS website and other microsites. Previous experience with working on WordPress is a must. Understanding of and/or experience with back-end development is an added plus.
Practice Team
The intern will contribute to the collection and analysis of various secondary data sets in the context of ongoing institutional, research, and practice projects. She/ he is expected to perform allotted tasks with internal coordination, including basic admin tasks; attend internal meetings and maintain minutes and other documentation; coordinate calendars for meetings, and other engagements with various stakeholders.
Minimum eligibility will be a bachelor’s degree in architecture/ engineering/ planning with proficiency in MS Office suite and good writing and communication skills. Familiarity with design tools like Photoshop, CorelDraw and Illustrator will be an advantage. Interest and familiarity in the utility infrastructure planning and transport sector domain are essential. Awareness of Data visualizations, analytical frame, and spatial representation is necessary. The Intern shall possess the ability to function under minimal guidance, prioritize work, and perform under a fast-paced and dynamic environment.
The role will provide exposure to analytical thinking, apart from learning to handle and represent spatial data pertaining to strategic initiatives in the infrastructure and transport sector. Travel may be required if there is a need.
Practice Team (Transport)
The intern will assist in conducting secondary research for working papers on urban transport. The intern should have a keen interest in India’s urban transport sector and good research, writing, and visualization skills. Minimum eligibility will be a bachelor’s degree. A degree in transport planning or urban planning will be preferred.
Digital Blended Learning
The intern will: track and document the details of all the workshops and other courses created / run by Digital Blended Learning (DBL); will give operational support in terms of helping with internal coordination and basic admin tasks; attend internal meetings and maintain minutes and other documentation; coordinate calendars for meetings and other engagements with various stakeholders; support with the online program and maintain repositories of content from online courses.
A degree in any discipline with proficiency in MS Office and good writing and communication skills is desirable. The intern may be required to travel if there is a need.
The intern will prototype IoT solutions, based on the sensors and communication protocols: creating a mesh array of sensors, creating the control logic at the sensor level (edge computing) and also gathering data for all systems and utilities; creating a data system, creating and configuring a platform for capturing the interplay of systems and building a control network to manage the systems, utilities and environmental parameters; in addition, setting up and implementing drone technology in the proposed IoT lab.
The intern should have a bachelor’s degree in electronics, IT, computer science or related fields, and should be open to working with her/his hands. Experience of machine learning, AI, IP Networking, Hardware interfacing, Information security, business intelligence, TCP/IP Layer2/3, UDP, NAT, Qos, IPV4, IPV6, VLANs, routing protocols, etc will be preferred.
Academics & Research
Position #1
The intern will collect data – according to a given set of parameters – regarding courses and syllabi related to urban studies from various social sciences, humanities, law and management departments/schools in higher education institutions across the country. This will involve compiling lists of courses and content where such information is readily available online; and/or contacting the faculty and staff in institutions to request information on a department-wise basis. The intern is expected to be familiar with the structure of higher education institutions across India and have a broad understanding of the nature of social science and humanities education. A degree in the social sciences or education and a familiarity with social science research methods is desirable.
Position #2
The intern will map the research market for the IIHS Research Programme. He/she will assist in data mining, collation for analysis and in identifying opportunities in the research market. The intern should be well versed in secondary research.
Legal & Regulation
The intern will assist the Legal & Regulation team at IIHS on tasks such as research and drafting in relation to institutional contracts, legal opinions and compliance matters. The intern will also be responsible for providing legal support and assistance on work related to the land records project in carrying out collection and analysis of relevant laws, policies, regulations and databases/records pertaining to land and its governance and management in study states and locations.
Media Lab
The internship will primarily involve editing interviews, public lectures and other videos that will go up on the IIHS YouTube Channel among other projects that the Media Lab is involved in. A working knowledge of cameras (video cameras/ DSLR) and editing on Final Cut Pro / Adobe Premiere Pro is essential. Working knowledge of Adobe After Effects is optional but encouraged. The intern should have a graduate or post-graduate degree in the area of mass communication / film making. The duration of the internship will be a minimum of one month to a maximum of six months.
Word Lab
The Word Lab anchors the editorial function at IIHS. It produces the Urbanisation journal, manages the Knowledge Gateway, conducts writing workshops, and hosts an annual urban writings festival City Scripts. The intern will be expected to help across all of these diverse activities. The role will enable them to learn how to copy edit content, compile learning and development (L&D) material, engage with the IIHS community to understand ongoing research work, and learn how to manage the programming of City Scripts.
Library (Chennai)
This internship will involve assisting Library operations, mainly user and research services, instruction and outreach, acquisition and technical processing of learning resources being acquired for the Library. Coordinating with the Library team, this position requires a working knowledge of Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC) standard, Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) and exposure to open source or proprietary Library automation systems, preferably Koha Library Management System, though not mandatory. This position will be based in Chennai. The intern will be required to travel to Bangalore for two weeks to train with the IIHS Library team at the Bengaluru City Campus, when the Covid-19 conditions get safe.
Bachelor/Master’s degree in Library and Information Science with 0-2 years work experience will be preferred.
These are paid internships located in Bangalore. Some internships may be available in Delhi.
