Student Engagement

Yes, these opportunities are fully funded. The stipend covers travel expenses to and from your site (if applicable), food, lodging, and other basic necessities for the 10 week duration of the internship or research placement.

All returning Harvard College undergraduates are eligible to apply for the opportunities unless it specifically states a different requirement in the internship description. Preference is given to sophomores and juniors for I-SURGH, but all applications will be evaluated.

You may apply to up to three positions across SURGH, I-SURGH, and Internships.

You do not need to be a GHHP secondary field student to apply. These internships are funded through Harvard Global Health Institute (HGHI) and any returning Harvard undergraduates in good standing may apply.

The Harvard Global Health Institute works in partnership with other centers at Harvard, such as the Center for Public Service and Engaged Scholarship (CPSES) and the Institute of Politics (IOP), to offer some internships. Funding for these co-sponsored internships comes from two institutions at Harvard. There will be a primary and secondary affiliation. The primary institute will be the point of contact during the application and internship onboarding process, and applications for this placement will be processed by that institution. Please refer to the primary institution’s application instructions to ensure you meet all the requirements. The intern selected for a co-sponsored internship will have the benefits and obligations of an intern in both of programs.

You are welcome to apply for internships while you are on leave as long as you are in good standing, are planning to return in the fall and receive Ad Board approval. Here’s a link to more information about the petition process.

Yes, you are still eligible to apply for another placement even if you have received funding in the past. However, you cannot receive funding for the same internship you have done previously, and you cannot receive funding for an internship co-funded with IOP if you have already received funding from the IOP previously.

If you encounter a technical problem in CARAT, please contact HUIT Support at ithelp@harvard.edu or call them at 617-495-7777 for assistance.

The organizations hosting internships try to predict to the best of their ability what project you will be working on before you apply. Please keep in mind, though, that the specifics of a project may change between the time you apply and the time the internship starts in the summer. The information provided is the best that is currently available, so unless the site description specifically states that you may contact the host organization, refrain from doing so. You can direct questions to HGHI_StudentEngagement@harvard.edu. If we are unable to answer the question for you, we are happy to reach out to the host organization for you or connect you with a previous intern. Do NOT submit application materials to the host sites directly. Doing so could jeopardize your application. In order to be considered for an internship funded through HGHI, you must submit the application in CARAT.

Each application is read by a committee that makes the first round of decisions and narrows the pool to the top candidates. Generally there are about 5 finalists for each internship, and you will be notified if you are a finalist or not. If you are a finalist, the host organization will review your application and may contact you for an in-person or phone interview. Each organization has their own internal selection process at this point, which means you may not be called for an interview, even if you are a finalist. Some applicants may also be contacted for interviews with HGHI. We would love to be able to meet everyone, but unfortunately due to the high volume of applications we receive and limited number of staff, it impossible for us to interview all the finalists.

Internships are 10 weeks long. If you are participating in SURGH, the start date will be determined in advance; it will begin in early June and end in mid August. For most other itnernships, you can determine the precise start and end dates in the spring with your host institution. Please note that the stipend will not increase if you elect to do your internship for longer than 10 weeks. Internships should be continuous, so not 5 weeks in June and 5 weeks in August.

If you are participating in the SURGH program, housing is provided in the summer undergraduate research village at Harvard. For most other international internships, housing is not provided unless it states this in the site description. Your host site and staff are available to provide advice, but ultimately you are responsible for finding your own housing.

No, if you are accepted to SURGH, you cannot take summer school courses or be otherwise employed for the duration of the 10-week program.

HGHI and other funding centers at Harvard aim to distribute summer funding across the undergraduate community. Therefore, students who receive HGHI funding may not accept any additional funding for their internship or research project. Students are prohibited from accepting more than one substantial Harvard-funded summer opportunity each summer. Students must disclose if they are receiving Harvard funding for any other projects at any point throughout the summer, the amount of the award, and the dates of the other project as soon as possible. HGHI reserves the right to modify awards accordingly. Failure to promptly report other Harvard-funded summer activities may be reported to the Administrative Board.

All independent funding proposals should be for projects that are a minimum of 8 weeks long. If you would like to apply for independent funding for a volunteer opportunity or independent experiences related to Global Health that is less than 8 weeks long, please email HGHI_StudentEngagement@harvard.edu before submitting an application.

There are rules governing which countries students can travel to with Harvard funding. Here is a link to Harvard’s Global Support Services (GSS) page with the rules, and the country rankings are available here. Funding cannot be provided for “High Risk” countries, and while travel is not prohibited to “Elevated Risk” countries, there are extra precautions that you would need to take before traveling.