Undergraduate traineeships

About our undergraduate traineeships

Bring to life what you're learning in your degree in a real world environment and rub shoulders with some of the greatest scientific minds that our country has to offer!

Here's what you need to know

Undergraduate traineeships provide an opportunity for undergraduate students to immerse themselves in an innovative environment to gain valuable skills and experience that you won't find anywhere else. Students must be required to complete a placement as a compulsory or elective component of their undergraduate tertiary study which may include Honours project supervision.

Traineeship placements are usually for 3-12 months and are available across a range of research and non-research functions. The number of placement opportunities varies each year and is based on projects on offer at the time of inquiry.

What our undergraduate traineeships can offer you

Immersing yourself in CSIRO while completing your study not only provides you with access to our leading researchers and mentors, your placement also provides you with real life experience working in your area of interest while completing a compulsory or elective component of your tertiary study.

Requirements and eligibility

The supervisor would expect to see a record of a satisfactory academic standard. If you are applying from overseas, the supervisor must be assured you have sufficient funds to cover your travel and living costs whilst in Australia. It is recommended that international applicants view the Australian Government website 'Study in Australia'.

To be considered for an undergraduate traineeship:

• You need to be enrolled in an Associate, Bachelor or Honours degree; and
• Your course must include a compulsory or elective student placement which contributes to course credit, including Honours project supervision.

Before you start your placement, you and your university supervisor will be required to sign a three-way student agreement.

How to apply

Undergraduate traineeships are not advertised. To apply for an undergraduate traineeship you will need to identify a CSIRO staff member who is working in an area of interest to you and directly approach them.

Student placements are usually attached to an existing collaborative project with the agreement of the university's Project Supervisor and the CSIRO Project Leader. You can search for people, areas of research or other key terms in our staff directory.

Once you have found a suitable project or CSIRO staff member, you will need to contact them to make enquiries about conducting an undergraduate traineeship with them. Please supply the following information and documentation at time of contact for your application to be considered:

• a current CV
• details of the type of project you want to work on
• details of grades or an academic transcript
• the degree you are enrolled in
• number of years completed
• confirmation the undergraduate traineeship placement is a compulsory requirement of course (or confirmation that you will gain credit in your course if the component is an elective).