In principle students start their internship in Semester 2 (starting begin February). For the internship 420 hours are allocated. Students are advised to work part-time on their internship.

Students are encouraged to combine their internship with their thesis. If this combination is not possible, students will conduct a separate thesis project.

• observing, describing, and categorising behaviour;
• describing and analysing problems and formulating research questions while taking the social, health and/or organisational context into account;
• translating problems into possible solutions, conceiving solution strategies;
• connecting practice and theory, making contributions to practice based on theory, and uncovering theoretical assumptions and implications;
• developing, implementing, and evaluating change strategies;
• reflecting on professional or scientific practices, linked to scientific literature, in order to discuss these practices from a methodical or content-related perspective;
• reflecting on own actions in ethical terms;
• cooperating with others (e.g. working in a team);
• written and verbal communication to commissioning parties, clients, colleagues, etc.

1. The internship position must be in an organisation (or part of an organisation) whose policies are explicitly aimed at achieving objectives that are typical of the professional field of Social, Health and/or Work and Organisational Psychology.
2. The internship position should be in an environment in which several qualified professionals, including psychologists, are engaged in achieving these objectives. For this reason, one-man enterprises and very small organisations are generally not suitable.
3. The supervision in the internship organisation itself should preferably be given by a qualified Psychologist (Master’s degree in Psychology at a research university). If the supervisor at the internship organisation has a different background, permission from the internal supervisor will be required. The internship work activities are aimed at achieving the objectives mentioned under 1. The intern must actively participate in achieving the objectives. The intern should not simply accompany and observe, but also carry out analyses, come up with proposals, participate in discussions, perform research, etc.
4. Preferably, and if possible, work activities will be carried out that involve direct contact with commissioning parties, clients, colleagues, and so on.
5. The internship work activities should be at an academic level and should be related to Social Psychology, Health Psychology and/or Work & Organisational Psychology (depending on the student’s track). The intern will carry out work as a junior psychologist, and needs to use and apply knowledge (theory and literature) and abilities (skills) that have been acquired during the university programme.
6. A substantial proportion of the work should consist of activities that a psychologist would be expected to perform in the internship organisation. The work activities should also involve the preparation for and reflection on work activities. The intern must be involved in decisions and evaluations concerning work activities. Support tasks may form part of the agreed work tasks, but should never be the main task.
7. The supervision at the internship organisation should cover both personal and work-related aspects.

The internship activities need to be supervised by a professional at the internship organisation, preferably a Social Psychologist, Health Psychologist, or Work and Organisational Psychologist, who is an expert in the relevant field. The supervisor in the organisation gives assistance on a work-related and personal level. The work-related supervision is aimed at helping students to carry out the psychological work activities in a systematic and methodical manner. Examples of this kind of supervision include help with choosing diagnostic methods, interpreting observations, reporting, carrying out interventions, and so on. The personal supervision is aimed at helping students to reflect on their own performance, learning experiences, decision-making processes, and interaction with colleagues, clients, and other parties. It is important that the external supervisor in the organisation is appointed before the start of the internship.

In addition to the supervision in the internship organisation, students receive supervision from the university. The academic supervisor assists with the professional integration of practice and theory, supervises the internship report, and has final responsibility for the assessment of the intern. The academic supervisor maintains contact with the supervisor at the internship organisation and mediates in case of any difficulties between the student and the external internship supervisor / organisation.

Students need to write an internship proposal that safeguards the quality and the planning of theire internship. The proposal needs to be approved by both the academic supervisor and the supervisor from the internship organisation.The proposal must contain a detailed, but concise plan for the internship, including the following elements:

• A brief description of the organisation, the team or department where the internship takes place, and the external supervisor(s) in the organisation (names, function, background, contact information).
• The student’s reasons for choosing this internship, own expectations and specific learning objectives.
• A description of the internship assignment – that is, the question or assignment that the student will be working on during the internship, and the work activities. This description should demonstrate that the internship assignment is feasible and has been carefully thought through. The student also has to describe how he/she will use knowledge (theory and literature) and abilities (skills) acquired during his/her academic education in the fields of Social, Health, and/or Work & Organisational Psychology.
• A time schedule for the internship that takes into account the time needed for the thesis. Please note that the Master’s programme must be completed within one year.

Students should preferably write their internship proposal before November, and before signing the internship contract.

Once the student has been given permission for the internship position and the internship proposal has been approved, then the agreements should be incorporated in an internship contract. For this purpose, the UU – UNL internship contract should be used. This internship contract should be approved and signed by the intern, an authorised person from the internship organisation, the academic supervisor, and an authorised person from the university. If any alterations are made to the UNL internship contract, or if an organisation additionally wishes to use its own contract, this should be discussed with the academic supervisor and track coordinator.

For internships in the Netherlands, students without EU/EER nationality have to sign the Nuffic internship agreement as well, see https://www.nuffic.nl/hoger-onderwijs/netwerken/cospa-netwerk/stageovereenkomst.

Once the UNL internship contract has been signed, students are covered by the Utrecht University liability insurance. This insurance will cover students during their internship in case they are liable for any damage to third parties, under conditions relating to excess, cover, maximum amounts that can be paid out, and so on.

The internship is concluded with a written report, which should include the following:

• The student’s learning objectives and motivation for the internship.
• A description of the organisation and team/department where the internship has been carried out.
• A description of the work activities carried out. Specific attention should be paid to the question of how the student has used knowledge (theory and literature) and abilities (skills) acquired during his/her studies. This involves giving a description of academic theories and models in the fields of Social, Health and/or Work & Organisational Psychology that are relevant to the work activities carried out. Attention should also be paid to evidence-based methods, describing the evidence-based guidelines, instruments, and methods that the student used in his/her internship. The student needs to connect learning experiences to previously acquired knowledge and skills. What elements of your internship surprised the student? What did the student recognise from his/her studies?
• The student’s learning experiences, including the degree to which learning objectives were reached, success and problems in carrying out work activities, cooperation with other disciplines, evidence-based working, feedback received, and areas for attention for work in the future.

The internship report is sent to the academic supervisor and the supervisor in the organisation. The report is, in principal, confidential.

The internship is assessed according to the following criteria:

• Performance of tasks (performance on work tasks, relevant skills, active contribution to achieving the objectives of the organisation)
• Knowledge and insight (understanding of relevant scientific developments in the field of social, health and/or work & organisational psychology, analytic insights for unravelling practical problems, knowledge of relevant evidence-based methods)
• Communication and cooperation (communications with clients, participants, commissioning parties,supervisor, cooperating with colleagues, presenting and reporting, both in writing and verbally)
• Work attitude (how independent, pro-active, creative and problem-solving was the student; was there a process of development, did the student attain his/her planning)
• Professional and academic reflection (reflection on own actions and development, academic reflection on professional and research practice)
• Quality of the internship report (is the report complete, is it well written, has the student reflected sufficiently on his/her own performance).

The academic supervisor is responsible for determining the final grade for the internship. To determine this final grade, the supervisor looks at how the student carried out the internship, his/her reflections, and the quality of the internship report. To assess how the student carried out the internship, the academic supervisor will consult the external supervisor in the organisation. The internship report is assessed only by the academic supervisor.