Trinity Inclusive Internship Programme

The Inclusive Internship Programme aims to provide students of all years that are registered with the disability service the opportunity to undertake a summer internship within a TCD service or department.

The Inclusive Internship Programme is part of a wider initiative within the Disability Service, the Community Engagement Project, guiding Trinity in its partnership and engagements with disabled people and the broader community.

Through this project we encourage the disabled community here in TCD to immerse themselves in activities associated with student life and graduate attribute formation both within and outside of the Trinity College community.

What's Staying the Same: 
 
The ethos of the Inclusive Internship Programme is going to remain grounded in inclusion and accessibility when it comes to helping disabled students of TCD to access the workplace. 
 
The 2026 edition of the Inclusive Internship Programme will also still be run centrally from the Disability Service with a dedicated team, to allow us to continue to give maximum support to disabled students who take part in the programme. 
 
What's Changing:
 
Throughout the past few years of running the Inclusive Internship Programme, we have become increasingly aware that there is a cohort of students who apply to take part in the programme who are inadvertently overlooked. The number of students missing out on such opportunities has only become more evident as the number of applications continues to rise each year, making opportunities even more competitive. The 2026 iteration of the programme aims to rectify this omission as we strive toward creating a more nuanced definition of inclusion within the Inclusive Internship Programme.
 
The students we noticed who were missing out on opportunities were those who had no prior workplace experience, who felt unsure of their career paths and those who had complex accessibility challenges that may not be readily solved by the most commonly implemented reasonable accommodations. Such individuals, we noticed, were struggling to gain accessible workplace experience opportunities that would 1) fully support their disability-related needs and 2) thoroughly prepare them for the workplace before beginning an internship.
 
Our Aims in 2026: 
 
In short, our aim in 2026 is to rectify this gap and to assist those students through a two-part Inclusive Internship Programme. The two aspects of the 2026 IIP are as follows:
 
 1. A two-month, paid workplace readiness programme hosted within the Disability Service
 2. A one-month paid internship opportunity with a TCD department, school or service
 
Who is this new programme for? 
 
The 2026 iteration of the Inclusive Internship Programme is aimed at the following students.
 
Those who:
 
 1. Have no prior workplace experience 
 2. Feel unsure of their chosen career paths 
 3. Have concerns about how their disability-related access needs might impact them in the workplace

One of the key aspects of the Inclusive Internship Programme is to offer a bridge system of support by continuously offering support to both interns and employers alike – before, during and after the internships.

It is our highest hope that by taking part in this programme, the interns will gain valuable employment experience, learn skills, and become increasingly aware of their areas of interest – and have fun!

Click here for expanded information regarding our aims, objectives and the internship structure

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Please reach out to us if you have any questions or queries which you would like us to address. You can contact us via email at dsemploy@tcd.ie.