PolicyLab Internship Program Enrollment for Spring/Summer 2026 

The PolicyLab Internship Program is now closed for spring/summer 2026. Visit us in August 2026 for the fall/winter open enrollment session announcement.

The School-Based Aggression & Bullying Prevention Team in the Center for Violence Prevention at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is seeking Student Research Assistants for the 2026-2027 academic year (Fall 2026-Spring 2027). This is a volunteer position for students interested in gaining hands-on experience in school-based intervention research and prevention science in applied research settings.

Eligible candidates must:

• Be undergraduate (junior or senior) OR graduate level students in psychology, public health, education, health sciences, or related fields in social/behavioral sciences
• Commit to volunteering approximately 2 days a week (10-16 hours) minimum
  
  • Schedule changes between fall and spring semesters will be accommodated
  • Commitment required for the full academic year (Fall 2026 - Spring 2027)

• Secure own transportation to/from participating schools and the Roberts Center for Pediatric Research (travel costs will be reimbursed per mile).

Job Summary

Student Research Assistants will support ongoing research projects that prevent and intervene with aggression and bullying among elementary-aged students. Participating schools are located in Philadelphia and surrounding areas. This role offers opportunities to engage in school-based data collection, REDCap survey support, and professional development activities, while working closely with a collaborative team of faculty investigators, intervention coaches, and research coordinators and staff.

Student Research Assistant Responsibilities

• Partner with schools and represent the CHOP team and research studies in a professional, respectful manner

• Support recruitment and consent procedures with students, teachers, and other school staff

• Assist with in-school data collection in participating elementary schools

• Administer electronic surveys to students and support survey logistics

• Assist with REDCap survey development and management (e.g., survey set-up, testing)

• Help with data tracking (e.g., completion records), data entry, and quality checks

• Support professional development and training activities for school staff

• Prepare and organize intervention materials, assessment packets, and other research supplies

• Collaborate with a multidisciplinary research team

Successful candidates will: 

• Have a minimum GPA of 3.5
• Have prior school-based and/or research experience (preferred)
• Be a highly reliable team player, with excellent communication and time management skills and a strong work ethic
• Pass a criminal background check, child abuse clearance, FBI fingerprinting, per CHOP’s requirements
• Have up to date immunization records & complete a 2-step PPD tuberculosis skin test

• Reliable transportation required (car or strong familiarity with public transportation to travel to schools)

Please Note: This is an unpaid/volunteer position. Supervisors will work with students to fulfill requirements for internship coursework, if needed.

To apply for this position: 

Email: Camila Polanco - polancoc@chop.edu

Include: 1) Current resume or CV 2) Cover Letter 3) Transcript, unofficial version is acceptable

This position supports data collection and analysis in service of the SPC project. Student will work on a collaborative project team composed of researchers and medical doctors.

The SPC project began as a partnership between PolicyLab and the March of Dimes foundation and is now supported by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The overarching goal of this project is to provide group informational sessions for prenatal people, in the hopes of increasing their touchpoints with healthcare providers and increasing pregnancy outcomes such as satisfaction with prenatal care and knowledge about pregnancy, labor, and the postpartum period. As of May 2026, 17 cohorts of prenatal individuals have completed up to 6 group prenatal sessions with residents and attendings at Penn Medicine’s Family Medicine department, with more cohorts planned or currently in progress. Each cohort completes up to 3 surveys, and is approached to conduct research interviews.

The student will gain firsthand experience in conducting and analyzing qualitative interviews, as well as quantitative healthcare services research techniques working with electronic health record (EHR) data. This is a paid position.

Student’s Responsibilities

Research

• Attend biweekly meetings with the research team, and weekly meetings with assigned supervisor

• Recruit individuals who have completed, or declined to participate in, the SPC program to participate in research interviews

• Conduct and securely store research interviews based on a semi-structured interview guide

• Conduct thematic analysis using Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) software

• Conduct chart review of EHR data to identify key features of the study population

• Clean and analyze quantitative data from the EHR or from the surveys

Project Deliverable

• A report detailing the findings and insights from the qualitative and quantitative data analysis

• Contributions to sections of a manuscript to be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal

Interested candidates should send resume to Anyun Chatterjee (chatterjeea@chop.edu).