Internships

The Hamish Leslie Melville Internship

Thanks to the generosity of Mr Hamish Leslie Melville, for the next five years the Department of Coins and Medals is able to offer paid internships to British residents interested in gaining museum-based work-experience. The awards would normally be between £1,000 and £3,000, to cover placements in the department over a period of one to three months.

Between one and three internships will be available in a given year. Successful candidates will gain work-experience on collections-based activity, particularly in areas of display, documentation, education and outreach. The area of activity for each intern will be agreed in advance, and each will be supervised and supported by a specific member of the department's curatorial or administrative staff, as appropriate to the assigned activity.

The internships would be suitable for people looking for museum-based experience before embarking on specialist museum studies courses, or for people with existing museums qualifications looking to gain experience in a particular area of activity. While a pre-existing interest in numismatics may in some cases be advantageous, this would not normally be a requirement, and candidates with a broad range of interests would be welcomed.

The internships can be held at any point in the year, depending on the availability of the successful candidate and the allotted supervisor, but would be for a continuous period of time. Applications can be made at any time, but it may be advantageous for candidates to apply in good time for the following financial year, running April to March.

Candidates should send a letter setting out the reasons for their interest in participating in the internship programme, together with a curriculum vitae and a written statement of reference and support from an appropriate referee. This should be sent directly to the Keeper of Coins and Medals at the British Museum.

Since interns will need to be given security passes to access the department and its collections, they will need to go through the same security checks as the British Museum's employees and contractors: this is likely to take at least one month. However, the interns will not be employees of the British Museum and no other contractual relationship will exist with the Museum.