Internships
Applications for Semester 1, 2025 are now closed
Our team offers multiple internship opportunities per semester, giving students direct experience working to implement sustainability on campus. Interns are responsible for developing a sustainability themed project(s) over the course of a semester or summer term.
Why intern with the Sustainability Team?
- Get real-world work experience on a sustainability project by interning with the Sustainability and Campus Management team.
- Give students a meaningful experience in a professional setting.
- Internships support the implementation and continuous improvement of sustainability-based projects.
- All students receive course credit for their contributions through a University-endorsed subject.
To apply, you must adhere to the following:
- Roles are unpaid and must be completed as part of direct learning through a University of Melbourne internship subject.
- Proof of enrolment is required prior to commencing placement. Internship durations are flexible based on internship subject requirements.
- Interns are expected to attend the office near the Parkville Campus around two days per week during the semester with the flexibility to supplement placement hours remotely.
Work restrictions for student visa holders
- The government has made a change to the work rights attached to student visas.
- As a result, international students can only work up to 48 hours per fortnight.
- Therefore, at present, international students can plan for and work for only 24 hours per week as part of their internship.
Available positions
To apply, please fill in the application form. You will be asked to upload your CV as part of the application to demonstrate your skills. Applications close by 23.59pm Friday 31 January 2025.
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Internship description
During this internship, you will get the opportunity to work alongside experienced professionals in the construction field. And gain hands-on experience in time management, cost estimation, and cost control for construction projects. You will also learn how to use time management software (Microsoft Project) to establish and track project progress. Overall, the internship will provide valuable insights into the practical aspects of cost and time management in the construction industry.
Roles and responsibilities
You will assist the Project Scheduler and Cost Controller in tasks such as:
- Establish and update projects schedule
- Assist in updating project financial forecast
- Collect Project total end cost information
- Assist in data collection and data validation
- Assist in Productivity calculations and analysing the cost information
- Support the Project Scheduler and Cost Controller in cost and schedule management day-to-day activities
Key selection criteria
- Pursuing a degree in civil engineering, construction management, or a related field
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
- Proficiency in software such as Microsoft Excel and familiarity with Microsoft Project
- Ability to work well in a team environment and collaborate effectively with colleagues
- Good communication and interpersonal skills
- Willingness to learn and take initiative in a fast-paced construction environment
- Ability to operate independently to a brief.
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Internship description
As the Electric Vehicles (EV) Strategy Intern, you will work with Campus Management to develop an EV Strategy for the University. You will conduct a desktop analysis and work with key stakeholders to outline recommendations that support the University’s sustainability targets. This internship will provide you with an opportunity to gain practical experience in strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, and policy development within a higher education setting.
Roles and responsibilities
- Conduct a desktop analysis on existing EV strategies from other universities, government bodies, and industry leaders to identify best practices, key challenges, and emerging trends
- Engage with key stakeholders, including Campus Management, Transport Services, and Sustainability Team members, to gather insights and understand operational requirements
- Draft an EV Strategy document that outlines key objectives, guiding principles, implementation pathways, and a proposed timeline
- Identify funding and partnership opportunities that could support EV strategy implementation
- Present key findings and the draft EV Strategy to key stakeholders for feedback and refinement
Key selection criteria
- High level of written and verbal communication skills.
- Excellent time management.
- Great interpersonal skills and ability to work collaboratively with others.
- Ability to operate independently to a brief.
- Computer literacy, including Microsoft Office online.
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Internship description
This internship offers a dual focus: reviewing existing Train Me modules to evaluate and enhance their sustainability relevance, and developing the University of Melbourne’s Sustainability Advocates Program. The intern will propose improvements for embedding sustainability principles in training content and create an action plan for the advocates program, outlining priorities, activities, and goals. They will also help implement the plan, working closely with advocates and stakeholders to drive sustainability initiatives across the University.
Roles and responsibilities
- Sustainability Advocates Program:
- Review and improve the current program.
- Develop an action plan with clear goals, timelines, and outcomes.
- Propose and plan initiatives aligned with the Sustainability Plan 2030.
- Collaborate with stakeholders to ensure alignment with sustainability objectives.
- Organise workshops, develop resources and execute key activities.
- Monitor progress and provide a final report with recommendations for long-term growth.
- Train Me Modules:
- Review and analyse modules for sustainability relevance.
- Identify gaps and collaborate with experts to propose updates.
- Assist in redesigning modules to integrate sustainability principles.
- Prepare a report summarising findings and recommendations.
Key selection criteria
- Strong project management skills, with the ability to plan, prioritize, and execute tasks effectively.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with experience in stakeholder engagement.
- A demonstrated interest in sustainability and knowledge of related topics.
- Experience in event coordination, program planning, or volunteer management.
- Ability to work both independently and collaboratively as part of a team.
- Experience in creating action plans or strategy documents.
- Familiarity with community engagement or advocacy initiatives.
- Creativity and problem-solving skills to design innovative and impactful sustainability projects.
- Sustainability Advocates Program:
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Internship description
The Sustainability Engagement Intern will support the Green Impact Officer to deliver the newly structured Green Impact and Sustainability Volunteering programs to build upon the University’s community of sustainability learners and practitioners which is crucial to achieving the targets in the Sustainability Plan 2030. This role will give a student the opportunity to learn more about sustainability behaviour change and community engagement by applying their management, organisational and communication skills in a professional environment to enhance the impact of these programs.
Roles and responsibilities
- Work with the Engagement and Communication members of the Sustainability Team to deliver the Green Impact program by developing ways to increase recruitment, participation and engagement.
- Conduct a review of the new toolkit and meet with current and prospective staff teams.
- Conduct preliminary audits of the staff team’s areas of influence and consult with them to implement tailored sustainability actions.
- Help to develop educational materials and deliver training sessions for the Sustainability Volunteer program.
- Assist with the selection, rostering and recognition of volunteers.
- Review and update sustainable event resources.
- Provide assistance, when required, with the administration of meetings and publishing of communication materials.
- Provide ad-hoc support to the Green Impact Officer with events and programs overseen by the Sustainability Team.
Key selection criteria
- Currently studying a tertiary qualification that has a particular focus on sustainability-related issues,
- Experience in a volunteer role in any area.
- Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, including the ability to produce high-quality written reports.
- Excellent time management and organisational abilities.
- Great interpersonal skills and ability to work collaboratively with others.
- Ability to operate independently and perform tasks with sound judgement, using critical thinking to solve problems.
- A high degree of computer literacy, including being able to use Microsoft 365 online.
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Internship description
This internship offers an exciting opportunity to support the University of Melbourne’s sustainability goals by designing a public-facing sustainability dashboard. The role involves visualising key metrics and data to communicate the University’s progress on initiatives such as carbon reduction, waste management, and sustainability engagement. The intern will collaborate with various stakeholders to gather accurate information, ensuring the dashboard reflects the University’s achievements and aligns with the Sustainability Plan 2030.
Roles and responsibilities
- Design and develop a visually engaging and user-friendly public-facing sustainability dashboard.
- Gather and synthesise information from key stakeholders, including the Sustainability team, researchers, and operational staff.
- Translate complex sustainability metrics into clear and accessible data visualisations.
- Ensure the dashboard showcases progress on key sustainability targets, such as emissions reductions, waste diversion, and engagement metrics.
- Collaborate with technical teams to ensure the dashboard integrates with the University’s website and other digital platforms.
- Ensure the dashboard complies with branding and accessibility standards.
- Test and refine the dashboard based on stakeholder and user feedback.
- Provide documentation and guidance to support future updates and maintenance of the dashboard.
Key selection criteria
- Experience in data visualisation and proficiency with tools like Power BI, or similar platforms.
- Graphic design skills and familiarity with design tools such as Adobe Illustrator or Canva.
- Analytical skills and the ability to translate data into meaningful visual narratives.
- Excellent communication skills, with the ability to collaborate with diverse stakeholders.Attention to detail and a commitment to delivering high-quality work.
- Experience with web integration of dashboards or data tools.
Additional information
This role provides an opportunity to directly contribute to the University’s transparency and communication of sustainability progress.
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Internship description
This internship provides a unique opportunity to contribute to the University of Melbourne’s sustainability initiatives by designing and enhancing a dedicated "Sustainability in Labs" webpage. The role involves creating a user-friendly and visually engaging platform that showcases key sustainability resources, programs, and best practices for labs across the University. The intern will collaborate with stakeholders to ensure the website aligns with the University's Sustainability Plan 2030 and meets the specific needs of lab users.
Roles and responsibilities
- Work with the Sustainability team to design and develop the "Sustainability in Labs" section on the Sustainable Campus website.
- Create an engaging, accessible, and visually appealing layout for the webpage/hub.
- Collaborate with lab stakeholders to understand their sustainability priorities and translate them into clear and effective web content.
- Organise and present information, such as recycling guides, waste management resources, and sustainability toolkits, in an easy-to-navigate format.
- Ensure the website is compliant with the University’s branding, accessibility, and design guidelines.
- Test website functionality
Key selection criteria
- Ability to write clear, engaging, and well-structured web content.
- Eye for design, or a basic sense of aesthetics for user-friendly and visually appealing web layouts.
- SEO fundamentals or understanding of search engine optimisation practices.
- Attention to detail, ensuring accuracy and quality in web content and functionality
- Ability to work with multiple stakeholders and team collaboration
Additional desirable skills
Completed a subject focused on digital content creation, editing, or related disciplines.
Web accessibility knowledge: Familiarity with basic principles of creating inclusive web content.
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Internship description
The Sustainability Intern (Irrigation) will help the University better understand its irrigation-related infrastructure to increase irrigation efficiencies, thereby addressing the Healthy Water Cycle targets in the Sustainability Plan 2030.
This role will primarily assist in mapping the catchment areas of solenoids that have been recently upgraded to the Hydrawise operating system across our metropolitan campuses.
Roles and responsibilities
- Analyse the existing Burnley irrigation map, and identify areas for improvement.
- Review Metadata standards in collaboration with other Water Intern including those for Plantable Areas.
- Plug data gaps where possible via desktop, especially at Parkville, e.g. bringing in new Plantable Area vector data from the new Student Precinct.
- Design an efficient field survey method to collate any outstanding information that needs to be collected in situ.
- Produce online and printable easy-to-understand catchment maps to assist irrigation system operators in modifying parameters in Hyrdawise.
Key selection criteria
- A moderate level of GIS expertise, preferably with demonstratable experience and familiarity with ArcGIS Pro
- Excellent data analysis skills, preferably including advanced knowledge of Microsoft Excel
- A high degree of computer literacy, including being able to use Microsoft 365 online
- High level of written and verbal communication skills
- Great interpersonal skills and ability to work collaboratively with others
- Ability to operate independently to a brief
- Excellent time management skills
- A basic level of AutoCAD proficiency is desirable
- A keen interest in sustainable design, water-sensitive urban design, GIS or horticulture is desirable
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Internship description
The Water Intern (Data Analyst) will help ensure the University can accurately report its progress towards the Healthy Water Cycle targets in the Sustainability Plan 2030 as well as Tertiary Education Facilities Management Association (TEFMA) Benchmarks.
Roles and responsibilities
- Analyse existing water infrastructure data, and identify deficiencies in database design.
- Finalise Metadata standards for Water Tanks & Water Meters.
- Plug data gaps where possible via desktop.
- Design an efficient field survey method to collate any outstanding information that needs to be collected in situ.
- Conduct a Water Meter Audit at Burnley.
- Produce a completed Water Tank Asset Register- CSV database imported into Konect and API set up to view in ArcGIS.
- Draft Dashboard Layouts & Metrics for the Sustainability Report and TEFMA Benchmarks.
Key selection criteria
- Strong data management and analysis skills, especially using MS Excel. Advanced data analysis or visualization skills or experience is highly desirable (PowerBI, Python/ PostgreSQL/ R or understanding of other coding languages/ data management software).
- Experience using GIS software, preferably with ArcGIS Pro.
- High level of written and verbal communication skills.
- Excellent time management and organization.
- Ability to operate independently and be self-motivated.
- Ability to work within a team.
- Attention to detail.
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Internship description
The Biodiversity Intern will support the Sustainability Coordinator (Biodiversity) in collating, processing, analysing, and visualising data for Metric 3 of the Biodiversity Baseline Data Project, a foundational initiative to achieve the Healthy Ecosystems targets in the University’s Sustainability Plan 2030.
This project involves finalising metadata standards, refining the database, populating missing fields, automating data processes, and analysing baselines to set metric-specific targets for the Healthy Ecosystems Management Plan. Its primary goal is to develop public-facing maps and dashboards of the University’s plant inventory as a learning tool for students and to enhance the transparency of sustainability reporting.
Roles and responsibilities
- Review the 2023 Sustainability Report Case Study for Metric 3.
- Become familiar with the current state of the database.
- Review outputs from 2024 Data Science Student Capstone Project and determine what work can be built upon.
- Finalise draft metadata standards and seek feedback and comment on the draft.
- Identify database updates required to match finalized metadata standards in priority order.
- Complete required updates.
- Analyse data spatially to inform management and planning decisions and actions in the Healthy Ecosystems Action Plans.
- Create custom maps and apps for users to query each campus’ database.
- Create a dashboard to display key metrics and indicators for reporting purposes.
- Conceptualize in a diagram how the database is set up and updated.
- Write standard operating procedures for ongoing data management and field data collection.
- Improve the data collection process to maintain database integrity.
- Train relevant data inputters in how the data should be inputted moving forward.
Key selection criteria
- Excellent database management skills, in MS Excel or more sophisticated software.
- Experience with ArcGIS or QGIS.
- Excellent time management.
- Ability to operate independently to a brief.
- A high degree of computer literacy, including being able to use Microsoft 365 online.
- Great interpersonal skills and ability to work collaboratively with others.
- Expertise in ecology, urban biodiversity or horticulture is highly desirable.
- Competency writing and executing scripts in Python is highly desirable.
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Internship description
The University uses iNaturalist and other citizen science apps to collect data on campus fauna and fungi, supporting Metric 7 of the Biodiversity Baseline Data Project. This data guides action planning to protect and enhance biodiversity, aligning with the Healthy Ecosystems targets in the University’s Sustainability Plan 2030.
The University is also developing Faungi Finder, an app that analyses biodiversity data from the Atlas of Living Australia to help landowners better understand local ecosystems.
The Biodiversity Engagement Intern will evaluate past initiatives for Metric 7 data collection to inform ongoing monitoring strategies and future resourcing needs.
Roles and responsibilities
- Analyse and assess past efforts related to Metric 7
- Conduct interviews and engage with key stakeholders to gather insights and recommendations.
- Conduct Literature review to see what other Universities/ Local Governments are doing
- Compile report for Metric 7 to share with ACTS Biodiversity Working Group and Nature Positive Universities Network.
Key selection criteria
- A high degree of computer literacy, including using Microsoft 365 online.
- High level of written and verbal communication skills.
- Great interpersonal skills and ability to work collaboratively with others.
- Ability to operate independently to a brief.
- Excellent time management skills.
- A keen interest in sustainable design, biodiversity, ecology or similar disciplines
What previous interns say
Many of our previous interns have continued working on projects in paid roles at the University, or have found work in their chosen field elsewhere.
Feiya Zhang, Graduate Diploma in Environment
Urban Forest Intern, Semester 2 2023
“A personal highlight for me was the opportunity to work closely and learn from my internship supervisor Rachael Miller and my intern colleague Lilik Andriyani, as well as the broader Sustainability Team – everyone cares a lot about the work they are doing. I credit this internship experience with deepening my interest in biodiversity conservation and my appreciation of the value of the ecosystem services that trees provide. I highly recommend an internship, whether as part of your University course or in addition to your current subjects, as you can learn a lot about the workplace, and your interests, which helps to inform your decisions about your current or future studies and where you’d like to head when you graduate.”
Hariz Ahmad, Master of Environment
Waste Minimisation Intern, Summer Semester 2021
“Coming into the internship at the beginning of the Master of Environment helped me clarify future career path and outlined my strengths and weaknesses as a professional. Working on implementing the System Garden Composting Program was the highlight of my internship as I was able to apply my project management and stakeholder engagement skills while experiencing the reality of introducing a new resource recovery program. I had the opportunity to work on multiple projects within the team and with other departments, which gave me the chance to step outside my comfort zone. I gained so much knowledge and experience in the short time I spent there and created friendships that extended outside of the internship.”
Read what other interns have to say about their experience.