The McCusker Centre for Citizenship partners with more than 500 not-for-profit, community, government and non-government organisations to provide a structured and quality internship program for UWA students.
More than 3,000 students have undertaken internships through the McCusker Centre for Citizenship, with over 312,000 hours contributed to support projects benefitting the community. Feedback on the internship program is overwhelmingly positive, with 97% of past students and supervisors agreeing they would recommend the program to others.
Through an internship with the McCusker Centre for Citizenship, you have the opportunity to:
Engage in real work in a community context
Demonstrate an understanding of professional responsibility and citizenship
Apply and develop valuable and transferable skills for the benefit of the community
Develop a deeper awareness of social issues challenging society
Make connections and create a professional network
Explore your options for ways to apply your knowledge and skills post-degree.
Internships are open to all eligible currently enrolled undergraduate and postgraduate UWA students. Our internships program can be taken as a standalone unit, or as part of the new Minor in Active Citizenship.
You apply to our program as a whole, rather than to a specific role. This enables you to test your knowledge, skills and aptitude for service and tasks you might not otherwise have considered. We match applicants to roles based on interests, skills, experience and the specific requirements of the available roles.
Over the summer and winter internship periods, you also have the opportunity to undertake an internship in a regional town across WA.
You can explore our available opportunities below or read about previous internship roles and student experiences in our booklets:
If you have any questions, please contact the Centre for more information.
Internship Requirements+
Interns are selected on a competitive basis and are matched to suitable roles. Students undertake their internship through enrolment in a UWA McCusker Centre for Citizenship Internship unit. To be considered in the matching process, applicants confirm they understand and agree to the terms and conditions below.
Active Engagement: I will fully engage with the Internships unit, observe assessments and attend all compulsory sessions, including the introductory sessions. I understand that any absence will require Special Consideration.
Course Compatibility: I have verified that I have space for a 6-point elective unit within my course or I will complete the unit as a Micro-credential with the UWA+ Program.
Seminar attendance: I will attend the Introduction to Active Citizenship seminar, the Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Training and Seminar 3, and I will book the session through CAS after my placement is confirmed.
Timely Communication: I commit to promptly responding to communication from the McCusker Centre, typically via student email, phone, or MS Teams.
Program Purpose: I understand that the McCusker Centre Internship Program emphasises service to the community and differs from work experience or Work Integrated Learning. Please review our purpose on the website.
Service Hours: I will complete 100 hours of community service with the appointed organisation, to the best of my abilities.
Competitive Nature: I acknowledge the program's competitive nature and that some applications might not be successful.
Role Acceptance: If offered a role and I decline, I understand I might not receive another offer in this round.
Program requirements are detailed in the Handbook and the Internship Guide for Students. Once enrolled, this guide and LMS are your primary sources of unit information and internship progress.
Eligibility Requirements+
To be eligible for our program, you must:
Be a currently enrolled UWA student
Be of good standing with a Weighted Average Mark (WAM) of 50 or above
Have good interpersonal skills
Have good written and spoken communication skills
Postgraduate/Honours students only
Be eligible via Student Advising Office approval (you will need to request this at the point of application, see application form for details)
How to Apply+
Review your study plan and consider your other commitments to ensure that you can undertake an internship as part of your course.
View the list of internships on offer below. This will give you an idea of the types of roles we have available this round. However, please note your application is for the program, not a specific role.
Submit your application via our webform above. Please answer all questions carefully - it is a good idea to draft and workshop answers first (e.g. in Word), then copy them into the application form. Strong applications will be well written, provide good detail about your skills and experiences, and align closely with the program's ethos of active citizenship.
What Happens Next?+
Our program is competitive; there are always more applications than roles. Your application will be considered for its quality and suitability to available roles. We take into account your CV, answers to application questions, areas of interest and identified skills.
Please check your student email regularly; this is how we will contact you if we have any questions. After the closing date of applications, you will be asked to confirm that you still wish to be considered.
Applicants are then matched to roles based on their interests and skills and the specific requirements of the available roles. When selecting and matching, preferences will usually, but not always, be given to:
• Applications ranked highly;
• Applications that indicate a ‘for credit’ unit option;
• Applicants who have not undertaken an Internship with the centre before; and
• Applicants who are enrolled in the Active Citizenship Minor.
These criteria cannot be strictly observed because the Internships Coordinator needs to consider best suitability to available roles based on the applicant’s course of study, preferences indicated in the application, and other skills identified by the applicant.
By the outcome date (listed in Dates and Deadlines) you will be notified of the outcome of your application. If successfully matched to an internship role, you will receive further instructions about enrolment. If your application is unsuccessful, you are strongly encouraged to try again in a future round.
Many internships incur small incidental costs, like any university unit. These are minimal and, in most cases, less than the cost of text books. For example, you may be required to obtain a Police Clearance, Working with Children Check, or a sector-specific screening check. You will also need to factor in transport costs (i.e. fuel or public transport).
Please refer to the table below for our 2024 dates and deadlines. Use the drop-down menu to see the relevant dates for each round.
Note: Please consult Class Allocation System (CAS) for the schedule of all unit sessions.
Monday 16 October 2023 - Sunday 11 February 2024 (midnight)
Application period
Online
Monday 26 February - Friday 1 March 2024
Compulsory pre-internship seminars
Select on CAS
Monday 26 February - Friday 24 May 2024
Internship Period
Host Organisation
Monday 5 February - Sunday 26 May 2024 (midnight)
Application period
Website
Monday 17 June - Friday 21 June 2024
Compulsory pre-internship seminars
Select on CAS
Monday 17 June – Friday 19 July 2024
Internship Period
Host Organisation
Monday 16 October 2023 - Sunday 30 June 2024 (midnight)
Application Period
Website
Monday 22 July - Friday 26 July 2024
Compulsory pre-internship seminars
Select on CAS
Monday 22 July - Friday 18 October 2024
Internship Period
Host Organisation
Monday 1 July - Sunday 20 October 2024
Application Period
Website
Monday 11 November - Friday 15 November 2024
Compulsory pre-internship seminars
Select on CAS
Monday 11 November - Friday 13 December 2024
Internship Period
Host Organisation
Opportunities
Perth
Marketing and Communications Intern 1
Ability WA — Winter (June - July)
Working with our marketing team, you will be an extra pair of hands during a very busy period. You will be ready to handle any activities that come your way, from organising marketing materials, branding our digital assets or assisting with developing and implementing communications plans.
Working with our marketing team, you will be an extra pair of hands during a very busy period. You will be ready to handle any activities that come your way, from organising marketing materials, branding our digital assets or assisting with developing and implementing communications plans.
Aboriginal Legal Service of WA (ALS WA) — Winter (June - July)
The Aboriginal Legal Service of WA offers a legal service to members of the community. The Legal Intern will assist with this service, particularly in relation to young people in the justice system. The intern will be trained and provided with ongoing support by the team.
Project Intern, Disability Services Project Development
Advocacy WA Inc — Winter (June - July)
The intern will assist in the development, organisation and promotion of local and online educational/training programs focussed on disability. The role will build the capacity of people living with disability in WA to enable them greater choice and control and community inclusion. As projects are co-designed, the intern will be working with people living with disability and Advocacy WA advocates and project staff.
The role will involve working closely with the Ascend Health marketing officer and a marketing agency to deliver the company's social media strategy. This will include reviewing the content plan, providing input on ideas, contacting staff to arrange times to create content, recording content, and accessing social media platforms to schedule finished content. The primary task from this list will be collecting content, so you may need to attend staff training, attend the university where our staff is located, or travel with our therapists to record content.
Auspire - Australia Day Council WA — Winter (June - July)
Auspire is an independent, not for profit association and registered charity operating in the civics and citizenship space. We are part of the ‘national family’ of eight State and Territory Australia Day Councils.
Our role is to encourage people living in Western Australia to feel a sense of belonging and a desire to contribute to create stronger, more inclusive and resilient communities.
Our vision is for Australian to be recognised as a culturally and socially inclusive society where people feel a sense of belonging and desire to participate. One of the ways we do this is through our many awards programs including
the Australian of the Year Awards https://australianoftheyear.org.au/and the Community Citizen of the Year Awards https://www.citizenshipawards.com.au/nominate/.
We require the intern to work with the team to identify innovative marketing ideas to promote nominations to the Auspire awards programs.
Importantly, we will require the intern to identify/research potential nominees, curate information to support a nomination and submit this information into the online award nomination systems.
Denmark Community Resource Centre — Winter (June - July)
The role would be to review all our current communication tools and make recommendations for improvement. The intern will work together with the Centre Manager and some key personnel who are currently dealing with promotion for the Centre. The intern will interact with the community through our social media channels
The intern will be tasked with developing and implementing work to educate the Education and Care Regulatory Unit (ECRU) workforce in the use of systems by way of tutorials. Script, record and produce tutorials for staff inductees on ECRU use of CRM using MS Stream and Vyond. The primary stakeholders that the intern will interact with will be:The Assessment Team Trainer(s), Management Group (Unit), Senior Officers (Unit) and Business Improvement Officers within Department of Communities.
This role would be responsible for providing project support for the Residential Care Reform Project, including monitoring and reporting on activities and performance targets on behalf of the implementation project, undertaking research, and providing operational advice and support on related issues. The residential care service provides therapeutic residential care in a group home environment for children and young people aged less than 18 years who are unable to live with their families for a variety of reasons, usually due to child abuse and/or neglect, and are in the care of the CEO of the Department. The Reform Project is managing the effective implementation of positive change across multiple parts of the service, in multiple locations.
The role would be based within the Department of Communities’ Community Services division in Fremantle and would liaise with key stakeholders across the Department and state.
The Intern will support the Youth Team within the Strategy and Partnerships Division with the development of a new Action Plan for young people in WA aged 10 to 25 years old.
The scope will include analysis of consultation data to inform the development of a findings report and coordination of further consultations with young people. Event coordination, and social media promotions tasks may be involved as well.
Department of Health - North Metropolitan Health Service — Winter (June - July)
Working within the NMHS state-wide centre for complex neurosurgery, the successful intern will be assisting Consultant Neurosurgeon Hari Ramakonar investigate the feasibility of a new non-optical neurosurgery navigation system to enhance safety, precision and efficiency.
Department of Health - South Metropolitan Health Service — Winter (June - July)
The intern will be part of the Digital Health team and will assist to drive a variety of initiatives. The intern will get exposure to the following streams of work and contribute to team outcomes related to:
• Low code app development
• App support
• App enhancement
• Technical documentation
• Data analysis projects
• Data governance workflows
• Project management
• Information Security (Cyber) function
Financial Counsellors Association of WA — Winter (June - July)
The intern will collect data related to the Financial Recovery after Disaster Project. The role will assist with engagement with the sector regarding regional/remote/metro online forums and will develop resources from the Disaster Project.
Multicultural Communities Council of WA — Winter (June - July)
The intern will assist with the following tasks:
Help to design and coordinate events for target groups to increase the profile of MCCWA and deliver key messages (e.g. mental health literacy, reduced stigma, anti-discrimination, early help seeking).
Assist in maintaining websites and utilising social media to develop opportunities for multicultural communities and service promotion.
Work closely with organization’s staff to ensure that the impact of any campaign/event is addressed at the planning stages.
Produce documents and promotional material of a professional standard that comply with branding policy, suitable for external communication to a variety of target audiences.
We encourage inquisitive and team-oriented students to apply for the currently available positions at Path of Hope Foundation. Our primary focus is to break the intergenerational cycle of family violence.
Path of Hope Foundation has a mission to harness the organizational capacity of Rotary and its members. This mobilization aims to support The Salvation Army's services, which provide safety and empowerment to individuals escaping Family and Domestic Violence (FDV). Simultaneously, it creates much-needed awareness within our local communities. With 35,000 Rotary Clubs in 200 countries worldwide, we are addressing one of the most concealed crimes against humanity of our time. We strive to lead the way in fostering global collaboration among corporate, government, not-for-profit, and community leaders.
We are currently seeking three dedicated law and/or International Relations students with a passion for research to join our volunteer team. These students will play an integral role in our century-long journey by mapping legislation and researching other sources related to abolishment of corporal punishment of children worldwide.
Your involvement in shaping our community's future is significant. As a successful applicant, you will collaborate with Path of Hope's volunteer team to undertake innovative and highly important international legislative mapping focused on corporal punishment of children and its impact in relation to Family Violence.
We encourage inquisitive and team-oriented students to apply for the currently available positions at Path of Hope Foundation. Our primary focus is to break the intergenerational cycle of family violence.
Path of Hope Foundation has a mission to harness the organizational capacity of Rotary and its members. This mobilization aims to support The Salvation Army's services, which provide safety and empowerment to individuals escaping Family and Domestic Violence (FDV). Simultaneously, it creates much-needed awareness within our local communities. With 35,000 Rotary Clubs in 200 countries worldwide, we are addressing one of the most concealed crimes against humanity of our time. We strive to lead the way in fostering global collaboration among corporate, government, not-for-profit, and community leaders.
We are currently seeking three dedicated law and/or International Relations students with a passion for research to join our volunteer team. These students will play an integral role in our century-long journey by mapping legislation and researching other sources related to abolishment of corporal punishment of children worldwide.
Your involvement in shaping our community's future is significant. As a successful applicant, you will collaborate with Path of Hope's volunteer team to undertake innovative and highly important international legislative mapping focused on corporal punishment of children and its impact in relation to Family Violence.
We encourage inquisitive and team-oriented students to apply for the currently available positions at Path of Hope Foundation. Our primary focus is to break the intergenerational cycle of family violence.
Path of Hope Foundation has a mission to harness the organizational capacity of Rotary and its members. This mobilization aims to support The Salvation Army's services, which provide safety and empowerment to individuals escaping Family and Domestic Violence (FDV). Simultaneously, it creates much-needed awareness within our local communities. With 35,000 Rotary Clubs in 200 countries worldwide, we are addressing one of the most concealed crimes against humanity of our time. We strive to lead the way in fostering global collaboration among corporate, government, not-for-profit, and community leaders.
We are currently seeking three dedicated law and/or International Relations students with a passion for research to join our volunteer team. These students will play an integral role in our century-long journey by mapping legislation and researching other sources related to abolishment of corporal punishment of children worldwide.
Your involvement in shaping our community's future is significant. As a successful applicant, you will collaborate with Path of Hope's volunteer team to undertake innovative and highly important international legislative mapping focused on corporal punishment of children and its impact in relation to Family Violence.
Identify and collate Bushfire Risk Mitigation areas that are not in the freehold ownership of the Shire of Murray. This will be working with the Ranger and Community Safety department of the Shire, consulting with Shire Officers and DFES.
The intern will work within the Department of Corporate & Community Services, focusing on Communications and Marketing analysis. They will conduct research on current communication tools used within the organisation and preferred methods by community members. This will involve surveying community members to gather insights on preferred communication methods, desired information, and readability levels. The intern will then use this data to develop a communication and marketing plan/strategy tailored to the organisation's size and resources.
They will assist in establishing communication and marketing champions groups and customise the plan for different facilities such as the Shire, Recreation & Aquatic Centre, Library, and Visitor Centre, creating templates for each facility as needed.
Primary Interactions:
Department of Corporate & Community Services
Community members
Communication and marketing champions groups
Staff members at various facilities (Shire, Recreation & Aquatic Centre, Library, Visitor Centre)
The logistics intern will be an essential member of the logistics team. This involves training and allocating our volunteers, organising program transport and pre-program checks (e.g. working with children checks are valid for all volunteers), and liaising with schools.
The grants intern will work closely with the CEO to proactively work to position the organisation to be in a position to apply for grants as and when they come up. The intern will be working on the Theory of Change for each of our programs and refine the outcomes of the programs we currently run. They will also be assisting the CEO with sponsorship proposals.
Marketing and Communications Intern - Social Media Strategy and Design
Zonta House — Winter (June - July)
As a Digital Content Intern specializing in Social Media Strategy and Design, you will play a crucial role in developing and executing a comprehensive 12-month social media content plan for the organisations social media channels (Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn).
This plan is part of the organisations Strategic Plan to further enhance the organisations brand and placement within the Community Services Sector.
This role involves generating engaging content ideas, planning content calendars, and designing social media tiles, including short videos and reels covering various key dates within the year celebrated by the organisation including but not limited to NAIDOC Week, International Women's Day, 16 Days in WA, Sorry Day, Volunteer Week, RU OK Day.
You will collaborate closely with the Communications and Engagement Officer and External Relations Committee to ensure consistency with brand messaging and marketing objectives.
The intern will work alongside our team to help convey Zonta House's mission, values, and impact to various stakeholders.
This role is ideal for students currently pursuing degrees in Communication and Media Studies, Marketing, or Graphic Design, as well as individuals who can showcase relevant experience in these field.
Join us in shaping an engaging and impactful social media presence that resonates with our audience and drives meaningful connections with our brand!