Progressive Employment Research Intern, Scholarly Writing

General Summary:

The Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at the University of Massachusetts Boston and partners at the Disability Policy Consortium are looking for members of the disability community to work in a paid research internship as part of a research team studying employment for people with disabilities. The goal of the project is to study the Progressive Employment model, an emerging evidence-based practice that helps job seekers with disabilities to obtain competitive integrated employment. The ICI has a five-year research grant to explore the impact of the Progressive Employment model.

Progressive Employment (PE) is a dual-customer service delivery model that uses work-based learning strategies (activities in real workplaces) to introduce job seekers to businesses to meet their collective needs. Progressive Employment rapidly engages job seekers in work settings to aid informed choice as they develop their career goals. The underlying premise is that “everyone is ready for something.” This model, developed in 2009 by the Vermont Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, offers businesses a variety of options for meeting, interacting with, and trying out a new pool of potential job applicants.

The Research Internship is designed to provide hands-on experience in qualitative research and scholarly dissemination. The primary goal of the internship is to enhance interns’ skills in qualitative research methods and processes while supporting the development and submission of a manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal. Interns will work closely with research staff and contribute to various stages of the research process, depending on project needs, internship timing, and the availability of research activities.

Examples of Duties:

ICI and partners will provide learning opportunities for interns to gain experience with:

• Working on federally-funded research grants
• Qualitative research methods and analysis.
• Developing skills in literature review, data synthesis, and academic writing.
• Increasing understanding of the research publication process.
• Contributed to the preparation and submission of a manuscript for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

Interns will:

• Assist with outreach and communication efforts to research participants.
• Support the planning and implementation of qualitative research activities.
• Conduct qualitative data collection activities, such as interviews or focus groups, community conversations as appropriate.
• Participate in qualitative data coding, analysis, and interpretation.
• Conduct literature reviews and desk reviews to inform research objectives and manuscript development.
• Summarize and synthesize research findings from academic and gray literature sources.
• Contribute to the drafting, editing, and revision of sections of research manuscripts, reports, and related dissemination products.
• Collaborate with research team members and attend project meetings as appropriate.
• Maintain human subjects certification (CITI) and follow ethical principles in conducting interviews, focus groups and observations.

Note: Specific responsibilities may vary based on the timing of the internship, project phase, and the availability of research activities.

Qualifications:

• Identify as a person with lived experience of any type of disability
• Strong knowledge of and experience in using a computer. Including using: email, online calendars, the Zoom video conference platform, search engines to gather information, Microsoft applications such as Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Teams.
• Willingness to develop new skills. Skills may include, learning new computer applications, co-facilitating meetings, writing in plain language, doing accessibility checks, creating alt tags, etc.
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills, with the ability to review, interpret, and synthesize information from multiple sources.
• Willingness to learn about the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, the Rehabilitation Act and other federal legislation impacting individuals with disabilities
• Strong interest in contributing to scholarly research and gaining experience with the process of preparing and submitting manuscripts to peer-reviewed journals.

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with Microsoft Office applications, including Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
• Interest in learning qualitative research methods, data analysis techniques, and research software such as Atlas.ti.
• Interest in conducting literature reviews and synthesizing findings from published research.
• Interest in academic writing, knowledge translation, and research dissemination activities.

Graduate students, or undergraduate students with a demonstrated interest in research and scholarly writing, are strongly encouraged to apply. This position is particularly well suited for individuals seeking to develop a scholarly presence and gain experience contributing to peer-reviewed research publications.

Supervision:

Interns will be supervised by ICI staff and will also have access to a mentor from the Disability Policy Consortium on this project. We do not provide job coaches or support people. You can bring your own support person or job coach if you need one.

Tell us if you have any other accommodation needs. Let us know if you need anything to make the internship more accessible. We will provide accommodations, such as assistive technology or sign language interpreters.

Other Information:

The ICI is hiring up to two intern positions. Each intern will be paid to work for up to 400 hours during a one-year period (e.g., 10-week full time paid internships @ 40 hours/week; or 20-week part-time paid internship @ 20 hours/week, etc.). The hourly rate is commensurate with experience. Hiring range $25.00 – 31.00/hour.

ICI will provide the interns with a laptop and necessary software to use for work on this project. Remote candidates are required to have access to high-speed internet and a quiet work environment.

UMass Boston requires background checks for all employees. The background checks will be conducted upon hire.

We will provide disability related accommodations in the interview process. Let us know if you will need an accommodation for the interview.

Application Instructions:

Please apply online with your resume, cover letter and list of three references.

This is a non-union exempt position.

UMass Boston expects to pay within an approximate range between $25.00 hr and $31.00 hr for this position.

The specific pay for this position will be determined by the University based on the consideration of all relevant factors when and if it decides to extend an offer of employment.

All official salary offers must be approved by Human Resources.

UMass Boston is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, we will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations for the hiring process. If reasonable accommodation is needed, please contact HR@umb.edu or 617-287-5150.

Applications close: 10 Oct 2026 Eastern Daylight Time

Organization

Working at University of Massachusetts Boston

The University of Massachusetts Boston is nationally recognized as a model of excellence for urban public universities. The scenic waterfront campus is located next to the John F. Kennedy Library, with easy access to downtown Boston.

The second-largest campus in the UMass system, UMass Boston combines a small-college experience with the vast resources of a major research university. With a 16:1 student-to-faculty ratio, students easily interact with professors because most teaching occurs in small class sizes. Ninety-three percent of full-time faculty hold the highest degree in their fields.

UMass Boston’s academic excellence is reflected by a growing student body of nearly 16,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The university’s eight colleges offer more than 100 undergraduate programs and 50 graduate programs. The University Honors Program serves 300 students who thrive on intellectual challenge. Enriched courses probe more deeply into theory or venture further into application.

UMass Boston’s diverse student body provides a global context for student learning, and its location in a major U.S. city provides connections to employers in industries such as finance, health care, technology, service, and education, offering students opportunities to gain valuable in-school experience via internships, clinicals, and other career-related placements.

More than 100 student organizations — including clubs, literary magazines, newspaper, radio station, art gallery, and 16 NCAA Division III sports teams — offer a rich campus life. Students live throughout Greater Boston and in apartment communities just steps from the campus, and enjoy the rich amenities, cultural attractions, and educational opportunities that make the city the biggest and best college town in the nation.