Inspire Vancouver Research Intern

Required:

• This internship is targeted towards college students enrolled in data science, social sciences, statistics, public policy, or other related programs who are looking to gain field experience working closely with groups of people collecting quantitative and qualitative data. This is a data-heavy internship.

• Conducting surveys and/or gathering community input
• Creating reports from survey or research data (academic, professional, or volunteer experience all count)
• Strong written communication skills
• Interest in arts, culture, heritage, and/or science nonprofit organizations
• Comfort with common survey, spreadsheet, and presentation tools

Preferred

• Experience engaging diverse or historically underserved communities
• Bilingual skills (Spanish, Russian, Chuukese, Vietnamese, and other languages spoken in Vancouver are a plus)
• Familiarity with data visualization tools or qualitive and quantitative research methods
• Experience with community-based, participatory, or arts-based research

Survey Design & Strategy

• Develop a survey and data collection strategy that reaches across Vancouver’s diverse communities, including residents, grantee organizations, and individual artists, historians, scientists, and cultural leaders.
• Design survey instruments that are culturally responsive: accessible, welcoming, and inclusive of different languages, traditions, and lived experiences.
• Use creative approaches to gathering input. Think beyond standard online forms such as in-person engagement at cultural events, partnership-based outreach, participatory or arts-based methods, plain-language and multilingual options.

Data Collection & Community Engagement

• Pilot and refine survey tools with support and guidance from the Inspire Vancouver team.
• Engage community members, grantees, and cultural practitioners in ways that build trust and encourage participation.
• Ensure data collection follows ethical and privacy best practices.
• Track participation and outreach efforts across different communities.

Analysis and Reporting

• Clean, organize, and analyze survey data.
• Create accessible reports and visual summaries that tell the story of the program’s impact.
• Help prepare materials for public audiences, the Culture, Arts, and Heritage Commission, and Vancouver City Council.
• Present findings to Inspire Vancouver staff and, as opportunities arise, to the Commission and City Council.

By the end of this internship, you will be able to:

• Design culturally responsive research instruments – identify and apply methods for engaging historically underserved communities in civic and cultural research, including creative and participatory approaches.
• Conduct ethical community-based data collection – plan and execute a real-world survey project with multiple audiences, managing outreach, consent, privacy, and community relationships.
• Analyze and interpret real data – analyze survey responses, identify patterns and insights, and translate numbers into meaningful findings.
• Communicate data for public impact – produce clear written and visual reports tailored to community audiences, elected officials, and other stakeholders.
• Present to decision-makers – practice briefing city staff, commission members, and elected officials on your findings.
• Deepen knowledge of the arts, culture, heritage, and science sector – gain working knowledge of how a public cultural access program funds and supports local nonprofits, and how measurement supports public funding decisions.