Submitted by Rachel Gardner on Wed, 08/01/2025 - 09:57
"Being able to spend a summer at Cambridge University working as a Google DeepMind intern has been a great opportunity. I missed out on going to a Russell Group university for my bachelor’s degree – but now I’ve done this, I hope I can go on to great places in the future."
So says Michael Ogunrinde who, in summer 2024 took part in the first Cambridge ‘Research Ready’ scheme. This new internship programme offers an experience of carrying out research in artificial intelligence (AI) to those from backgrounds under-represented in this field.
The internships are supported by Google DeepMind, the Hg Foundation and the Royal Academy of Engineering under the Google DeepMind Research Ready scheme, with additional help from Cambridge college Hughes Hall. The programme aims to help build a stronger, more diverse and inclusive global AI community. Research Ready internships are being offered again in summer 2025 and after his experience last summer, Michael would encourage other undergraduates to apply. The experience was transformative for him, he says.
Like his fellow interns, Michael worked on a project here in the Department of Computer Science and Technology. He was supervised by researchers working on the training of artificially intelligent agents and really valued this, he says, because "in future, I want to create a start-up in robotics, probably in human-robot interaction. So it was great to meet researchers here who are working in that area."
