Progressive Employment Research Intern, Scholarly Writing

University of Massachusetts Boston; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 34,000 - 43,000; Part time

Job summary

University of Massachusetts Boston's Institute for Community Inclusion seeks a Progressive Employment Research Intern, Scholarly Writing. Join a research team studying employment for people with disabilities and help develop manuscripts for peer‑reviewed journals.

The internship offers hands-on qualitative methods training, with duties including literature reviews, data synthesis, interviews, focus groups, and writing sections of reports.

Qualifications

• Identify as a person with lived experience of any disability.
• Experience using email, online calendars, Zoom, search engines, and Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Teams).
• Willingness to develop new skills including accessibility checks and alt tags.
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills with ability to synthesize information.
• Willingness to learn about the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, the Rehabilitation Act and related federal laws affecting individuals with disabilities.
• Interest in scholarly writing and submitting manuscripts to peer‑reviewed journals.

Responsibilities

• Assist with outreach and communication efforts to research participants.
• Support the planning and implementation of qualitative research activities.
• Conduct qualitative data collection such as interviews or focus groups.
• 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 various sources.
• Contribute to drafting, editing, and revision of research manuscripts and reports.
• Collaborate with team members and attend project meetings as appropriate.
• Maintain human subjects certification (CITI) and follow ethical principles in interviews and observations.

Skills

Computer skills

Zoom proficiency

Microsoft Office

Qualitative research

CITI training

Tools

Atlas.ti

Job description

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Progressive Employment Research Intern, Scholarly Writing

Job no: 530189
Position Type: Hourly
Campus: UMass Boston
Department: Institute Community Inclusion
Pay Grade: No Pay Grade
Date opened: 10 Sep 2026 Eastern Daylight Time
Applications close: 10 Oct 2026 Eastern Daylight Time

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:

• 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.

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 [e-mail] or 617-287-5150.

All official salary offers must be approved by Human Resources.

The University of Massachusetts Boston provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, age, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, disability, military status, genetic information, pregnancy or a pregnancy‑related condition, or membership in any other legally protected class. The University of Massachusetts Boston complies with all applicable federal, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the university operates. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment.

UMass Boston does not provide visa sponsorships for non‑academic positions.

The University of Massachusetts Boston is committed to providing a safe and secure environment that is supported by qualified employees for all of its students, faculty and staff to carry out the University's teaching, research and public service missions. As a condition of employment, the University will conduct appropriate background check reviews. For more information, please see the University of Massachusetts Boston campus policy and procedures for employee background reviews.