Throughout autumn 2025, we welcomed eight new interns to the Centre for Forest Protection- four were based at the Forest Research Northern Research Station near Edinburgh, and the other four were based at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London.
During their time with us, the interns gained hands on experience working alongside leading researchers and scientists in world class research institutes on important challenges and opportunities within the forestry sector. They benefited from monthly online catch-ups with each other and the CFP team, where each had the chance to present their research and experiences.
Find out more about our interns and each of the projects they were working on: Meet our 2025/26 Interns!
They also had an invaluable opportunity to visit Wakehurst Botanic Gardens and the Millennium Seed Bank, going behind the scenes in the underground seed store vaults and hearing from some of the researchers who work there!
Read more about this trip: Behind the scenes at the Millennium Seed Bank: A day of discovery for our interns
Over the next eight weeks, we will be spotlighting our interns individually, sharing a series of diaries they have each written about their time with us. If you can’t wait until then, you can find all eight of the diaries below:
Our Internship Programme is hugely beneficial in nurturing some of the next generation of forest scientists – but don’t just take our word for it!
To date, 25 interns have successfully completed the programme, and 71% of our former interns have either continued working in the sector or have undertaken further study.
Hear from some of our former interns:
| “I genuinely wouldn’t be in the role I am today without the direct impact of the CFP internship. I’m now in a job I love, and I’m extremely grateful for what the internship enabled.” | 
Nicola, Spatial Scientist, Forest Research (CFP Intern 2022/23).
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| “My CFP internship helped confirm that I wanted to return to a research environment and gave me the confidence to apply for my PhD.” |  Sian, Cardiff University PhD Student (CFP Intern 2023/24).
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| “My internship at the Centre for Forest Protection was a key step in getting me to where I am now. The support and advice I received from the whole team made a huge difference, especially while I was navigating PhD applications.” |  Joshua, University of Oxford PhD student (CFP Intern 2024/25).
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A huge thank you to each of the projects who hosted an intern (or two!) this year, the opportunities that you have provided will no doubt be invaluable in helping these future scientists to build confidence and careers in forest and plant health research!
We wish all of our interns the best and look forward to seeing them develop successful careers in the sector!
To find out more about our Internship Programme, please visit Centre for Forest Protection Internship Programme and subscribe to our newsletter to hear when applications open for our next cohort of interns.
