Cambridge Internship Opportunities – Generative AI and Meeting Goals (HCI and Behavioural Science)

The Microsoft Research Cambridge UK Intentional Meetings workstream is excited to welcome an HCI intern with an interest in Behavioral Science to join our team to explore opportunities around Generative AI and meeting goals, with the aim of improving the intentionality of workplace meetings.  

We are passionate about addressing the challenges of ineffective meetings and unclear meeting goals, and designing systems that can adapt to the diverse goal needs of global organizations. Topics of interest for this internship include the role of Generative AI systems in eliciting and clarifying meeting goals, cultural differences in perceptions of meeting goals and effectiveness, and HCI/design considerations for Generative AI systems that support meeting intentionality.  

This is a Joint Experiences+Devices and MSR (JEM) internship, which means that the intern will be co-mentored by researchers from MSR and a product manager from a Microsoft Teams-related applied science group. This will allow the intern to develop experience in the reality of fitting research to product needs. 

The intern must begin the internship before July 2025, and ideally will start during May 2025. 

We encourage applications from individuals of all genders and nationalities who are excited about this opportunity. We believe in the power of diverse perspectives and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Responsibilities

The actual project to be carried out will be determined in conversation with MSR, the product team, and the intern. The expected output of this internship includes: 

1. A formative survey or experiment exploring key research questions relevant for product teams  

1. Depending on project scope, timing, and intern skillset: lightweight prompt engineering and/or design mock-ups to support meeting goal planning or similar 

1. The opportunity for a publication in proceedings for relevant academic venues (e.g. CHI, CSCW, DIS, IUI, etc.), and,  

1. An internal presentation on relevant findings, design guidelines, and best practices. 

Qualifications

Required Skills and Experience 

• Research experience 

• Experience should be demonstrated through at least one publication (or accepted pre-print) in a major journal or conference.  

• There is a preference for applied research work drawing on the fields of human-computer interaction, behavioral science, organizational psychology, cognitive science, and/or communication. 

• There is a preference for work on remote or hybrid collaboration in videoconferencing. 

• Synthesising research literature. 

• Writing academic publications (use of Overleaf and Zotero a plus). 

• Technology experience 

• Experience with Generative AI systems. 

• Methodological skills (qualitative and/or quantitative):  

• Qualitative: Research through design, interaction analysis, ethnographic observation or interviews, cognitive walkthroughs etc. 

• Quantitative: Survey and behavioural experiment design and analysis (experience in R a plus). 

• Work skills 

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills. 

• Comfort reporting on work progress. 

• Project and personal time management. 

Desirable Skills and Experience 

• Experience with prompt engineering of large language models.  

• Experience creating prototypes, technology probes, or other functional designed artefacts and interactive prototypes. 

• Writing and implementing RESTful web APIs, including tools or user experiences mediated by Generative AI accessed by API. 

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.