Sihyeon Jung is a master student at Health Economics, Policy and Managment at the University of Oslo, and Silvia Antonicelli is a master student at the European Master in Health Economics and Management.
– We have been given the opportunity to present our findings to the decision-makers in different health institutions and gain valuable information in return.
What does a typical workday look like for you?
– A typical workday for us involves collaborating with talented researchers at the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center located at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences. We start with a cup of coffee, some office chatter and then off to our offices where we analyse data gathered by a questionnaire from UngParaFRISK regarding the health of para-athletes.
We received guidance in the beginning; learning the importance of para-sports, the use of new statistical programs and gaining perspectives on data analysis. We are able to work independently now while looking for tendencies in our data and use statistical analysis to create reports in order to present our findings internally and for different organisations. When problems arise we reach out for collaboration with the statisticians and researchers and further our abilities even more.
How has your integration as an intern in the workplace been so far?
– We have both been treated extremely well during our integration as interns. We’ve had lunch together with co-workers, had paralympics viewing parties during breaks and met many wonderful people who are experts in the field of para-sports. Our supervisor and project manager have been extremely supportive and genuinely care about our ideas. They encourage us to contribute and make sure we get the most out of this experience.
What would you say to other students who are considering doing an internship?
– I would definitely recommend going for it! I believe the best way to learn is by stepping out of your comfort zone, says Silvia.
An internship gives you the opportunity to learn and also give back something valuable as well from your own experience and background. It can feel scary at times, but that is often when the most growth happens. Challenging yourself is one of the best ways to learn and gain confidence, both personally and professionally, she says.
What made you choose the Master’s in Health Economics, Policy and Management, and how has the internship influenced your motivation for this field?
– My initial interest with this Master’s program stems from my passion in Economics and a desire to specialise within the field, says Sihyeon. It was appealing to learn about the breadth of knowledge and skills that I would be able to attain in order to try and make a positive impact on such a complicated area of economics as Healthcare.
For Sihyeon it has definitely been satisfying to make use of the knowledge he has gained during the Masters degree and put it into context.
– Helping to work on such a wonderful project such as UngParaFrisk has definitely confirmed my motivation for this field as It has been an enjoyable process of research, and has allowed me to use my skillsets and gain even more from it. The internship has also been enjoyable as we are engaged in extremely meaningful work, with a clear goal in sight of helping young para-athletes, he says.
Which skills from the programme do you find particularly useful in your internship?
The skills Sihyeon has used the most during the internship are definitely the analytical skills that he has learnt through our statistics and applied econometrics classes.
– We are currently engaged in handling a large amount of data gathered from a questionnaire and are attempting to put the different information into perspective, he says. Right now, I am analyzing how different support schemes, such as NAV and Lånekassen, are able to help support the para athletes economically. The R-electives have come in very handy as we have been using the statistical program extensively.
The internship has also been a huge learning experience as well. Learning about data cleanup and coding, using JASP and the research process has been extremely interesting and is definitely furthering my skills set, says Sihyeon.
Do you find that the HEPMA Master’s programme gives you competencies that are in demand in the labour market?
– The knowledge I have gained from the courses at the Master’s Programme has already been extremely useful during the internship, says Sihyeon.
– The classes in Health Care Systems have allowed me to view Healthcare in a different light and have shed an understanding of the unique health systems used across the world. Learning how the Norwegian tax based system works has been useful in analysing data on NAV for example. We have already mentioned how important the statistics classes and R-tutorials have been, and all the technical skills that we have learnt are invaluable and very sought out in the labour market.
How has the internship given you a better understanding of the interaction between professionals, administration and decision-makers in the health services?
– In our case, the interaction of academia and of government based social support services has been most apparent. It was very interesting to see the inter-connectedness of our project, with collaborations from many different institutions.
Both Sihyeon and Silvia find that the research is not only being conducted for academic reasons, but is shared towards many different interested institutions.
– The research being done is an extremely collaborative effort, with people from all kinds of fields helping to further our understanding. Additionally, we have been given the opportunity to present our findings to the decision-makers in different health institutions and gain valuable information in return.