My micro-internship at TORCH
TORCH is fortunate to have the support and insights of several micro-interns in week 9 of each term. The interns play an important role in directly supporting our work and bringing new ideas and perceptions to what we do and how we communicate with our audiences.
This is what one of our great interns said after his week at TORCH in 2025.
"I initially applied for the Digital Communications micro-internship at TORCH out of admiration for the organisation's work. As a first-year music student, I am an avid defender of the importance of the arts and the humanities in our society. In an era where the value of humanities is increasingly questioned, it's crucial that research centres like TORCH continue to thrive, and to demonstrate how the humanities can contribute to contemporary issues in our everchanging society.
Over the week, I worked to improve TORCH's website accessibility using the web-based applications of Silktide and Mosaic. This included fixing spelling errors, reformatting dates, resizing images, and fixing broken links. I had never realised how much small details mattered to the smoothness of the user experience. Another task involved summarising and archiving the events of past research projects, such as the Oxford Phenomenology Project, as TORCH prepares to overhaul its website design. We also had the opportunity to shadow team meetings and talk with people in different roles to see the variety of jobs within higher education administration.
My personal favourite task was subtitling TORCH YouTube videos. Particularly, I enjoyed transcribing the Book at Lunchtime series, including a talk by Dr Ammar Azzouz to discuss his book 'Domicide: Architecture, War and the Destruction of Home in Syria'. Another interesting discussion I subtitled was a post-show discussion for Orson Welles' F For Fake, 'that featured Professor Patricia Kingori, Dr JC Niala, and Dr Andrew Gunning. It was a nice experience to learn and reflect on new information, whilst knowing that what I was doing would help the viewing experience of the next user.
Although I am still uncertain about what my future career may look like, exploring the work of research networks, and learning about the administrative work behind conveying this knowledge to the wider public has given me a valuable glimpse into the world of academia."
Many thanks from all the TORCH team for providing such great support during your week with us.
