Paid 8 Month Graduate Internship Opportunity with Ecotrust Lab @ RADIUS

The Ecotrust Lab @ RADIUS is working with community to design, test and launch new approaches to sustainable urban economic development. Based in Vancouver’s inner city, our goals are to improve economic outcomes for inner city residents and to build the community’s capacity to advance future innovations.

Through close collaboration with inner city partner organizations and focused on helping the City of Vancouver advance key community economic development goals, your role will be to help research, test and advance high potential innovations for the inner city and its residents.

The Lab is an initiative of Ecotrust Canada with RADIUS SFU.

You must be currently enrolled in a Canadian graduate studies program to apply for this position. No exceptions, sorry!

Applications are due by July 26^th – details below.

The Opportunity

We are looking for three pro-active, dynamic, curious and driven graduate students to join our team for eight months beginning in September 2015. In our inaugural year, the Lab will work with three core community partners on three distinct projects with cross-cutting themes.

Each Team Member will have a key stakeholder (client) and a set of objectives and deliverables. You will receive orientation and training in design thinking, community economic development, social innovation, business model development, and developmental evaluation. You will be primarily responsible for determining appropriate methodologies for your work and project management, with close mentorship and support from the Lab manager and a faculty member connected to the RADIUS Social Innovation Lab and Venture Incubator at Simon Fraser University. You will be accountable to the Lab Manager, as well as your community client.

How to Apply

Please thoroughly read all positions descriptions and apply to only one position. Apply by sending a CV and cover letter to kiri@ecotrust.ca by midnight, Sunday July 26^th, 2015. Identify which position you are applying for in the subject of the email.

Please address the following questions in your cover letter:

1. Why are you interested in a Team Member role with Ecotrust Lab @ RADIUS? (max 200 words)
2. Briefly summarize what makes you a good candidate for this position. (max 300 words)
3. What first steps would you take to initiate the project proposed in the position description? (max 300 words)

Interviews will be conducted Wednesday July 29^th and Thursday July 30^th.

The Fine Print

• You must be currently enrolled in a Canadian graduate studies program. Master’s, PhD, and Postdoctoral candidates may apply. This opportunity is ideal for students who are mainly finished coursework and are in the internship or thesis stage of their degree program.
• We are open to applicants from diverse backgrounds, but preference will be given to candidates with interdisciplinary professional and academic experience in, for example, design, business, community economic development, social innovation, economics, social or political science.
• Experience working with marginalized or vulnerable populations a plus.
• Funding for this position is provided by Mitacs Canada. Stipends are provided as fixed rate scholarship grants for current graduate students at Canadian universities (no exceptions, sorry!). This is not an employee position.

A Little More About You

You know there is something wrong with our current social and economic systems. You feel a deep sense of purpose in creating positive social change.

You’re part art and part science: you tap into your creativity and don’t shy away from voicing your most off-the-wall ideas. Meanwhile, you delight in observation, pattern identification and meaning-making. You’re willing to listen longer than feels comfortable and you are systematic in testing your hypotheses.

You’re motivated by challenge, love autonomy in your workplace and are self-starting. You value transparency, integrity and generosity and are jazzed on the idea of working on real problems and the real people affected by them.

Does this sound like you? Apply now!