Nutrition Intern

Take your nutrition degree beyond the lecture theatre.

If you’re a second-year undergraduate nutrition student, this 12-month internship offers the chance to apply your knowledge to work that can make a difference to food and dietary health across Northern Ireland.

You’ll join the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in Northern Ireland and gain practical experience across both Science and Surveillance and Dietary Health. From exploring what people eat and buy to seeing how evidence can shape dietary health policy, you’ll develop your skills while contributing to established programmes including Making Food Better, Calorie Wise and Nutrition Standards. The role is based in Belfast with flexible working options and occasional travel within the UK and Republic of Ireland.

The FSA is a non-ministerial department of over 1600 people. We play a critical role in protecting public health and consumers’ wider interests in food across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Our vision is an important one - to drive change, delivering “food you can trust” and working towards a healthier and more sustainable food system.

This is a varied placement where you’ll work with nutrition data and evidence, interpret research findings and help communicate them through reports, presentations, website content and visual materials. You’ll contribute to projects involving nutrition surveillance and work with communications colleagues to make nutrition information clear and accessible.

You’ll also gain experience of working with external stakeholders, contributing to meetings and policy documents, attending training and workshops, and helping deliver nutrition programmes. You'll have opportunities to attend nutrition and dietary health seminars and events, build professional contacts and develop practical experience of delivering work both independently and collaboratively.

This post is a temporary 12-month internship available as a Fixed Term/Loan appointment. The post will commence in June 2027.

Candidates that are already established Civil Servants or from non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) will come to the FSA on a Loan basis and will need to request permission from their Home Department for the Loan prior to applying for this vacancy.

Qualifications:

• You must be a second-year undergraduate nutrition student. Examples of degrees that will be accepted include Human Nutrition, Food and Nutrition, Food Science and Nutrition, Food Quality Safety and Nutrition.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Full details of the selection process can be found in the attached candidate pack.

Application and shortlisting

You will be asked to provide personal details (not seen by the Panel) and to confirm your eligibility to apply for the role.

Technical: You will be asked a question to confirm that you meet the Technical requirements of the role.

• You must be a second-year undergraduate nutrition student.

Examples of degrees that will be accepted include Human Nutrition, Food and Nutrition, Food Science and Nutrition, Food Quality Safety and Nutrition.

If you cannot answer yes to this question – you will not be able to proceed further with your application.

You will then be asked to complete an application which will be used to assess you against the following essential criteria.

Essential criteria

Technical

• You must be a second-year undergraduate nutrition student.

Examples of degrees that will be accepted include Human Nutrition, Food and Nutrition, Food Science and Nutrition, Food Quality Safety and Nutrition.

Experience

• Experience using appropriate methods of communication when working with peers and/or colleagues to deliver key messages - utilising both written and verbal methods. (Lead criteria)
• Experience working both independently and as part of a team to deliver a project or piece of work.
• Experience of analysing a range of information from different sources to make informed decisions.
• Experience of delivering a project or assignment on time and to a high standard.

Lead Criteria: An initial sift will take place on the Technical requirement and then the Experience lead criteria.

In the event that we receive a large number of applications, the minimum pass mark for the Lead Criteria may be raised at shortlisting stage. Candidates who apply under the DCS or RIS schemes and meet the minimum requirements will be unaffected by the pass mark raise.

Interview

If successful at shortlisting stage, you will be invited to a final interview in which we will assess you against the following Civil Service Behaviours.

Behaviours

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

Full details of the positive indicators being assessed for each Behaviour can be found in the Candidate Pack.

Expected Timeline

Advert closes: 22 November 2026 (23:55)

Sift: Expected to take place during week commencing 23 November 2026

Final panel interview: Expected to take place during week commencing 7 December 2026

Interviews will be held remotely via MS Teams. (If you do not have the Microsoft Teams application installed on your computer, you can join on the web without installing the application).

Please note that indicated dates may be subject to change.

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to the Food Standards Agency from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare.

Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Reserve List

A reserve list will be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointment may be made.

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

Visa Sponsorship

Please note that the FSA does not offer visa sponsorship and cannot provide advice on visa applications

Regrettably we are unable to refund travel costs if candidates attend an interview/selection stage for the vacancy.

Making a complaint

The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.

If you feel your application has not been treated fairly in accordance with the principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should email the FSA’s Director of People at jo.bushnell@food.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response, you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.