RGP internship and secondment opportunities

Overview

Learn more about internships and secondments with the Regulatory Genome Project.

Duration:
Three to six months

Time commitment:
15-35 hours/week

Format:
Remote (onsite secondments/internships in Cambridge may be considered)

The role

We are always keen to hear from people who are interested in the RGP and who have the skills outlined in the internship details. The RGP team has a rolling application for internships and onboards interns based on the needs of the project at the time. For this reason, there is no set deadline to apply. However, we usually review applications at least once per month and endeavour to respond to everyone that has applied. Those we invite for interview and with whom we confirm there is mutual interest in pursuing an internship, we will hold your details on file to follow up with accordingly. We receive a lot of applications, and unfortunately are not able to offer a high volume of internships. For those not invited to participate in an internship we delete your details after a 3 month period.”

We welcome applications from candidates for the following RGP internship and secondment opportunities:

Regulatory Analysis and Technology

An important part of the RGP is developing regulatory use-cases and applications for the Cambridge Regulatory Genome (CRG). One important work in this stream is that of taxonomies creation. As part of this we are in the process of developing a better understanding of how these use-cases fit into the work of regulators and industry. To support this workstream you will require knowledge of laws and regulations applicable to the financial services industry, as well as knowledge of or a willingness to learn quickly about natural language processing (NLP) techniques applicable to regulatory text.

Regulatory Modelling

The key deliverable of the RGP are the open taxonomies of regulatory obligations that make up the CRG. To produce these, we work with our partner and Cambridge spin-out, RegGenome, to deeply understand the applicable laws and regulations across regulatory domains globally, distil them into jurisdiction-agnostic information structures, and produce annotation guidance and training data to guide third parties as they build machine-learning operations around the CRG. To support this workstream you will require knowledge of laws and regulations applicable to the financial services industry, strong legal research and comparative analysis skills, attention to detail and an ability to deliver consistently on time and against guidelines.

Data Science & AI

The RGP Team is building a roadmap for digital tools that can be used by Regulators worldwide. In this context, the RGP Team will focus on how to use AI-based textual information extractions, embedded in the CRG, to build both research datasets and cases for Regulators. In supporting this workstream, you will look specifically at how to provide those in formats for RGP stakeholders with a particular focus on visualization techniques of large datasets. Experience and/or proven knowledge of use and visualization of data as well as use of AI technologies is important for the role. A background in data science, computer science or detailed knowledge of statistics is a requirement.

Business and Communication

The RGP team engages with existing and potential stakeholders worldwide, from regulators, policy makers and industry. In supporting this workstream, you will work with the RGP Head of External Stakeholder Management to create and execute a strategy for communicating about the RGP to these audiences. Experience of effective business communication to industry and governmental audiences is important.

Are you a researcher interested in how firms automate financial regulatory compliance, or how regulators can support machine-readable and -executable regulation?

Our Regulatory Modelling will place you in the engine room of the Regulatory Genome Project, and involve you hands-on in building the RGP and making it usable for industry and researchers. Our analysts are involved in building Regulatory Genome Project’s global taxonomies of regulation and the seed training datasets that allow users to build machine learning tasks around them.

There is no better place in which to become an expert in comparing financial regulation across jurisdictions, while actually using your knowledge to create real change in the world.
To deliver this programme we are working closely with our partner and University spin-out, RegGenome. Our interns will have the opportunity to observe how RegGenome implements annotation guidance, collects training data, and models data around these. For those wishing to become more involved, RegGenome will have occasional opportunities for paid contract work.

Main responsibilities

What sort of tasks might you be doing?

Build and annotate international libraries of regulatory documents on a domain-by-domain basis, drawing from a large and diverse sample of jurisdictions.
Carry out domain scoping exercises and jurisdictional deep dives to determine appropriate boundaries for each regulatory domain (ie what should and should not be included in it).
Read large volumes of regulatory text (again, from a large and diverse sample of jurisdictions) to identify regulatory obligations applicable internationally and organise these into hierarchical taxonomies.
Act on feedback on draft taxonomies from internal and external subject matter experts, and ensuring that final taxonomies incorporate the feedback received.
Assemble samples of paragraph level regulatory text corresponding to each node in a draft domain taxonomy (seed training data), with an emphasis on selecting diverse but highly relevant content.
Produce new annotated training data using digital annotation tool.
Build, maintain and contribute to annotation guidance and other training materials, as well as sharing lessons learned and good practices with the rest of the team.

Benefits

As an intern you:

will be part of a multi-disciplinary team at Cambridge Judge Business School interacting with regulators, policymakers, and industry alike and gaining practical research experience and insights
will develop greater knowledge of the key challenges currently facing regulators and the global trends in regulatory innovation initiatives being designed to support these organisations
may be offered financial reimbursement for expenses (up to £800/month in case of full-time commitment and £400/month for part-time)
will have access to knowledge sharing sessions with peers and experts
may be invited to contribute to research papers.

The person

You should have most the following qualities, skills, and attributes. You are asked to provide a CV and covering letter demonstrating how your own experience meets these requirements.

Comfortable navigating legal and regulatory texts, with a background in legal or policy analysis, or alternatively solid academic experience of comparative qualitative analysis. Experience gained in compliance jobs or study of financial regulation will be advantageous.
Strong analytical and synthesis skills, as evidenced in either an academic or professional environment.
Experience or proven professional or academic in fintech, financial services regulation and/or regulatory innovation.
Direct experience of working with/for a financial regulator/central bank/relevant authority.
Bachelors, Masters or PhD with a background preferably in law, finance, economics or social sciences.
Driven and committed, demonstrating initiative, self-motivation, and eagerness to familiarise with new concepts.
Excellent time management and planning skills with a commitment to deliver and being held accountable.
Ability to work independently and potentially remotely as well as being part of an interdisciplinary team in a collaborative project.
Experience in conducting desk research, content analysis, data curation, user experience, and stakeholder management.
Strong written and communication skills in English; able to organise ideas logically and effectively, while clearly communicating those that are interesting and important to specific underlying research-related topics.
Able to take on board constructive feedback and implement recommendations.
Statistical skills, including modelling and data analysis.