Location: Central London
Internship payment: £6,910.65 plus accommodation, if required
Hours of internship: Full time (36 hours a week, Monday-Friday, typically 9am-5pm) and you’ll have 5 days’ off to use throughout the internship. You’ll be office-based for the duration of the internship, you cannot intern from home
Dates of internship: 11 June to 28 August 2026 (11 weeks and two days)
Ever wondered if a career in intelligence could be right for you? Or is it something you’ve never considered, but could get curious about? Our Summer Intelligence Internship is a great opportunity to spend some time exploring the day-to-day activities of an intelligence team at MI6. Discover how we keep the UK safe. And find out if you could see yourself building a career with us.
Am I Eligible?
You are eligible if you are a British National from a Black, Asian, mixed-heritage or other ethnic minority background and you are also from a socially or economically disadvantaged background* as these groups are currently under-represented in the UK’s Intelligence Services. That’s why we invite university students in their penultimate or final year of study (for the 2025/2026 academic year), who are from these backgrounds, to apply for this internship.
- For more details about the eligibility criteria, visit our Summer Intelligence Internship page.
About Us
We're MI6, also known as the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). Our mission is to protect the security and economic wellbeing of the UK from overseas threats such as regional instability, terrorism, and cyber-attacks. Working across the globe and in close partnership with MI5 and GCHQ, we help the Government to counter these threats through the provision of secret intelligence. An internship at MI6 will be unique and challenging, but you’ll be in a supportive and encouraging environment.
About the Internship
This internship, lasting 11 weeks and 2 days and taking place in the summer of 2026, is an opportunity to find out if a career in intelligence is something you’d like to pursue. As part of a cohort of fellow interns, you’ll gain unique insights into our organisation and lots of support from a dedicated internship manager, mentors and the wider team. It’s a great way to build new skills and develop your abilities, as well as figure out if a career in intelligence is something you want to pursue after your degree. If it is, you’ll have the opportunity to apply for employment with MI6 once the internship is over. Please note, should you choose to apply, you will still need to go through the usual competitive application and selection process to secure a place.
Over the course of the programme, you’ll learn all about MI6 and what we do. You’ll be placed in one of our mission teams where you’ll experience what life as an Intelligence Officer is like. You’ll have the support of your dedicated internship manager for the duration of the internship to ensure you have a varied experience within one of our exciting mission teams. You’ll be introduced to all sorts of operations, whether that be from a data perspective, a requirements perspective, or many others. More importantly, you’ll see the human side of how we operate across the many strands of our work. You’ll also be given the opportunity to see and experience our training via a short residential trip.
If you choose to make an application for employment following the internship, then you’ll need to go through a competitive application and selection process in order to join.
Please note that we’re also running internships at MI5 and GCHQ in the summer of 2026. You can only apply for one internship at the UK’s Intelligence Services, so we’d encourage you to read about all of them and choose the one that’s most aligned with your skills and interests.
- MI5 (Central London): If you’re an enthusiastic problem solver who’s interested in looking after the UK’s security at home, you might want to consider joining us at MI5.
Find out more about MI5’s internship and apply.
- GCHQ (Cheltenham): If you’ve got a passion for data and analysing information to see what it can reveal, GCHQ might be the right agency for you.
Find out more about GCHQ’s internship and apply.
About You
For the 2025/2026 academic year, you’ll need to be in your penultimate or final year of university and a British national from a Black, Asian, mixed-heritage or ethnic minority background, who is also from a socially or economically disadvantaged background**.
You’ll share our values – integrity, respect, creativity, courage and the desire to have a positive impact on the UK. It’s also worth considering what you’re passionate about and whether that aligns with what we do at MI6.
We look for naturally inquisitive people who thrive in a team and bring real enthusiasm. People who enjoy making sense of complex information, have good interpersonal skills, enjoy collaborating with others and who are passionate about contributing to keeping the country safe.
Our operations are hugely varied, which is why increasing diversity in our agencies is needed more than ever before. Having a diverse organisation is vital to ensure we have diverse insights, perspectives, innovative ideas and different skills to keep the country safe. More importantly, a diverse organisation makes for an enjoyable, fulfilling environment. And you could be exactly who we need to help us achieve our mission.
**For more information on the internship eligibility criteria, please visit our Summer Intelligence Internship page.
Internship payment, Expenses and Accommodation
While you’re with us, you will receive £612.33 per week (£6,910.65 for the total internship).
If you need it, we’ll also provide you with free accommodation for the duration of your internship, so you don’t need live nearby to consider applying to us. Travel expenses may also be available, and we’ll discuss this with you during the process.
Time Off and Other Benefits
We’ll give you five paid days off that you can use during the internship. Everyone will need to attend the first two weeks for training, and the final day, so make sure you take note of these dates when applying. While you’re with us, you’ll also have access to organisation-wide events where you can network with people from other teams, learning even more about what we do, and where you could take your career.
Equal Opportunities
At MI6 diversity and inclusion are critical to our mission. To protect the UK, we need a truly diverse organisation that reflects the society we serve. This includes diversity in every sense of the word: those with different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, ways of thinking and those with disabilities or neurodivergent conditions. Find out more about our culture, environment and diversity.
What to Expect
Our application process for the Summer Internship is as follows:
- Initial application form - you’ll be asked to provide some basic personal details and answer eligibility questions.
- Online situational judgement test – you’ll be asked to step into the role of an Intelligence Officer and use your judgement to assess the effectiveness of different responses to realistic scenarios. You don’t need any knowledge of MI6’s policies or procedures—just use your own judgement to identify the most and least effective options.
- Full application form – you’ll be asked to provide your education details and work history and to answer some questions exploring your strengths and skills in relation to the internship.
- Face-to-face interviews and role-play.
Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process in order to progress to the next. Your application may take around 6 to 9 months to process including vetting, so we suggest that you bear this in mind until you have received your final internship offer.
We’re Disability Confident
We are proud to have achieved Leader status within the DWP’s Disability Confident scheme. This is aimed at encouraging employers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people. Being Disability Confident, we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that best meet the minimum criteria for this internship will be offered an interview where practicable; this is known as ‘Offer of an Interview’. To secure an interview for this internship, the minimum criteria (in order of application process) are:
- Online situational judgement test – you’ll be required to reach the set pass mark.
- Full application form – you’ll be asked to provide your education details and any work history and to answer some questions exploring your strengths and skills in relation to the internship. You must meet the minimum pass mark to our application questions at assessment sift.
There’s a wide range of extra support available throughout the recruitment process to enable you to do your best. See our how to apply page for more information on reasonable adjustments we can offer.
Before You Apply
To work or take part in internships at the agencies, you need to be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. Read about our eligibility criteria.
This internship requires the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). It’s something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community undertakes. Find out more about the vetting process.
Please note we have a strict drugs policy. So, once you start your application, you can’t take any recreational drugs and you’ll need to declare your previous drug usage at the relevant stage. Previous drug usage doesn’t make you ineligible to apply and you won’t be penalised for it – but you must be honest.
Remember, these internships are only open to university students in their penultimate or final year of study, who are British nationals from an ethnic minority and socially or economically disadvantaged background. If you aren’t eligible for this internship, we’d encourage you to visit our vacancies page to explore the many other opportunities we have available throughout the year.
Before you apply, we advise you to consider setting up a separate email address for your contact with us, to ensure your personal and application correspondence remain separate. Try to avoid having identifying features in your email address, such as your first and/or surname and date of birth. This is good practice and will help you to manage your application with us more securely.
Please note, you should only launch your application from within the UK. If you are based overseas, you should wait until you visit the UK to launch an application. Applying from outside the UK will impact on our ability to progress your application. You should not discuss your application, other than with your partner or a close family member.
Right to Withdraw Statement:
Please be aware that we have the right to bring forward the closing date for this internship from the original closing date once a certain number of applications have been received. Please be mindful of this and submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.