Science in the Holidays for Young People gives students in secondary education an opportunity to come closer to the reality of scientific and technological research. Ongoing since 1997, around 9000 young people have participated in this initiative of the Agência Ciência Viva, frequenting scientific internships in laboratories around the country.

This kind of activities have been developed in CIES-Iscte since 2003, with the collaboration of several of its researchers. Seeking not only to stimulate the scientific creativity of young people in the fields of Sociology and Political Science, but also the capacity to work as a team in the creation and implementation of research projects of a micro dimension.

In these projects young participants have to opportunity to “do Sociology”, using diverse research methods and techniques and putting their own sociological imagination to the proof in the themes worked on. The direction given by the internship coordinators gives the rigor and seriousness that a work of this nature demands, giving to the students and aspiring sociologists an enriching experience on an academic scientific and personal level.

The internship organized by CIES-Iscte aims to give an initial contact with the quotidian of a sociology research centre, its spaces, protagonists, projects and methodologies. It is pretended that interns will experiment the diverse activities and phases inherent to sociological research, under the orientation of some of the Centre’s researchers.