Internship opportunities in our lab
Internship opportunities in our lab
This page is mainly for BDes, MDes and BTech students who are interested to do an internship project in our Interaction Design for Indian Needs Lab (though if you are from another discipline, we could consider you based on your special superpowers).
We offer internship projects of different types. There are four variables to consider: whether you are an IITB student or a non-IITB student, duration of your internship, paid or unpaid internship, and online or in-person internship. Please note that the internship opportunities are only for those who are currently full-time students. I do not offer "internships" to those who have finished their student status. I believe it is not fair to be asked to work as an "intern" even after completing one’s studies. However, I am happy to work "collaborate" with you on a research project, and particularly so if you want to do a PhD. Please read my note for PhD students before you reach out.
The summer internship usually starts around May 15 and ends by about July 10 (but there might be some variability in the dates in specific projects). Students from outside IITB can also do semester-long internship projects with us. The semester internship timeline depends on the rules of your college / institute. IITB students (including BDes, MDes, BTech and MTech students) can only do summer internships. (Of course, you can always propose an academic semester project, but we need to discuss that separately.)
When we have a budget, we offer paid internship projects. While not a lot of money, a paid internship provides you a small stipend which covers your expenses related to IITB fees (see below) and some living expenses on campus. We also offer some unpaid internship projects. While academically equivalent to a paid internship, the difference is that we don’t have a budget to pay you a stipend.
If you are a non-IITB student, please be aware that the process for formal internships in IITB are as follows:
This is the procedure to apply to IITB as intern: http://www.iitb.ac.in/newacadhome/ProcedurefordoingProject.pdf
And here is a form that you need to fill out. You need a signature by your Principal / HoD on it. Also, there are some fees that need to be paid: http://www.iitb.ac.in/newacadhome/ExternalProject.pdf
Once you follow the above, and successfully complete the work related to your internship project, this enables you to get a formal internship completion letter from IIT Bombay.
If your internship needs to be in-person, you will need to arrange for your accommodation in Mumbai. Sometimes hostel accommodation might be available in the IITB campus, but this is at times difficult. One challenge is that I might not have the time to help you with the accommodation. I can put you in touch with someone who could help.
In some cases, we offer online internship projects. These often involve fieldwork in or near your hometown, and / or may involve design / development work that you could do from your hometown. Some internship projects are partly online, i.e. they involve a period of interaction on the IITB campus and a period in or near your hometown. As in all online work, you need to be extra professional to get the best out of such an internship project, and make sure not to slack off.
Open to: Both IITB and non-IITB undergraduate and masters students in design or engineering
Dates: May 10 to July 20, 2026 (10 weeks)
Location: Online, with some sessions in-person in IITB
Stipend: Rs. 15,000 per month
Deadline to apply: April 20, 2026
Apply here: Link
This is an extension of an ongoing research project in the IDIN lab. This project involves an interventional field study examining how a technology-supported group walking intervention can foster social interaction and support walking routines among older adults in India.
You will assist with identifying 3 suitable groups of 4-10 older adults each (in your hometown), onboarding participants, supporting the app-based intervention, coordinating with participants throughout the study, maintaining communication channels, conducting periodic interviews, and documenting participants’ experiences and engagement over the course of the intervention. The role involves close engagement with older adults and is well-suited to students interested in HCI, design research, and community-based fieldwork.
We will provide you initial training to help you get started, and you will continue to receive guidance and support from the research team throughout the project. The internship offers an opportunity to gain hands-on experience in field research, participant engagement, qualitative data collection, and analysis within an active lab environment.
Open to: IITB undergraduate and post-graduate students
Dates: May 15 to July 15, 2026
Location: In-person, IIT Bombay
Stipend: Rs. 15,000 per month
Deadline to apply: April 20, 2026
Apply here: Link
Through this project, we are planning to create a set of well-designed HTML/CSS templates for all IIT Bombay intranet pages for smartphone and desktop versions. The project will involve meeting several stakeholders within IIT Bombay, reviewing various IIT Bombay intranet pages, making a list of page-types and their requirements, and then creating a set of ready-to-consume HTML / CSS templates that all developers within IIT Bombay (e.g. ASC, IRCC, DevComm etc.) can use for their work from June 20, 2026. The last 20 days of the project will involve supporting the developers in ASC and IRCC to use the templates.
We plan to put together a team of 2 or 3 interns with complementary skills who will work together on this project. To work on this project, you should either have a very strong visual design portfolio (typography, web design, visual design), or you should be very strong with web development, and especially with converting intended designs into HTML / CSS templates. You should also be a fantastic team player. You should also have good knowledge of IITB intranet pages.
Open to: IITB undergraduate and post-graduate students
Dates: May 15 to July 15, 2026
Location: In-person, IIT Bombay
Stipend: Rs. 15,000 per month
Deadline to apply: April 20, 2026
Apply here: Link
Imagine that towards the end of a semester an IITB student says, "In the next semester, I would like to attend 2 courses from SoM as additional learning". Another student says, "I am not very attentive early in the morning. So I prefer my courses to be as late as possible. In fact, I would prefer to attend courses that are late in the evening, or even after dinner." A third student says, "I would like to attend courses aligned with my interests in dramatics, film making, AI and climate change."
On the other side, imagine that while offering a course for the next semester, a faculty member says, "I would like to teach this course for two 1.5 hour sessions each week. Both slots should preferably be in the morning half." Another faculty member says, "My course involves fieldwork. I would like my students to be able to come with me to Bharuch for one week sometime after 5 or 6 weeks after the semester begins. Other classes should be a continuous session for 3-hours a week." A third faculty member says, "My course involves lots of experimentation in the lab. We will have a 3-hour-per-week contact hours in the lab, but the students should have an option to spend another 2 hours a week of self-study, either one day before or one day after the lab session."
An AI system understands the credit requirements for each student, their academic performance in the past, the capacity of classrooms and lab (and their maintenance schedule), preferences of students, preferences of faculty members, academic limits set by the Senate, the preferences of the administrators who run the facilities, and the feedback from the previous years. The system then spits out an optimised timetable for everyone. (It can do away with the institute slot system, and any other artificial constraints that we have put on ourselves, but it must stay within the real constraints.)
In this 2-month internship project, you will expand and improve upon the above scenarios, and create a proof-of-concept to demonstrate how the above system could work in the real-life settings of IIT Bombay. You need to have good conceptualisation skills, a keen understanding of how IITB academics works, and the ability to create a working POC with common AI tools.
Open to: Both IITB and non-IITB undergraduate and post-graduate students in design or engineering
Dates: July 2026 to December 2026 (16 weeks)
Location: Online, with some sessions in-person in IITB
Stipend: Rs. 15,000 per month
Deadline to apply: June 10, 2026
Apply here: Link
This project focuses on developing a design concept and research prototype for a photo or voice-based localised food reflection app for any district in India (your hometown will be perfect). The idea is to explore how technology can support people in reflecting on their eating habits through a simple interaction: participants click pictures of the food they eat and receive weekly feedback on their food habits. Over time, this work may evolve into a fuller intervention aimed at supporting healthier eating practices.
The main task of the interns will be to run a study. In this study, you will be the app. The recruited participants will interact with you through WhatsApp. You will contribute to generating design ideas for the app, by understanding user journeys, interaction flows, and ways of presenting food-related feedback in a meaningful and engaging manner. A central part of the project is the design of feedback. That is, thinking through how weekly feedback can encourage awareness and reflection without sounding overly prescriptive or judgmental. The project is well-suited to students interested in interaction design, UX design, HCI, visual communication, and design research.
We will provide initial training to help interns get started, and they will continue to receive guidance and support from the research team throughout the project. The internship offers an opportunity to gain hands-on experience in concept generation, prototype design, feedback design, and research-oriented design practice within an active lab environment.