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About the internship
CERN is the European particle-physics laboratory on the Swiss-French border near Geneva, home to the Large Hadron Collider and to thousands of physicists, engineers and technicians. The Short Term Internship is its short placement route: a one to six month, fully on-site internship in a CERN team, distinct from the longer technical and doctoral student programmes. Departments use it to fill a defined piece of work, which is why selection runs through the year rather than in one annual intake, and why the vacancy, not a generic programme page, is the real application. You state your availability period in the application, and a department that needs someone in that window can take you on. That rolling model is also why the 1 November cutoff matters: it is the last date for 2026 applications, not a rolling date you can safely ignore.
The fields are wider than particle physics alone. Technical fields include applied physics, computing, mathematics, engineering, instrumentation, safety and surveying, and administrative fields include translation, human resources, accounting, legal work, logistics and related support functions. The common requirement is not a physics degree: it is that you are a full-time student on a relevant course, that your university requires or encourages a practical training period, and that you can work in English or French. If your course has no practical-training element at all, check with your university before applying, because the requirement is part of the eligibility rule, not a preference.
Benefits
- CHF 1,593 net a month for a full month, pro-rated for partial months. Older listings quoting CHF 1,587 are superseded: use the current vacancy figure. This is an allowance, not a salary, and it is the figure to budget against for Geneva, which is an expensive city.
- Paid leave for longer placements: contracts of four months or more carry paid leave. Shorter placements do not carry the same leave entitlement, so factor that into a one or two month plan.
- CERN health insurance: interns are covered by CERN comprehensive health insurance, with a contribution deducted from the allowance. Confirm the deduction in your offer, because it changes your net monthly amount.
- On-site experience at a world laboratory: a CERN placement, even a short one, puts real project work and a CERN reference on a CV in a way that a remote placement cannot match. It is also a realistic route to discovering whether a longer CERN programme, or a technical career in large-scale research infrastructure, suits you.
- What is not confirmed: a travel allowance or supplement is not confirmed in the current call, and this article does not promise one. Older vacancy text mentions an insurance contribution and, in some versions, travel support, but the current vacancy snippets confirm the allowance and paid leave only. Do not budget for a travel payment that the current call does not state.
Who can apply
- Nationality gate, read first: you must be a national of a CERN Member State or Associate Member State. Recent vacancy summaries also list current ceiling exclusions, for example Pakistani, Lithuanian, Latvian, Cypriot, Croatian and Turkish nationals currently cannot be considered. Aggregator claims of open to all countries are wrong. Check your nationality against the current vacancy before spending time on the application.
- Age 18 or over, and a full-time student throughout the internship. You must remain a student for the whole placement: graduating before the placement ends breaks the condition.
- On a technical or administrative course: a diploma, Bachelor or Master course in a field relevant to the team you apply to, where your university requires or encourages practical training as part of the course.
- PhD students are not eligible: this is an explicit exclusion. Doctoral researchers should look at CERN doctoral student programmes instead, not at this short-term route.
- Language: a good working knowledge of English or French. No IELTS score is required, and no application fee is charged.
Documents required
- A CV in English or French, in PDF format, is the document the current vacancy asks for, plus any other documents you consider relevant to your application. That is a lighter requirement than older listings suggested.
- Older requirements are superseded: older listings demanding a transcript and a mandatory professor reference letter conflict with the current vacancy, which asks for the CV plus anything else you consider relevant. Follow the current vacancy, not an old aggregator checklist.
- Prepare a targeted CV: because the CV carries most of the weight, tailor it to the team and field you want, list relevant coursework and practical work plainly, and state your availability period clearly. A generic CV is the weakest application this programme receives.
How to apply
- Open the CERN Careers posting for Short-Term Internship 2026 (STAG 2026) and check the nationality and student-status conditions against your own situation before starting.
- Complete the online application, which takes about fifteen minutes, and state your availability period honestly. Departments select during the year against the periods they need.
- Upload your CV in English or French as a PDF, plus any other document you consider relevant. Do not wait for a reference letter the current vacancy does not ask for.
- Submit before 1 November 2026, 23:59 Geneva time. This is the final 2026 cutoff, and a late application is not considered.
- If you are selected, confirm the insurance deduction, the paid-leave position for your contract length, and any travel terms in your offer before accepting, because those details are not all stated in the public vacancy.
FAQs
1 November 2026, 23:59 Geneva time. It is the final 2026 cutoff for the Short Term Internship, and departments select on a rolling basis through the year.
CHF 1,593 net a month for a full month, pro-rated for partial months. The older CHF 1,587 figure is superseded. Paid leave applies to contracts of four months or more, and CERN health insurance is provided with a contribution deducted from the allowance.
No. PhD students are explicitly not eligible for this short-term route. It is for diploma, Bachelor and Master students who remain full-time students throughout the placement.
No. You must be a national of a CERN Member State or Associate Member State, subject to current ceiling exclusions (recent vacancy summaries list Pakistani, Lithuanian, Latvian, Cypriot, Croatian and Turkish nationals as currently unable to be considered).
No IELTS score is required, and the current vacancy asks for a CV in English or French plus anything else you consider relevant. Older transcript and mandatory reference-letter requirements are superseded.
No. It is fully on-site in Geneva. You must be able to be in Geneva for the whole placement.
Verified 29 Oct 2026 against the official CERN Careers posting for Short-Term Internship 2026 (jobs.smartrecruiters.com/CERN/744000085340717-short-term-internship-2026: deadline 1 Nov 2026, 23:59 Geneva time, CHF 1,593 net a month, 1-6 months, fully on-site, full-time student throughout, Member State or Associate Member State nationality, PhD students not eligible, CV in English or French) plus OpportunitiesFeed (22 Oct 2026) and CareerAidHub vacancy summaries. CONFLICTS: (1) CHF 1,587 in older listings is REJECTED in favour of the current CHF 1,593. (2) Aggregator "open to all countries" claims are REJECTED - nationality is restricted, with current ceiling exclusions. (3) Older transcript plus mandatory professor reference-letter requirements are REJECTED in favour of the current vacancy (CV plus anything else considered relevant). (4) A travel allowance or supplement is NOT confirmed in the current call and is not promised in this article.
