About Movement in Refuge (MiR)
MiR is an international organisation promoting physical and mental health through sport and movement training to create safe, structured opportunities for conflict-affected communities. We started in the Rohingya refugee camps along the Bangladesh Myanmar border, home to one of the world’s largest refugee settlements, since 2017.
Our work is grounded in the conviction that sports and movement are beneficial to everyone and that people who have suffered enormous trauma and upheaval would greatly benefit from healthy movement, play and sport.
Together with our Bangladeshi partner NGO Sports for Hope and Independence (SHI), we deliver safe, dynamic and consistent coaching for women and girls, separately, for men and boys. Our trainers come from Bangladeshi Universities with degrees in physical education and sports science. They train refugees we refer to as community-based coaches - who are from and live in the refugee camps. Our planned academic partnerships with the University of Edinburgh, Leeds Beckett University, i-coach kids, will anchor our practice in research, and our growing connections across the UN system mean our work is scaling. We are at a pivotal moment and need your support to achieve our potential.
While MiR has focused on refugee communities to date, we are keen to support local Bangladeshi communities across the district which has so generously hosted the refugee population. We are initiating coastal and chess projects in Sonarpara (including the local high school), as well as starting a new project called Waves of Movement in Somiti Para. The coastal programme is to alleviate the risk of infants drowning in these communities through education and training material. The importance of the chess project is to improve cognitive development among refugee and host communities.
The Role
As Host Community Research Intern, you will drive the research and evidence function for MiR's work with Bangladeshi host communities in Cox’s Bazar. This means conducting rigorous literature reviews, designing data collection frameworks, analysing findings, and translating that evidence into funding proposals and research outputs that strengthen MiR's credibility and deepen our understanding of the communities we serve.
Host community dynamics - economic, social, and political - are complex and often underresearched in the wider literature in the Cox's Bazar context. This role offers the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to closing that gap, producing work with genuine academic and practical value. A field visit to Cox's Bazar is strongly recommended for this role, and MiR will actively support candidates who wish to undertake one.
Key Responsibilities
Conduct extensive literature reviews on host community dynamics, social cohesion, economic impact, and sport-for-development.
Research the socioeconomic conditions of Bangladeshi host communities in Cox's Bazar, identifying needs, vulnerabilities, and opportunities relevant to MiR's programming.
Design and support data collection processes for MiR's host community programmes, including surveys, interviews, and community assessment tools.
Analyse programme data and research findings, producing clear written summaries for internal and external audiences.
Develop research proposals (if needed) for new studies related to MiR's host community work, identifying research questions, methodologies, and potential academic or institutional partners.
Contribute to the writing and editing of funding proposals and grant applications, grounding them in evidence and relevant literature.
Research and identify funding opportunities from development finance institutions, foundations, and research bodies with an interest in host community programming.
Support the preparation of donor reports, impact assessments, and academic outputs where appropriate.
What You Will Gain
Being part of the MiR internship programme means joining a lean, fast-moving international development organisation at a pivotal moment in its growth. You will gain:
Direct experience applying research skills in a live international development context - producing work that informs real decisions and real programmes.
Deep familiarity with the host community dimension of one of the world's most complex displacement crises.
Hands-on experience with the full research cycle: literature review, data collection design, analysis, and write-up
Exposure to proposal writing and grant funding within international development, with direct mentorship on how funders think and what they look for.
A formal reference letter from MiR leadership on successful completion.
A field visit to Cox's Bazar - a rare and formative experience for anyone building a career in development research or policy.
Access to MiR's growing network of academic, UN, and civil society partners.
Time Commitment
5–20 hours per week over a 4 month period. This is primarily a remote, unpaid internship. Hours are flexible and can be arranged around academic commitments. Hours are flexible and can be arranged around your academic commitments, with scope to increase your contribution during holidays or free periods if that suits you.
How you will be supported
MiR is small but structured. Every intern is assigned a direct point of contact within our team who will oversee your work and provide regular feedback. You will receive a thorough onboarding covering MiR's mission, values, safeguarding framework, field context, and current programme priorities. We take safeguarding seriously and will ensure you are properly briefed before engaging with any field-related information or activities.
We take your development seriously. We want you to leave with more skills, more confidence, and a clearer understanding of how impactful organisations communicate in complex environments - and how humanitarian organisations respond to large scale disasters and migration crises.
Eligibility
If you are a university student or early-career researcher with a background in economics, international development, public health, or a closely related discipline. You have strong research and analytical writing skills and are comfortable working independently with complex material. An understanding of social cohesion, conflict-sensitive programming, livelihoods, or the political economy of displacement is an advantage. You should be motivated by rigour and a genuine interest in how economics, political and social forces shape the lives of communities living alongside one of the world's largest refugee populations.