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You Get Paid to Observe
the World Around You
The Triquetrus Institute's Community Insights Programme pays young people to document what they see in their own neighbourhoods.
Apply Now →Applications reviewed within 10 working days
Most research about communities is done by people who don't live in them. We think that's a problem.
Our Field Associates document what they see — the way local businesses actually work, where waste goes, how families manage water, what young people do after Class 12. No prior experience needed. No science background required. Just the willingness to look carefully and write honestly.
What you will walk away with
Six months in this programme gives you something most students your age do not have.
Real field experience
Structured observation. Interviewing people you don't know. Documenting evidence honestly. Working to a brief. Skills that transfer to further education, jobs, and any work that requires you to understand people and places.
Direct exposure to research
You will work with the Institute's research team, understand how community research is designed, and see how ground-level observations become findings that inform real decisions.
A portfolio that proves it
Every mission you complete becomes part of your personal research portfolio — specific, documented work you can point to and explain in an interview or application. Not a class project. Something you went out and did.
A recognised credential
On completion, you receive the Triquetrus Institute Certificate of Field Practice — issued by the Institute, naming the programme and your cohort. Six months of structured, reviewed, accepted field research. Worth putting on a CV.
What you will do
You will be a Field Associate of the Triquetrus Institute. Each month, we give you one focused question and a structured way to investigate it — through observation, conversation, and documentation.
You spend roughly 3 hours a week on it, on your own schedule. At the end of the month, you submit a written account of what you found through the programme portal — on your phone, laptop, or desktop. There is no physical submission of any kind.
We take your observations seriously. They feed directly into the Institute's research.
What you will earn
Paid when your monthly submission is accepted. The programme runs for 6 months. You can renew.
If your college fees are due upfront before your first stipend payment, we can advance part of your future stipend earnings to cover the fee. You pay the college, send us the receipt, and we reimburse you within 5 days. If an advance is paid and you do not complete the programme, the advance will become fully repayable to the Institute.
Who should apply
If you are below 18, a parent or guardian will need to sign the participation agreement alongside you.
Ready to apply?
Submit your application online. We respond within 10 working days.
Submit Application →A note on data, ethics, and your responsibilities
All observations, notes, photographs, and other material you collect as a Field Associate belong to the Triquetrus Institute. You may not share, publish, or post any of this material without the Institute's prior written permission.
The people you speak to must be treated with respect at all times. You will never collect personal confidential information from anyone you meet in the field — no Aadhaar numbers, no financial details, no medical history. Your role is to document what is observable and what people choose to share in a general, non-identifying way.
Contaminated or fabricated data is grounds for immediate termination and recovery of any payments made. The Institute is committed to the dignity and privacy of every person who contributes to this research — and as a Field Associate, so are you.