Internships calendar for Social Sciences and Public Policy 2024-25

We’ve all been there. You start looking for internships and before you know it, two hours have passed, you went into some kind of internet vortex, and you only found one relevant thing – and its deadline just passed! 

It’s no surprise that the thing which students most often ask Careers Consultants about is what kinds of internships / work experience they can apply for. This is definitely the case for students wanting to work in politics, policy and the public sector as work experience opportunities are not always as numerous or as well advertised as those in the financial, legal and technology sectors (which are the kinds of internships you’ll find if you look at the usual sites such as TargetJobs or Bright Network).  

To try to make it easier to access information about policy, politics, public sector work experience opportunities, your SSPP Careers team (Emma Knox, Fiona Richardson and Naomi Ademosu-Fika), have compiled a list some UK and global internships below.  

The idea is that you can bookmark these dates in your calendars for the year ahead, so you know when the deadlines are likely to be.   

Resources – the list here is not comprehensive! There are many, many more internship programmes and work experience opportunities out there. Think of this resource as one part of your research. To maximise your chances, you will need to cast your net wider than this. You could have a look at:  

Kings Career Connect  job board
Sector guides on KEATS (e.g. on policy, risk, think tanks, multilaterals, global health, public health) 
King’s Work Based Learning team provide resources and opportunities to support you in finding Meaningful Work Experience
Sector-specific job boards – W4mp (policy, public affairs, and politics in UK)
EuroBrussels and IntJobs (European and global policy jobs)
Charity jobs (UK)
DevNetJOBS (International Development (global)
Smart Thinking (policy & think tanks in UK)
Blog about European think tanks
Public Affairs Networking
Escape the City (purposeful jobs, UK mostly, some global)
Idealist (purposeful jobs, global)

 This list is based on crowdsourced information – these schemes may not run at the same times (or at all) in 2023-24. You therefore need to take responsibility for checking individual sites.  

If you are an international student, you will also need to carefully check the visa requirements for each programme. For further support on this talk to the Visa & International Student Advice team and click the link on how to learn more about how to “Target UK employers” who most frequently sponsor international student visas.

Autumn  

The PSC   – Public Sector Consultants 

Summer internships

Opens September , London, UK 

Bank of England  

Internships (including first year internships), insight days 

London, UK , some opening in Autumn others throughout the year 

Summer Internship Programme (SIP), UK Government (Civil Service) 

6-8 week summer internship for students in their final 2 years of an undergraduate degree. Open to all, they encourage applications from students from diverse backgrounds, and all interns qualify for a ‘Fast Pass’ to an accelerated route to graduate recruitment.

Nationwide, application window appears to be 12 October – 9 November (tbc)

World Bank internship 

For current PGT/PGR students who can undertake an internship as part of their course  

Global , application window will reopen in January 2025.

Leonard Cheshire Change 100L

Leonard Cheshire’s Change 100 programme offers paid work opportunities, professional development and mentoring, designed to support the career development of talented university students and recent graduates with any disability, long-term illness & mental health conditions.

Change 100 internships | Leonard Cheshire

Applications close 21 November 2024, Nationwide

Spring 

Chatham House  

Policy Think Tank , 6-12 month internships

London, UK , Applications for 2025 to open later this year.

Wellcome Collection 

Charity focusing on advancement of science  – Summer internship

8 Week, London, UK 

Institute for Government  

Think tank working with governments , 12 month graduate internship 

London, UK , applications usually open March for September start 

Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC)

An internal think tank which sits within the MoD focussing on defence and security related strategic issues, 6-8 week paid post graduate internship

Applications usually open February for a summer start

Centre for Global Development 

USA, remote , Usually opens March 

Part-time summer Internship Programme, US nationals 

Kings Undergraduate Research Fellowship Programme 

London, UK (some fellowships offered remotely) 

Summer internship  for UG students 

Usually opens March, closes April  

NATO Parliamentary Assembly Research Programme  –

Brussels, Belgium , Opens Spring 

PGT and PGR graduates 

https://www.nato-pa.int/content/research-programme 

Tony Blair Institute for Global Change – Summer Associate Internship Programme

The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change work with political leaders around the world to drive change. 8 week Summer Associate Internship programme.

Applications usually open in Spring