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 (Claire Bowey, Emma Knox, Fiona Richardson and Beckie Barlow), 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.
Two things for you to be aware of:
1. 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)
- 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)
2. 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 check carefully the visa requirements for each programme. For further support on this talk to the Visa & International Student Advice team.
Autumn
The PSC (Public Sector Consultants) | Summer internships
London, UK | Opens September
Asia House Fellowship | 12 month research project for people who will be PGT/PGR graduates by Oct2024
For those interested in researching an issue driving change in Asia and Middle East
Remote | Expected to open October, closes January
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 | Application window appears to be 12 October – 9 November (tbc)
Early Diversity Internship Programme, UK government (Civil Service) | 1 week spring internship for first year undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds
London, UK | 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 1-31 October for winter internship, 1 December – 31 January for summer internship
Spring
Chatham House (Policy think tank ) | 3 month internship
London, UK | Opens January
Wellcome Collection (Charity focusing on advancement of science) | Summer internship for UGs
London, UK | Opens Feb
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 focusing 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 | Part-time summer Internship Programme, US nationals
USA, remote | Usually opens March
Kings Undergraduate Research Fellowship Programme | Summer internship for UG students
London, UK (some fellowships offered remotely) | Usually opens March, closes April
NATO Parliamentary Assembly Research Programme | Research programme for PGT and PGR graduates
Brussels, Belgium | Opens Spring
Summer
King’s Parliamentary Research Internship | 6-9 month part-time internship for PhDs/Postdocs
Opens Summer, closes August
Rolling deadlines
APCO Worldwide | Public Affairs / Strategic Communications Internships
Global | Various opportunities
Black Sea Trade & Development Bank | Various internship opportunities
Greece
Baringa (Consultancy ) | Summer internship and graduate internships
UK & Europe
CEPS (Centre for European Policy Studies) | European government think tank
Brussels, Belgium | Various positions
Civitas (Civil society think tank ) | 3-6 month graduate internships
London, UK
EU traineeships | 3-6 month internships for PGTs and PGRs
Europe | Various deadlines