Interns
Independent Diplomat offers internships, lasting 4-6 months, to exceptional applicants seeking a rewarding, hands-on experience in all aspects of an NGO dealing with international relations. Independent Diplomat recruits year-round for internships. Please check our employment page for instructions on how to apply.
Please note that our internships are unpaid, although Independent Diplomat will pay reasonable travel expenses for successful candidates.
Current interns
Anna Costa - London, 2013
Anna joined ID after completing her double Master’s Degree in International Affairs at Peking University (China) and the London School of Economics and Political Science (UK), with a specialization in Chinese Foreign Policy and International Relations of East Asia. She has a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Durham University, and is currently a Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme candidate at the University of Hong Kong, researching Chinese nationalism and international relations of East Asia. Anna speaks English, Italian, French and Mandarin Chinese.
David Fernandes - London, 2013
David joined ID after completing a Master’s Degree in International Relations and European Studies at the Metropolitan University Prague, where he focused on the development of the European Union’s foreign relations service and its interactions with EU member states and the MENA area. He completed his undergraduate degree in Cultural Anthropology and Political Science at Western Washington University and continued his studies in Political Science and Community Development as a Master’s International fellow at the Stevenson Center for Community and Economic Development at Illinois State University. He also studied briefly at Sabanci university in Istanbul. He has spent time living in Palestine, where he held positions with the Bethlehem Municipal Government, Birzeit University in Ramallah, and as a Program Development Officer with the Civic Forum Institute. He also worked as a teacher and program developer in several educational programs in Berlin and Seoul, South Korea. David is a citizen of Ireland and the United States.
Karoliina Raudsepp - New York, 2012
Karoliina joined ID after completing her MRes degree in Political Research at the University of Aberdeen, where she focused on the interplay between energy security and climate policies among European Union member states. She also received her undergraduate degree in Politics and International Relations with First Class Honours from the University of Aberdeen, where she worked as both a research and teaching assistant. Karoliina has previously interned at the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Estonian Energy Ltd, the biggest energy company in the Baltic States. She speaks Estonian, English, German, French, and Russian, and has contributed to publications in several languages, focusing on security and foreign policy analysis.
Shannon Torrens - Sydney, 2013
Shannon is admitted as a Lawyer in the Supreme Court of NSW, Australia. She is a graduate from the University of Sydney, with an LLB (Hons) focusing on public international law, international criminal law, international humanitarian law and international human rights law. She also has a B.A (Media and Communications) Government: International Relations and English. Shannon has worked at the international criminal tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Rwanda (ICTR), Sierra Leone (SCSL) and Cambodia (ECCC). She has also worked with the Marshall Islands Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), UNICEF and with the Wik Aboriginal Community in Australia as part of the Aurora Native Title Project. Shannon has interned with the Australian Embassy to Italy/Australian Mission to the FAO and the World Food Programme (WFP) and with the Australian Embassy to the Holy See (the Vatican) in Rome.
Melanie Woodward - Brussels, 2013
Melanie joined ID after working as a legal advisor at the Resettlement Legal Aid Project in Cairo, where she assisted refugees from Sudan and the Horn of Africa in their applications for resettlement to third countries. Prior to living in Cairo Melanie worked in the Sustainable Security Programme at a conflict-resolution think tank in London, researching the effects of climate change on global security. She has also held administrative positions in companies in London and New York and taught English at a university in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Alongside her work with ID, Melanie is also a researcher for Iraq Body Count. She has a BA in History and Education Studies from Cambridge University, and an MA in Near and Middle Eastern Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Melanie speaks English and French and holds citizenship of the UK and United States.