Interns 2008
Nick Branson - London, 2008
Following his time at ID, Nick took up a job as Africa Liberal Network Coordinator at the International Office of the Liberal Democrats working on their Westminster Foundation for Democracy programme. Nick completed a MA in International Studies and Diplomacy at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He also holds a BA in History and French from the University of Exeter, which included a year abroad at the Université de Provence. Prior to joining Independent Diplomat, Nick worked for the United Nations Association of the UK.
Devin Cahill - Brussels, 2008
Devin is currently a Project Officer with the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM), a migration human rights organization located in Brussels; she is coordinating a project funded by the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency. Devin graduated with her MA in Governance and Development from the Institute of Development Policy (IOB) at the University of Antwerp. She received her BA in International Affairs from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. In December 2007, her dissertation on fragile states was published as a background paper with the International Peace Information Service (IPIS) and Fatal Transactions. Prior to ID, she worked in government affairs in Washington, D.C., taught English in Slovakia and worked in development for city government.
Des Carney - New York, 2008-2009
Des holds an MSc in Political Science from the University of Amsterdam with a specialisation in International Relations, and a BA in German and Computer Science from University College Dublin. Recently he has been awarded a PhD position at University College London for the study of declining state hegemony and an emergent transnational order, which he is due to commence in autumn 2009.
Sira Corbetta - Brussels, 2008-2009
Through her last year at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Sira focused her research in the areas of International Security and Conflict Prevention. She recently graduated in Political Sciences and Public Administration from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM). Sira holds a BA in Political Sciences from the Otto-Friedrich Universität Bamberg and spent her teenage years in a English boarding school. Sira's work experience touches the private, academic and non-profit world. She represented the Federation for Promotion and Defence of Human Rights in Spain on the UN Human Rights Commission in 2004 and collaborated with the European Network Against Racism.
Arya Iranpour - New York, 2008-2009
Arya graduated in political science and international development from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and is currently pursuing a Masters in Public Administration at NYU.
Jordan Kyle - New York, 2008
Jordan graduated in May 2007 from Duke University with a BA in Political Science and a minor in Arabic language. While at Duke, she researched and worked with diverse Muslim communities in North Carolina. She also conducted international fieldwork and volunteered in Vietnam, Bolivia, and Lebanon. Jordan spent the last year as an Associate at The Boston Consulting Group in New York, working primarily on infrastructure projects in the US and in Mexico. She is now a first year PhD student at Columbia University in the department of Political Science.
Neil Levine - New York, 2008
Neil is responsible for the internal technical infrastructure and back office systems for Canonical, commercial sponsors of the free and open source Ubuntu Linux operating system. Neil received his MA in Political Science from Columbia University with a concentration in International Relations and has a BSc in Economics from UCL. Neil has extensive private sector experience in Europe and the Middle East while working in the IT industry.
Dana Stroul - Washington, D.C., 2008-2009
Dana graduated in May 2008 from Georgetown University's Master of Science in Foreign Service program with a concentration in International Conflict Management. While at Georgetown Dana worked at the National Democratic Institute on democracy-building programs in the Middle East; at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt in the economic-political section; and at the United States Institute of Peace on post-conflict reconstruction efforts in Iraq. Before that she lived in Egypt and Israel studying Arabic and Hebrew, and also worked as a private-sector consultant for the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security and Defense. Dana hails from Virginia, and lives in Washington, D.C. where she hopes to remain based while working and travelling internationally.
Sally Weston - New York, 2008
Sally is currently working in New York as an adviser at the Permanent Mission of Australia to the UN. Sally received her MA from Columbia University in Political Science with a major in International Relations and minor in quantitative methods. She also holds a BA and LLB from Monash University, Australia. Prior to joining ID, Sally practiced as a commercial dispute resolution attorney with a leading Australian law firm for over five years. During this period, she acted in large scale legal proceedings, international arbitrations and negotiations. Sally also coordinated the firm's pro bono legal services program and undertook law reform and policy work as part of the firm's corporate social responsibility program.