Category Archives: Politics and International Relations

Assistant to the Ambassador – Luxembourgish Foreign Ministry

Universtiy of Exeter Internships, UoE Internships, SCP, SBP, GBP, A2I

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

There were two parts to my internship. The first one was centered around the State Visit of the Luxembourgish Grand Duke. Here, my main duty was keeping the programme and motorcade plans up to date before the visit, as well as supervising press and luggage affairs during the visit itself. Throughout the whole run-up, I was also assisting the ambassador in any problems he had to resolve. The second part involved an in-depth research of Polish exports and the opportunities that Luxembourgish logistics companies could make a profit from.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

My biggest achievement must be the close-up view of diplomacy that I got. There are so many little protocol element that I could have only learnt through such an internship rather than through studies.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

Especially for the run-up to and the State Visit itself, my presence was helping my colleagues enormously, which they acknowledged several times during the internship. After the visit, my research piece also gave the Ambassador a more detailled overview of Polish exports than he could have managed to achieve in his tight schedule.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

While there were no major problems during the internship, there were many little protocol things to which one needs to pay attention in the presence of His Royal Highness the Grand Duke. In order to overcome these uncertainties, I needed to rely on my colleagues and ask for their advice, because they were the only ones with the required knowledge to whom I could talk.

Widening Participation Intern – University of Exeter Medical School

Universtiy of Exeter Internships, UoE Internships, SCP, SBP, GBP, A2I

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

I helped to develop activities for school visits, sourced materials for running activities, liaised with academics regarding such activities, supervised the school visits and co-coordinated events.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I developed my organisational skills up to a professional standard. I also gained an insight into events management, for example in hosting a student conference for sixth form students.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I was able to take on the tasks that often took longer, such as dealing with lengthy paperwork or meeting with academics, which lightened the workload of my colleagues.

medical

Employment Services Administration Assistant – University of Exeter

Universtiy of Exeter Internships, UoE Internships, SCP, SBP, GBP, A2I

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

  • Preparing materials for the exhibitors
  • Preparing advertising materials for the fairs such as writing tweets and laminating posters
  • Ensuring that the spreadsheets related to the fairs are up to date
  • Helping on the day of the fairs

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I improved my attention to detail, as the events of this nature that I hosted in the past were of smaller scale.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

No, I thoroughly enjoyed my internship and did not face any problems.

“Mary has been a very important part of the team this term. I couldn’t have completed all of my work without her help! She’ll be very much missed but I’m sure she will be very successful in the future. She has been extremely professional, efficient and pro active in her work and I hope that the experience is valuable throughout her career” – Hollie Mills-White

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Sustainable Development Intern – Jai Bhagirathi Foundation

Universtiy of Exeter Internships, UoE Internships, SCP, SBP, GBP, A2I

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

I had to set up and manage a new environmental development project on solid waste management. The goal of this project was to increase the dialogue between the different stakeholders of solid liquid waste management (household garbage). First, I had to conduct a needs assessment for solid waste management in Jodhpur. By coordinating translators and transport to aid me, I interviewed and established contacts in Jodhpur’s local government, community council leaders, citizens, city sweepers, and slum rag pickers. From this research, I decided to focus my project on incentivising the slum rag pickers to take work in the new government door-to-door waste collection scheme, and encourage the government to hire them. I produced materials on my slum rag pickers research to give to those involved in the new door-to-door collection scheme. I then arranged for those managing that scheme to conduct a workshop on work opportunities in waste management within the slum rag picking community.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

Influencing the opinions and actions of important people in government. Creating opportunities for those in underprivileged communities. Overcoming the difficulties of working through a translator.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

Establish new important contacts in government and in the wider Jodhpur community. Started a project largely independently without straining their resources – a project which they can now continue.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

The biggest problem I faced was having to tackle people’s prejudices when trying to increase dialogue between different communities and stakeholders of waste management in Jodhpur. This was overcome by utilising the persuasive skills of translators who could convey passionately the research of the project.

Consultant Relations Intern – BlackRock

London Internship, A2I, Access to Internships, Universtiy of Exeter

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

Being placed in the Consultant Relations team, my main role as an intern was to help complete new business proposals (RFP’s) and due diligence for a range of institutional investors across Europe. These mandates were typically for products on the Fixed Income range of funds and involved liaising with product specialists in order to stick to deadlines. I was also given the chance to shadow meetings with investment consultants to observe the investment trends across various asset classes. I was also responsible for an additional project that involved streamlining existing consultant account plans for the team.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

My biggest achievement was learning technical knowledge with respect to asset management and the various trends within the industry. This was done through numerous formal learning sessions as well as on-the-job learning where I picked up what acronyms meant.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

Given that summer was a time for holidays for existing employees, the internship was a benefit to the employer as I was able to take on the workload of absent employee’s. I was also able to present my additional project to senior members of staff which highlighted changes that needed to be made in the investment consultant account plans.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

There was a charity project which all interns took part in and that presented the challenge of coordinating a large group of people with various commitments. Instead we divided ourselves into smaller sub-teams in order to be able to meet more frequently and ultimately raise more for charity.