CEEWEB FOR BIODIVERSITY

HUNGARY

CEEWEB FOR BIODIVERSITY

Second Year Undergraduate, BA Human Sciences, In-person internship

Work Projects

My main tasks were supporting policy advice,

research, and communication on sustainability

and biodiversity-related topics. I created a

social media campaign about the Water

Framework Directive, which was

communicated on the organisation's social

media channels. I also wrote a policy brief on protected area management, to be shared

with around 100 stakeholders and partners of the organisation, and created social media

posts communicating my main findings and recommendations. I received research material

and tips from my organisation, as well as advice and suggestions for the policy brief. My

supervisors were also always happy to help or reply to any concerns and queries.

Daily Life

My internship was in person taking place in Budapest, and I was lucky enough to be one of

three interns from Oxford working for this organisation. We decided to rent an apartment

to share together, which made us settle in in Budapest quickly. Being able to exchange with

other interns in similar positions was also a source of great support and inspiration.

We usually used public transport to get to work (about a 45 min- commute from our

apartment), although we did not have to go in every day of the week, working from home

on some days. Outside of work, I enjoyed socialising with the other interns and colleagues,

as well as some local friends. Budapest is also a great city for doing sports, and I spent a lot

of my free time running and rock climbing.

Lasting Impressions

I have very much enjoyed my internship experience, and I feel like thanks to this, I understand the reality, challenges, and goals of the NGO/ environmental sector better. The

experience has confirmed my career ambitions to work in this sector, and has given me new

ideas on how to pursue my career goals.

Finlay Lucas Field, St Catherine’s College, Final year undergraduate, English Language & Literature, In person internship

Work Projects

I worked mainly on the Game On! project, an

EU initiative targeting climate awareness in

Central and Eastern Europe and led by my

host organisation. My main responsibility was

the research, production and editing of a

series of educational presentations on

environmental policy, economics, energy strategy and sustainable urbanisation; during my

placement, however, I got to work on a broad mix of communications and operations tasks.

I edited and authored articles on project activities and climate change, shot and edited

videos for a winemaking museum, painted signs, shadowed high-level coordination

meetings, and helped represent my organisation at an international conference! I got to

proofread and edit research for publication and work closely with an office of highly

motivated environmental advocates.

Employees of my host organisation were generous with their time and always helpful I

never had a question go unanswered, or some ambiguity go unchecked. I was given detailed

onboarding information and invited into the wider social life of the office; we interns got to

go caving under Budapest, travel to the edge of the Transdanubian Mountains, and flexibly

adjust our hours where circumstances required. I was offered a truly developmental

internship. My manager was always open to my interests and future plans, and invited me

to pick project work and topics that would be helpful for whatever I want to next - and

when my internship was over, my managers were so pleased with my work that I was

offered a paid contract to edit further video material for them. My time was never

undervalued. I learned a lot about the operation of international projects and climate policy

in the EU, and leave the role with specific projects and achievements that I can discuss with

future employers.

Daily Life

My working week was based around 1

or 2 days physically in the office, and 3

or 4 days in which I worked

independently on projects and

coordinated with my manager via Slack

and Zoom. I flew into Hungary on a

Friday so I could spend a weekend

settling in and getting to know the

other interns; me and 2 other interns from the university met up once in Oxford before

travelling, and coordinated shared accommodation for the two months we spent working

together. We spent a month each in two different central-Budapest apartments; to spend a

day at the office, we would make a 1 hour commute across the river and out to the suburbs

where our organisation was located (or a 40 minute commute from our second flat).

Workdays were 9-5, with flexibility for rush hours and out-of-work commitments.

We three Oxford interns mainly socialised together, although we made friends with another

intern from Germany who joined us in September and went on various social evenings with

co-workers as we got to know everyone. We would have a long Monday-morning meeting

every week, and I generally spent this day in the office to coincide with my manager; the

whole office has worked flexibly since COVID, so this could easily be rearranged. We interns

generally worked on research and editing tasks that could be done independently, so my

typical working day would involve laptop working in a caf (either by myself, or with my

fellow interns).

This flexible working made it easy to enjoy life outside of work hours, and we spent many

evenings and weekends exploring the city and its bars, climbing walls, hiking trails,

cathedrals etc. The project-based nature of our work meant lots of variety though - I once

worked on a weekend, twice in locations in greater Budapest, and spent most of one week

at a hotel-based conference north of the city. Expenses for these kinds of trips were always

covered, with plenty of forward notice. I was never expected to exceed contracted work

hours.

Lasting Impressions

I had a great time. Much of the work I

did was laptop-based, and my

organisation's flexible-working model

meant lots of things had online

surrogates (video-conferencing, shared

file servers, etc.); there were times I

questioned the value I added by being

there in-person. But it's hard to overstate the little things. I got to do so many strange tasks

and projects which would never translate to two months on Zoom, and I think that's given

me a much deeper appreciation of the task the EU has at a policy level - the difficulty of

linking up a lot of different people and things, and keeping everyone engaged when they

can't be in the same room as their work. I got to experience a lot of remote work, but I also

got to build much more complex and trusting relationships with the people in my office than

I would have otherwise. And all of this was just augmentation of a rewarding main project,

the internship itself and responsibilities I applied for.

My role was communications-led, but gave me a lot of exposure to policy contexts in which I

plan to work going forward; my manager was clear and accommodating about ways I could

focus my development, and has enabled what I think will be really valuable experiences to

interviewers and future workplaces. I can't thank them enough, and I look forward to

crossing paths in the future. My internship confirmed my policy ambitions, and gave me a

good understanding of the environmental intersections with internet and technological

policy (sectors in which I want to work). I think much more broadly it confirmed 'ambition'

ambitions that I was unaware of.

I feel more confident that whatever I work, I can offer value and good ideas and might just

need a chance to get working. 4 years of uni has made me doubt how much employers are

willing to take people on potential rather than proven skills, and I think my internship at

CEEweb has given me more confidence in that. I feel like they properly invested in me.

What practical advice would you give to future interns?

I think it was a great icebreaker to meet the other interns before our placement started. I

did Trinity term from home, but live close enough to Oxford that I could travel in for a drink