Cold War History Research Centre

BA History and Politics, First Year Undergraduate, Remote working

Work Projects

I took a summer internship at the Cold War History Research Centre (CWHRC) in Budapest. This focused mainly on archival work and research, which was particularly rewarding, giving me ample experience in the nature of and techniques required for this work.

Given that it was completed remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I worked with online/digital resources in order to compile a chronology for the CWHRC website. This exposed me to the interpretation and exploration involved in archival work, which was especially interesting. The chronology is a very well respected and widely used educational

resource, and as such it was a pleasure to be involved in making this information freely available online to a broad public!

Another work project that the internship entailed included creating a 40-minute presentation about a period of interest during the Cold War; this allowed me to practice my public speaking skills as well as my research abilities, by compiling information into an insightful summary for others. Lastly, I also worked on a blog-style Facebook post for the CWHRC's page, under the subtitle "On this day", which took the format of a summary of a historical event. This was one of my favourite projects, as there was a lot of freedom in what to write about and how to go about it.

We were very well supported in all the projects, being given the resources for all projects and study, including primary and secondary sources. It was at the same time a growth experience, allowing a lot of choice and flexibility in how to use these resources, making the experiences afforded by the work projects into something personal, by exploring one's own interests!

Daily Life

Working from home afforded me a lot of flexibility in chosen working hours, allowing me to fit the internship around other essential tasks in my schedule. I was able to establish a routine to give structure to my work, working for a few hours in the morning and more in the afternoon, usually with two breaks in between. This usually amounted to about 7-7h30 hours per day on weekdays. This was very helpful to managing the workload of my internship and getting the most out of it.

Lasting Impressions

I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this internship. It afforded me a lot of confidence in myself and the quality of historical work I can do, and I am very happy and proud to have been able to take part in a large project involving undergraduate and graduate students from across the world (the CWHRC chronology) to create a quality educational resource!

The summer internship also gave me significant experience in analysing, interpreting, and understanding sources as well as developing my own academic writing style. It was also a fantastic exposure to academic work in a university setting. We were able to talk to previous

interns and career academics about their fields of study, their interests, and their career paths. This offered invaluable advice and perspective about what a future in the sector (or using the experience developed over the course of this internship!) can look like! I am sure the skills I have gained will help me a lot going forward.

Julia Pieza, Trinity College, BA History and Politics, Final year undergraduate, Remote working

Work Projects

The online internship at Corvinus Cold War Research Centre would have originally taken place in Budapest, but luckily the Centre managed to find a way for the interns to complete a significant amount of archival work from home. My internship lasted 3 weeks and consisted of three main tasks.

Firstly, alongside the other online interns I was taught how to use the Open Society Archives from which I would conduct research to update the Centre’s cold war chronology. The chronology created by the Cold War Research Centre is one of the most detailed in the world and given my background with Polish language I was assigned to update the chronology between 1953-1968.

Having the initial introduction to how the online archives are structured and how to search for relevant material was useful and I soon got the hang of skimming through Radio Free Europe documents for relevant events for the chronology of the cold war. I would spend most of my day-to-day work conducting this research online and found a lot of the reading quite interesting as I completed my history undergraduate thesis on the Solidarity movement in Poland.

Secondly, each of the interns was assigned a 40-minute presentation on an aspect of the Cold War which we could choose from a selection of chapters in the Cambridge History of the Cold War. Conducting research for my presentation from academic material as well as some of the interesting sources I came across in the online archives was a useful experience for using the skills I learned throughout the university. The online presentation was also a valuable experience in public speaking. Lastly, all of the interns were asked to research and write a Facebook post for the Centre's page for their on this day series.

Daily Life

I settled into a good routine working from home I found that changing my scenery during days working on research helped me stay focused. Though the internship was not filled with meetings, I appreciated having the time to do my work independently. We also had a whatsapp chat for all the interns for any general questions about the work which helped whenever someone had any questions.

We all met online every Thursday and Friday to listen to everyone's presentations and summarise the work we had been able to complete and reflect on any challenges. These meetings helped create a more social atmosphere to the internship despite it being generally filled with independent work.

Outside of work, I generally enjoyed taking the time to visit museums as the re-opened and made an effort to spend more time outdoors. During the internship, the research centre also provided us with two meetings with the leading professor of Hungarian cold war history who delivered a lecture to us and was very welcoming to all our questions. On one occasion, we met online with a previous intern of the centre who was now working in the diplomatic sector. The opportunity to ask questions and learn more about how the internship generally looked like in past years was interesting to hear about. Moreover, the staff at the centre emphasised the idea that an opportunity to visit the centre in Budapest in the future and help out with more research is available to us should we choose to once the pandemic is

over.

Lasting Impressions

Overall, I really enjoyed the experience as a research intern at the Cold War Centre. I have had a long-standing interest in this area of history and the internship certainly introduced me to new ideas. I also appreciated having the chance to engage with primary sources even via an online format which made each day different from the information I found.

I really enjoyed listening to the presentations delivered by the other interns which showcased the variety of interests across our group. Though I don't intend to follow into an academic career, the internship was useful at presenting the various areas of research I could be interested in undertaking for a future masters course. I think the skills I developed throughout, in being able to organise my workload, strengthen my research and analysis skills will be transferable to many other opportunities.

What advice would you give to future interns?

For future online interns, I would recommend having a good routine. I think the fact that the internship was carried out online and consisted of largely independent work made setting a number of hours to work for in the day helpful for organising breaks and other plans outside work. I would also recommend noting down any interesting primary sources and thinking about how they might fit into relevant thesis/dissertation research as I came across many unique perspectives that might come useful in the future.

MSt History student,Modern British History 1850-Present, Remote working

Work Projects

I worked with online archives to research and write up a timeline of events in Czechoslovakia 1953-1960 as well as researching and delivering a presentation about the Cold War and the MENA region and writing a Facebook post about my research. I was provided with digitised primary and secondary sources as well as a talk by the head of the Research Centre on the new historiography of the Cold War. I also received guidance from the supervisor in weekly group meetings, a WhatsApp chat for interns and individual emails.

Daily Life

I worked remotely on my laptop, and thankfully my partner's retired father let me use his home office - it was life-changing! This meant I had the space to spread out my research notes and join in our weekly Teams meetings without distraction. I tried to maintain roughly a 9-5 schedule as if I were working with others and then unwind in the evenings - but I also took short breaks to go on little walks, which really helped with motivation despite working from home.

Lasting Impressions

The experience confirmed my commitment to archival research, allowed me to familiarise myself with sources I had not had access to in the past and overall left me with a sense that I had been able to learn about my area of relative expertise (the Cold War) from a new angle. It was exciting and refreshing.

What advice would you give to future interns?

Try to make friends with the other interns and see if you can network with the people you're working for. For instance, at the end of this internship, we were all offered to come back as volunteers on a flexible part-time basis if we wanted.