Social Science Research Council

Daily Life

The internship was remote. I worked on a relatively

regular schedule of 10-6, but sometimes I would

work more erratically. For example, I would split my

hours between the morning and the evening, with a

longer break during lunch time. Typically though, I

would wake up around 9:30, have breakfast, and get

to work, then have lunch, and then have the regular

call with my team at 6 PM (Riga time) after which I would finish the day. Since the internship

sometimes required flexibility and sudden new and urgent tasks (such as compiling and

analysing new data for a client 2 days before a call with said client), sometimes I would have to work later in the night as well, and other days, when (I’d thought) I’d done everything that was asked of me, I would work less.

To wind down, I’d usually read or exercise in the evening, sometimes exercising during the day (on those days when I split my work into the morning and evening). On the weekends primarily,

I also took driving lessons in preparation for receiving my licence, as I enjoyed that and it

relaxed me.

Lasting Impressions

I’m glad I learned to work better with data, and to do self-driven work. During the internship

itself, I felt gratified because I felt like I was doing work that was meaningful to my self-

development both in terms of technical and critical thinking skills.

MSc Migration Studies, a mixture of in-person and remote working

Work Projects

I worked for the Conflict Peace and Prevention

department of the Social Science Research Council

which supplies research to the United Nations and

brokers a lot of meetings between different

countries. I mainly worked for the Latin American

division and conducted research on Guatemala and

Nicaragua's state of elections and democracy. I also created a concept note on Migration for

the upcoming North Africa migration conference SSRC is holding and conducted research on

China-Latin America relations at this moment in time.

Daily Life

I usually had a list of tasks my supervisor left me with via email/slack concerning the research I

needed to do and turn in by end of week. I also had a weekly one-on-one supervisor meeting,

along with a weekly team meeting, and a weekly Latin American division meeting as well. I also

got to socialize quite a bit with the other 2 interns in my department and attended work ice-

cream socials on Fridays and went to work in the office twice a week.

Lasting Impressions

I enjoyed the internship a lot because I learned a lot about human rights organizations and was

able to carry out meaningful work that I will be able to participate later in (I will be able to

attend the North Africa Migration conference to see the fruits of my labour in a way). The

experience has definitely confirmed my aspirations to work in the human rights field.

Practical Advice

I would tell future interns to communicate honestly with supervisors and keep track of

timelines, do not feel pressured to deliver quickly because in most all cases supervisors will

prefer you to take your time on work than rush it and they will understand that you need more time. Working is not like school in the sense that supervisors/peers understand and respect the

fact that you have a life and most often will not expect you to take extra hours of your personal

time to do things hence extended timelines if needed.