0 29/12/2019
IRIO Master Program
Internship Final Report
Research and analysis in an Italian think-tank
1 Placement Report
Balducci Ludovica S3835499
University of Groningen
MA International Relations and International Organizations Master’s Work Placement
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Preface
The following report will mark the conclusion of the time I spent in Rome for my placement at the European Safety Academy of Centro Studi Roma 3000, an Italian think tank. This report will descript my experience in its totality: an overview of my daily tasks, my expectations, and the knowledge and skills I gained in these three months. Throughout the report, I will reflect on how this experience completed my studies and helped me develop ideas about my
future career and choices.
First, when I started applying for vacancies in the private and public sector I got denied many times and I was not expecting this at all. Indeed, while in Italy companies and other employers only ask for a CV, in the other countries agencies request resumes and motivation letters and summarizing all my academic and work experience on one page was difficult. I asked for help from some of my colleagues who already applied for jobs in other European countries and they helped with the process of writing. Also, they gave me many tips on how to modify my CV and to improve it. This was very helpful and I believe it will help me also in the future when I will apply for other jobs. Taking part in the internship at the Academy has allowed me to put into
practice what I have learned in my academic career. Especially, given the nature of the IRIO Master program that is based on research and analysis, working in an Italian think-tank helped me apply what I have learned in the Netherlands in an actual working place.
Finally, I want to thank you, Mr. Alessandro Conte, Director of the Centro and my supervisor, for giving me the opportunity to be an intern at his study
center and supporting me during the process as well as Mattia and Luca, the other members of my team who helped me develop new perspectives to complete tasks, gave me support and advice.
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Table of Content
INTRODUCTION………..4
THE EUROPEAN SAFETY ACADEMY OF CENTRO STUDI ROMA 3000……….5
BEFORE THE INTERNSHIP……….6
STIMULATING THE SKILLS………8
STUDENT POSITION AND DESCRIPTION OF TASKS………9
THE INDIVIDUAL WORK………11
WORKING IN A TEAM..………13
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1. Introduction
To complete the International Relations and International Organizations Master Program, it is necessary to complete a 7-8 weeks full-time internship. Thus, this summer I started searching for an internship in different institutes and companies to pursue my studies in International Relations and
especially, in relation to my track. As my master track I have chosen International Security because since my Bachelor studies, I developed a strong interest in matters of security such as migrations, terrorism, human trafficking, organized crime, food and water security. Indeed, during the Master program I opted for seminars about human rights and conflict and security to go deeper into these topics. This is why, when I was searching for an institution or institute where to do my placement I focused on those treating these themes and especially treating those themes linked to the European Union.
During the search for an internship, I found different open positions and vacancies that were related to the field of security and especially with a focus on human trafficking, migrations in and across the European Union and border security. Deciding among different opportunities and going through different interview processes was not easy and I was really under pressure every time they were asking me questions or evaluating me. However, I was very pleased to get the opportunity to work at the European Safety Academy because Mr. Alessandro Conte allowed me to make a personalized internship to help me combine my academic background with practical work and
following my research fields of interest: human trafficking, human security, conflict zones, and migrations.
During my placement at the European Safety Academy of the Centro Studi Roma 3000, I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with these subjects both individually and in a team and in two languages: Italian
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and English. This placement helped me develop a high level of autonomy in planning and organization gave the need to coordinate my work with other people and to stick with individual and collective deadlines. Also, this placement enriched me because of the possibility it gave me to work with other students who are studying the same subjects in other Universities in different countries.
In this final report, after providing a brief overview of the activity of the
European Academy of the Centro Studi Roma 3000 and a reflection on which were my expectations about the internship and how I prepared myself to that, I will reflect on the last three months and the activities and tasks I carried on in Rome. I do not deny that my journey as an intern has been full of ups and downs but both of them gave me the possibility to learn something new and to face new challenges, and this I hope will help me in my future working life.
2. The European Safety Academy of Centro Studi Roma 3000
The Centro Studi of Roma 3000 carries on many different activities in the sphere of research, analysis, and formation. Its main research fields are
geopolitics, security, area of crisis and the activity of the European Union. The European Safety Academy of the Center is an initiative aimed at producing and encouraging research about the European Union and its internal and external relations, policies and problems. Annually the Centro develop a program concerning the activities and the research fields of interest as well as other practical initiatives and thematic workshop. For this year, the main activities in the sector of research and analysis were the ‘Euro-Mediterranean Observatory’ that was aimed at monitoring and researching migratory
pressures on the European borders and study the European policy responses, the International Cooperation Project Libano 2019, a project that seeks to encourage research and humanitarian help for Libano.
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Besides taking part in the Euro-Mediterranean Observatory and its activities, the main activities I carried on were from the European Safety Academy that realizes periodical reports on area of crisis about economic security, food security, water security, human security and security in general. Moreover, monthly, the Academy produces reports on different areas of crisis in the globe analyzing their economic, political and security situation. The reports are published on the website of the Academy or in the European Affair
Magazine of the Academy. Also, periodically, the Academy realizes thematic reports on issues interesting different countries in or outside the European Union such as terrorism, conflict, diplomatic relations, economy, security and peace to understand their implications on the international and national levels. Moreover, the Academy also studies ethnicity, history, cultural and religious implications in the society of those countries to favor the activity of cultural mediators, humanitarian interventionists, international relations and law scholars.
Given the significant amount of research activities carried on by the Centro and the Academy, they both organize thematic workshop and formation courses for freelance workers and students and for 2019 the main theme was the European Union and the migratory crisis.
3. Before the Internship
While I was searching for internships I had many difficulties in finding an institute or institution that was in line with the skills I wanted to develop and the activities I wanted to carry on at my first work experience. I opted for a study center or think-tank because I believe research to be a crucial element for the development of new knowledge and new policies. I had various
opportunities in different places in Italy and in Germany, but I opted for the European Safety Academy because my supervisor, Alessandro, developed for me a personalized internship program aimed at creating a link between my
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academic career, especially my thesis, and the internship. This, I believe was for me the best opportunity because I was offered the possibility of choosing my own activities (of course among a range they proposed me) and to
modulate them according to my studies and topics of interest. I believe this to be of crucial importance for an intern because it allowed me to work on
subjects of interest and to develop my knowledge on those topics I want to work within my future. Thus, overpaid internships or internships in places with a known name, I accepted the place at the Academy and I believe this has been a great choice.
Before starting the place, my supervisor sent me lots of documents and
information I had to analyze, writing procedures and research databases and I have to admit this was a bit annoying because I am used to learning through daily practice. Also, before starting the placement my supervisor wanted to know more about my research interests and the topics I have treated on the papers I wrote during my master, so I had an interview with my supervisor to discuss them and explain why I was interested in them.
I had many expectations about the internship and what my working life would have been like. When my supervisor asked me what I wanted to learn and which skills I wanted to improve during the internship, the first thing I thought was about teamwork because during the master I worked at almost every project individually while I strongly believe in teamwork. Also, given the possibility this internship gave me to work in two languages, I was expecting to learn how to write different kinds of reports on different subjects in
different languages and as a consequence to improve my technical language skills. Finally and more importantly, after an entire year based on almost only theory and theoretical debates, what I was hoping the most from this
internship was to develop a complete understanding of how theoretical
research contributes to shaping policies and world dynamics. This would have given me the possibility to finally apply all those theories to world practices.
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According to this, I started preparing myself for the internship reading briefs and reports from previous interns and studying the material they provided me with. Since, as individual activity, my supervisor assigned me two areas of crisis on which I had to conduct studies and analysis, I started making
researches and deepening my knowledge on Syria and Yemen which are also both linked to the research work I have done during the Master. The
preliminary research I carried on was about economy, security, conflicts, civil society, politics and development and helped me build a solid basis and to create my own personal starting point for the production of future reports and researches. Of course, I was also scared about not being ready enough or good enough and so I prepared lots of notes and maps to feel myself more secure and not being unprepared when I would have to start the internship.
At the practical level, the Academy is in Rome and I lived there for three years during my bachelor so this was not a new experience for me. I easily found accommodation and I had no difficulties and this was the easiest part of the preparatory phase.
4. Stimulating the skills
Working in a private Center without a big, fancy and famous name gave me the possibility to work in a small environment where I was followed step by step by my supervisor and where I had the possibility to develop my
knowledge as I wanted to and on the subjects, I am interested in. Maybe, in a bigger company this wouldn’t have been possible. Also, working in a small institute in a cooperative environment with free-lance workers, other interns, as well as experts, gave me the possibility to discuss my tasks and confront people with different backgrounds and life experiences. This, in turn, helped me expanding my knowledge and looking at issue I already analyzed and new ones from a different point of view. Moreover, during the placement this direct confrontation with other people helped me develop new interesting
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ways to accomplish the assigned tasks. Through this, I developed new skills, strengthened the ones I already had and more importantly I have put into practice what the master taught me during this whole year. Indeed, thanks to the large amount of activity and analysis research I carried on individually, the individual and group presentations and the strict deadlines and planning this Master’s structure has, I was able to carry on the works my supervisor assigned me and also, in some cases, to contribute to the work of my
colleagues who, having studied in other Universities with different programs and methodologies, were not familiar with research, analysis and the writing of research papers and policy briefs. On the other hand, working with people with a more practical-oriented background made helped me integrate my theoretical-oriented approach with the practice, a thing that was not common during the master's program.
The knowledge I gained during the Master and especially during the seminars helped me in the work environments because of all the discussion activity we had in class. Moreover, the variety of topics studied during the Theory of International Relations lectures and the different perspectives offered on the most significant world politics dynamics helped me approaching in a holistic manner to the different tasks I was in charge of at work. Also, the large
amount of research work and of deadlines I had to respect during my journey in the Netherlands, helped me working with discipline and respect for the schedules.
5. Student position and description of tasks
Reflecting on my experience at the European Safety Academy, I think about this period and I realize that these months went faster than I expected, and the way it made me grow helped me sharpen my future goals. All the
experience, including the tasks I was assigned with, what my supervisor and colleagues taught me and the issues and difficulties I had to face and solve on
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my own, I gained during this placement I believe will be of crucial importance for my future. To overcome the difficulties and carry on all these activities, did not only require me to put into practice my academic skills and knowledge but also what I have learned during my previous jobs. Indeed, even if it seems to be irrelevant, to develop a coherent and cohesive way to work in a team, the skills I have learned working in a team as a sous chef became relevant.
During the first 10 days, I needed to be integrated into the institute: I had to learn their procedures, their ways of making workshops, how to read the data they produce, how to use their database, how they make briefs and reports and what kind of information they choose to analyze and how. This was the most difficult part of the job because it took me a few days to become part of the mechanisms. Indeed, for the first days I was only assisting and observing how my colleagues were working and try to learn as fast as I could. I believe this has been the best way to make me learn how the institute works and makes research because, even if as an observer, I was being included in the work and I could ask all the questions I had because my colleagues were open to answer me and help me. After these first days, I started being involved in the activities of the Center and carrying on the tasks I was assigned.
The work I was in charge of consisted of three activities:
❖ Monitoring and analysis of security, conflict-related and human rights issues in the assigned areas (Syria and Yemen) –
International Crisis Areas Monitoring Project;
❖ Preparation of a weekly report analyzing the most significant issues, their relevance at the national and international level and their implication for the civil society to aggregate with the weekly works of my colleagues in order to publish a weekly report on the European Academy database and website;
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❖ Preparation of a weekly presentation for the weekly meeting with my team colleagues and Mr. Alessandro Conte during which we exposed the main findings of the researches and discuss them. Moreover, when I had my first interview with Mr. Alessandro Conte he
remained fascinated by the topic of my Master thesis: human trafficking and the contribution of regional organizations to fight it with a particular focus on the European Union. For this reason, he asked me if as a final work for the Academy I wanted to produce a report on the same topic with a focus on European policies and trafficking inside and outside the Union to publish on their website and in the European Affairs Magazine of the Academy. I admit this was surprising and I was really anxious about it, but being assigned with a job like this has exceeded my expectations. Probably, this was the most difficult task I was assigned with because I had to do it while I was doing all the other ones, plus I was writing the thesis and even if one may think the topic was the same, it was not because I had to adopt a totally different perspective of the issue and I had to reduce everything to 2000 words.
Moreover, I had to work on the graphic of the report and I was not very good at it. However, I believe all the writing I did during the master has been really helpful for the writing of this report and especially, the fact that Mrs. Caitilin Ryan – one of my lecturer during the Master – made me write a policy brief with all the graphics things and the guidelines from official organizations helped me for this work. Probably, without this experience the result of my report would have been different and it would not have been published.
6. The individual work
The largest part of the work was individual and consisted of research, analysis and writing activities. Daily, I had to consult databases on previous researches and websites of governments, governmental and non-governmental
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collect information about the areas I was assigned with. For the purpose of this activity, the amount of individual research and sources selection I
conducted during the Master has been of crucial importance. Indeed, having worked so much with research and academic debates over a variety of issues prepared me really well for what I had to do at the Academy. Indeed, without the preparation the University of Groningen gave me it would have been more difficult to start this work. However, while the research I did during my
journey at the University was mainly theoretically driven and oriented, the research for the Academy was more practically driven because it was aimed at writing briefs and reports that organizations, private and public agencies or other entities could consult and use to develop policies or initiatives.
When I started the internship they provided me with a format for the reports I had to make daily and weekly. While the daily ones were mainly for internal consultations, the weekly ones were published on the website every Friday after the meeting with my team. For the weekly work, each one of us had to fill in the format with a description and analysis of the issues concerning the assigned areas. I think that having a fixed weekly deadline helped me work with discipline and develop a significant multitasking skill that I believe will be crucial in my future work career. Moreover, I believe that combining theoretical and practical driven research methods helped me learning a new way of making research which is not limited to theory or to practice. Finally, during my individual research activity, differently from the University during which I was free to consult each type of website or journal, during the
placement they provided me a list of databases and websites and this was a big difficulty to overcome for me. Indeed, I was not used to be limited in my research activity and during the first weeks it was difficult for me to consult only the database and website they told me to because I always wanted to double-check or if I knew the topic, recur to the previous sources and knowledge I had on it.
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As I previously mentioned, at the end of the internship my supervisor wanted me to write a report on human trafficking and the European Union. This, as well, did not come without difficulties. I felt the tension of working on a thing that had to be published and consequently, other people could consult it and find it interesting or annoying or not well done; the judgment of people scared me a lot. However, my supervisor was really helpful and encouraged me a lot. Because the topic of the report was similar to the one I have chosen for my thesis, one may think that it was easier for me to write it, however it was not because of the differences in the purpose of the writing. I had to conduct my research based on the analysis of both statistics and qualitative sources and this was another difficulty because I was not really used to make statistical analysis. To overcome this, I studied statistics and statistical
analysis and I asked one of my colleagues with an informatics background to help me. This helped me gain new knowledge in statistics and more than this, encouraged me to ask help to other people which was one of my biggest
limits.
As a result, my report has been published in the website of the Academy and I am very proud and satisfied because I think this is my payback for all the work and sacrifices I have done during the Master and the placement and I have to profoundly thank my supervisor Alessandro for giving me the honor and pleasure to see my work published.
7. Working in a team
Besides the activities and tasks that I had to carry on individually, during this placement I had to take part in many team activities and works. Since the beginning I was paired with other two guys, Luca and Mattia with whom I had to work for the entire length of the placement.
While I independently and individually carried on the daily activity, the
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Wednesday or Friday, my team colleagues and the supervisor Alessandro had a meeting and each one of use presented the research and analysis done
during the week. This activity was really similar to the presentations I had during the Pre-Master and the Master, thus I was really confident in
preparing the slides and the discourse every week. What I was not prepared for was the discussion because I believe that during the Master my colleagues were not really interested in asking questions or going deeper into the
presented topics. Conversely, during these meetings there was a real
discussion after the presentations where the questions were many and really specific. After the first weeks I got used to it and I was less and less nervous every time.
In addition, we were paired as a team because every week one of us had to be responsible for the editing and publishing of the weekly report. The main difficulties I faced during the placement have to be attributed to this task because of three reasons: one member of our team never respected deadlines and when it was his turn he never published the report on time and the entire team paid the price; I am used to working individually because in that way I do not have to depend on other people timing and issues; it was not easy to combine different backgrounds, way of thinking and working especially because on the other guys was a bachelor student so he took the job very easily. Indeed, during the first weeks we discussed a lot on how to handle the work because each one of us had his own ideas and was convinced of his methods. I believe that this is the hard part of being part of the team because at the beginning each person wants to prevail or wants to impose his ideas but in the end, the team does not benefit from this attitude. Thus, after few weeks during which we were not really able to work as a team, we learned how to cooperate and put the best of each one of us at the service of the group.
The experience of working in a team for three months helped me overcome all my barriers about trusting the work of other people and the fact that I am a
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really individualistic person. My journey in the Netherlands did not really give me the possibility to go beyond this side of me because 90% of the work that I have done there was individual and I believe the placement was crucial for this aspect. Indeed, after three months I have learned how to cooperate, to respect other people’s point of view, to put my skills at the service of the team and to put the team need beyond mines. Also, because the guys I was working with were from different backgrounds, I enriched myself from notions of informatics and international relations studied from a different perspective and with different methods.
As a group, we had to support each other and try to do always what was best for the work of the group. At the end of my journey in Rome, I can tell that I have learned a lot from this experience and I changed my attitude towards teamwork which I believe will be really important for my future. Also, after these three months I value more dialogue and confrontation with other people because previously, I was more focused on what I was thinking and how I was working without asking for help, support or advises. Now, I would ask for confrontation and I would give more value to other people’s opinions and ideas.
8. My reflections and conclusion
After this placement period, there are many things I have learned and I can tell I am really satisfied with my experience at the European Safety Academy. One may think that the only way to get an interesting internship is to work for the UN or the EU or other famous institutions, but through this experience I have learned that even a smaller institute can offer really interesting
opportunities and insights. Indeed, I believe that during this placement I had the possibility to improve the skills I gained during the master about research with qualitative and quantitative methods, academic writing, organization and analytical thinking and to develop new ones about communication, public
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relations, knowledge formation, informatics, statistics, design and
academic/professional writing in both Italian and English. Furthermore, carrying on daily research activity in these three months I have learned many different notions, concepts, policies and information, and this allowed me to increment my knowledge day by day and to keep myself always updated. Moreover, before getting this internship I was really scared and not confident with my skills. I can tell that this internship made me understand that I can be confident about myself and my means. Thus, I am not only satisfied with the quality of the work I have done, but also at the human level I am proud of the growth path I have made. For this I have to thank my supervisor
Alessandro who allowed me to do an internship based on the topics and sector I am interested in – which I believe is really difficult to find – and supervised me but without making me feel wrong or controlled, and my colleagues who supported me and helped me when I needed it.
Besides the topics, which were deeply connected with the ones I have treated during the International Relations Master in Groningen, this internship was really connected to the activities of research and writing on which the Master is based. As such, it has been easy for me to put into practice all the skills I gained during this year in the Netherlands. Especially, the master helped me develop a high level of independence in carrying on every work and multiple works at the same time; this has been really useful during the placement given the multiple tasks I was in charge of. Moreover, I finally had the
possibility to look at some topics such as conflicts, failing states, globalization, human rights and humanitarian aid from a practical perspective rather than a theoretical one and this helped me have a complete picture of them. As such, I believe this placement, in a certain manner completed the journey I have made in Groningen and vice-versa. Indeed, while immediately after the
master I thought that research was too theoretical for me, after this placement I changed my opinion and I reconsidered the research sector as a future
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possible career opportunity. Also, while during the master I mainly learned how to conduct research with qualitative methods because the teachers advise against the quantitative one if you do not have any background, during the placement with the support of my colleagues I have learned how to use quantitative methods. Finally, since during the master the majority of my colleagues were also friends and tended to not create a real discussion after presentations, during the internship people asked lots of questions and created real discussions during which I had to explain myself and defend my own work and I believe this strongly stimulated my communication skills and helped me learn how to head a proper discussion with both students like me and experts.
Concluding, I consider this internship very significant for my growth both as a person and as an employer. Honestly, I did not believe that it would satisfy me that much, but it did because of the quality of the work I was assigned with and of the people I worked with. It was both linked to my academic career and my previous working experience because, even if they were in different sectors, the skills of humility and dedication I gained before made me be a good employer, open to confrontation and proactive. I think that these three months provided me with a solid background and helped me fostering my ideas on a future working career that I would like to be about human rights and conflict. Lastly, thanks to these experiences and the skills it made me gain, I had an interview for an internship at the George Marshall European Center for Security Studies that I have been proud to accept and I look forward to starting.
