Create an impact with a Public Policy | Internship

Public Policy|Southampton in partnership with Excel Southampton Internship Programme offers 12 week term-time and 6 weeks summer term paid internship opportunities to University of Southampton students.

Our interns work closely with the Public Policy|Southampton Operational Team to connect relevant stakeholders with university researchers to promote their research and attempt to influence public policy on a local, national and an international level. Interns will manage various projects, organizing and running a diverse range of events during their time with the team.

If you are a UoS student interested in gaining hands-on experience get in touch at publicpolicy@soton.ac.uk

If you want to get involved with the policy process and maximise your engagement with policymakers, we highly recommend to join our FREE Membership. To find out more and to register please on the link below.

We are hiring!

Are you interested in gaining exposure to the dynamic world of public policy? Would you like to support the role of University of Southampton researchers when it comes to evidence-based policymaking? Public Policy|Southampton (PPS) has exciting vacancies for Digital Communications Officers within the team.

Public Policy|Southampton Internship

Role: Digital Communications Officer

Salary Range: £11.82 per hour

Contract: Part-time, internship 

Apply here: https://mycareer.soton.ac.uk/leap/jobs.html?id=125899&service=Careers%20Service

PPS' aim is to enhance the relationship between researchers at the University of Southampton and policymakers at a local, sub-national, national and international level. The successful candidate will work closely with the Senior Policy Officer and Communications Lead in order to deliver the team’s communications plan whilst gaining a unique understanding of the world of policy.

In order to achieve its mission, PPS communicates with both internal and external audiences through various methods to promote its numerous activities. These range from policy engagement support for University research projects to engaging with Governmental or Parliamentary Consultations. We also create our own podcast and a series of policy engagement best practice videos, all of which are supported by the Digital Communications Officers.

This role would suit a masters or PhD level student with an interest in public policy. Candidates will receive training and support throughout the placement. Please contact A.Qureshi@soton.ac.uk with any queries. 

Click on the images below to read the blogs of our most recent Interns reflecting on their time working with PPS.

As well as providing an invaluable insight into public policy, experiences gained on the internship may help interns develop and demonstrate skills including:

• Collating information and reinterpret in briefs and reports
• Resourceful and initiative
• Experience of working in an office or administrative environment
• Knowledge of political systems and current affairs

What does the Internship entail?

Public Policy|Southampton aims to widen and deepen the relationship between researchers at the University of Southampton and policymakers at a local, sub-national, national and international level. In order to achieve this aim we communicate with our internal and external audiences currently via our monthly newsletter, existing social channels (including Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn) as well as content hosted on our website and via our Youtube channel.

The successful candidate will work closely with the Policy Officer & Communications Lead (Thea Kouraki) in order to deliver the following:

• Creating and generating social media content for PPS accounts on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook
• Scheduling posts (via Buffer or other suitable provider) in order to maximise engagement on social media according to the weekly communications plan  
• Producing data analytics and report these analytics on a monthly basis 
• Supporting the development of the termly newsletter by creating images (via Photoshop) and text/blurb  
• Populating with content the PPS website (blogs, consultations, projects, policy briefs etc.) 
• Updating the Membership database on Mailchimp on a regular basis by uploading data from Microsoft Forms relevant survey
• Reviewing policy podcasts in collaboration with the podcast provider to make sure that the output meets PPS standards
• Reviewing policy videos in collaboration with the video provider to make sure that the output meets PPS standards  

Next steps

Our interns have gone on to further engage their interest in public policy, social and political issues. Either as leaders of student political parties, working for an MEP at the European Parliament, or working in partnership with the UN to develop global initiatives to support achieving the Sustainable Development Goals our interns have successfully built on their multi faceted workplace experience of interning with Public Policy|Southampton (PPS) to pursue their personal policy ambitions.

If you would like to benefit from this experience please email the team  with an covering letter explaining how this internship could benefit your development along with a CV.