Category: Internship

Andrea will be an intern at the ÅIPI until the middle of December. During the internship Andrea focuses mainly on the information dissemination of the institute and the organisation of seminars. She will also participate in developing the webpage. Andrea studies International Public Law and Communication & Journalism at Åbo Akademi University in Turku. Next spring, she is planning to finish her studies and write her master thesis about sexual minorities as refugees. With a background as a journalist Andrea is looking forward to learn more about the tasks of the Information Officer and get an insight into the research of the Institute.​

Karita Kostiainen is an intern at the Åland Islands Peace Institute during February-April 2016. She is currently on her final semester of her graduate studies in International Security and Law at the University of Southern Denmark, writing her thesis simultaneously with the internship. Previously she has acquired a Bachelor in International Relations from the Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia. In her field she is especially interested in reconciliation and women’s participation in peace processes. Karita’s motive to intern at the ÅIPI is to gain valuable practical knowledge of the work of a research institute and familiarize herself with the Åland Example. At the ÅIPI she will be mainly engaged with the Kastelholm talks project and media monitoring among other tasks.

Silke Jungbluth has been the ÅIPI summer intern in June and July 2015. Whilst originally from Germany, Silke is currently pursuing her master´s studies in peace, mediation and conflict research at Tampere University. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology/ European Ethnology and Political Science from the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – University in Frankfurt am Main. Silke has been able to do some preparatory research for her master´s thesis on Åland, while at the at the same time learning about the Åland Example and its components. Currently, her special interest lies with Kurdish identity and other issues, in particular the Kurdish diaspora in Finland and around Europe.

Fanny Thalén is a communications intern at the Åland Islands Peace Institute from the 1st of November 2014 until mid January 2015. She is mainly involved in activities related to information and publications at the institute. Fanny Thalén is a final-year student of media and communication studies at Europe’s northernmost university, Luleå Technical University. She has previously worked as a radio journalist and has been studying Slavonic studies at the Humboldt University of Berlin. Fanny Thalén speaks fluent Swedish, German and English, as well as some Russian and Danish. On a good day she also speaks French and Finnish.

Jennifer Linder is an intern on the Åland Islands Peace Institute during the autumn 2014. As an intern she is primarily involved with the project Fair Sex where she is conducting workshops with the students. Jennifer is also studying for a bachelor’s degree in international social work at the University of Gävle. She is interested in pursuing work related to questions of equality and wrote her thesis about men who get subjected to intimate partner violence within heterosexual relationships. The title of the essay is as follows: “A qualitative study on the experiences of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) from the perspective of male victims”.

Alexandre Zoller and Paul Dos Santos coming from France are interning at the ÅIPI between 10 and 15 March 2014. They are on Åland for an exchange together with fellow students at the Upper secondary school Saint Dominique in Neuilly, close to Paris. In their own words: We are staying in the archipelago of Åland for a week and working in the peace institute. We decided to apply for working in this foundation because of our interest in international topics. In fact, as we can notice with the name, this foundation deals with a practical and theorical way to live in peace. To act the peace institute organizes lectures about equality, respect and welcome people from around the world. This journey will probably be very enriching.

Kristina Dulebova is from Slovakia and is a volunteer at AIPI from 8.10.2014 to 30.09.2015. Kristina has a Bachelor’s degree in international relations and diplomacy from Matej Bel University in Slovakia and currently she is finishing her Master’s degree in international relations at Istanbul University. Current research topic of her thesis is role of the 3rd countries in mediation of conflicts, analyzing mediation of Slovak Republic in Cyprus bi communal dialogue as a case study. She has previously worked as an intern in organizations working with Armenian and Kurdish minorities in Turkey. Therefore at AIPI she would like to improve her knowledge about mediation of conflicts and working on projects concerning empowerment and human rights. She speaks Slovak and Czech (native), Russian, English, Turkish and German.

Varvara Barysevich is an intern at the ÅIPI during the summer 2014. She is a Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research Master’s degree Program student at the University of Tampere, Finland, and previously studied International Law at the Belarusian State University, Belarus. Her areas of inquiry are civil society, human rights, and means of democracy promotion, with a specific focus on bottom-up democratization in Belarus. She has also some experience in working for human rights organizations in Belarus. At the institute she will mainly work on strengthening of contacts with Belarusian NGOs in the field of gender equality and women’s empowerment, and assist in the creation of an education tool on the use of autonomy as a territorial management tool.

My name is Garance Robert de Massy, I am 16 years old and I have made a one-week internship at the Åland Islands Peace Institute. These five days were really interesting and enriching. I have learnt a lot about the Åland Islands and the ÅIPI. I really admire what they do and I am really interested in civil society work,  so this internship was perfect for me. I had the chance to participate a little bit on a project named “Nendre”; with the  generous help of the workers of Peace Institute, I have created a French language brochure about one of the  Peace Institute´s partner organizations in Lithuania and sent the brochure to potential partner organizations in  France. I have also collected French language articles about the Åland Example for the webpage of the Institute. Moreover, they gave me the opportunity to participate in information sessions and meetings about the  different programs or parts of the Peace Institute. Two weeks ago, I did not know the Åland Islands Peace Institute, and now, I am waiting to turn 18 years old to become a volunteer. Garance Robert de Massy

In the summer of 2013, the Peace Institute has two summer interns: Katharina Hill is studying for a master’s degree in international security and law at the University of Southern Denmark. For two months, she will work with, among other things, a report on gender equality in peace processes and with Nordic co-operation on peace issues. Katharina speaks German, English, Danish and a little Swedish, Finnish and French. Erasmus intern Liuda Donielaite is studying telecommunications engineering at Vilnius Gedimina University of Technology in Lithuania. From July to September, she will work to review the Peace Institute’s needs in IT, with updating of website functions and with individual support for staff. Liuda speaks Lithuanian, English and a little German.