Talent Programme for Students
Are you looking for an opportunity to contribute to the global fight against torture and organized violence as part of your study programme?
Are you driven by a desire to learn and to put your knowledge to work? Do you have a documented interest related to DIGNITY’s field of work and a strong academic record? If so, DIGNITY’s Talent Programme might be for you.
Closed for applications
About the Programme
DIGNITY’s Talent Programme is a programme specially designed for ambitious senior-level students seeking an internship opportunity as part of their academic programme or planning to write a master’s thesis in the field of torture or related topics.
The Talent Programme offers an inspiring experience at the intersection between theory and practice. As a DIGNITY Talent, you will have the opportunity to put the skills you have been taught at university to use, to develop and contribute to knowledge production and the making of a better world together with other DIGNITY Talents and under the qualified supervision and mentorship of experienced DIGNITY staff.
Key areas of work
- Prevention of torture
- Rehabilitation including MHPSS to survivors of trauma, torture, and violence
- Medical aspects of torture
- Public policy and advocacy
- Human rights and international criminal law
- Development and project management
- Communication and fundraising
- Data management, statistics, monitoring, and evaluation
What we value
DIGNITY highly values interdisciplinary approaches to understand and address the complex challenges of torture prevention and rehabilitation. It is a key element of the Talent Programme to learn from colleagues with different professional backgrounds and projects, most notably during the Programme’s weekly meetings, where talents get a chance to interact with the wide range of experts and professionals in DIGNITY. Previous DIGNITY Talents have come from the disciplines of public health, law, medicine, psychology, anthropology, sociology, development studies, political science, human security, refugee and migration studies, journalism and many more.
For the Autumn semester 2024 we are especially interested in students with the following interests:
- The interpretation of torture in international criminal law (Law)
- The use of medicolegal evidence in international criminal proceedings (Law)
- The role of CSOs in ensuring criminal accountability and the overlapping standards of documentation (Law)
- The interplay between victim support, humanitarian aid, and documentation of torture (Law)
- Torture methods and their health consequences (Public health)
- Health in prisons (Public health)
- Monitoring, evaluation and learning with a specific focus on qualitative and quantitative methods (Public Health or social science)
- Project and development work with specific focus on the MENA region (International development, refugee studies, or student of migration, Middle Eastern studies, human rights)
- Local human rights accountability in connection with a project featuring collaborations in Myanmar and Egypt (International development, social science, anthropology, human rights)
- Contribute to interventions and research on juvenile and criminal justice pathways, focusing among others on the Philippines and Tunisia (International development, social science, anthropology, human rights)
- Support to DIGNITY’s research on MHPSS (Psychology or public health)
FAQ Talent Programme
Read more about who can apply, deadlines and find out more about the two tracks; Interns and master’s thesis students.
For questions, please contact:
Talent Programme coordinator, Vibeke Gleitze Schaffenberg
To be eligible to apply, you must:
- Be enrolled in an academic programme with an internship option or plan to write a master’s thesis within one of DIGNITY’s key areas of work (mentioned above).
- Have a strong academic record
- Have excellent English skills
- For internships at DIGNITYs Rehabilitation Clinic in Copenhagen, fluency in Danish is required.
- The Talent Programme is unremunerated whether you are an intern or a master’s thesis student. DIGNITY does furthermore not reimburse general expenses incurred during the Talent Program. Accordingly, Talents are responsible for expenses regarding transportation, insurance outside the workplace, housing, and cost of living.
Interns and master’s thesis students;
A place on the Talent Programme offers you the chance to contribute to DIGNITY’s vital work against torture and violence and to collaborate with researchers and qualified programme staff on ongoing projects either as an intern or a master’s thesis student:
- Internships last minimum 3 months and maximum 6 months with a minimum of 25 working hours per week during which you work on one or more DIGNITY projects under the guidance of a qualified mentor. Interning with DIGNITY gives you a unique opportunity to engage in and learn about the dynamic field of human rights, torture rehabilitation and torture prevention in practice.
- Master’s thesis workplaces are available for 4 to 6 months. You work on your thesis with co-supervision from a relevant and qualified DIGNITY staff member in addition to your main supervisor at your university. Writing a master’s thesis at DIGNITY gives you an opportunity to work academically on issues related to the causes, consequences or contexts of torture and violence and receive qualified co-supervision.
The Talent Programme follows the academic year and runs twice a year with a spring semester starting around February 1st and a fall season starting around September 1st.
To apply, you will be required to prepare following documents:
- Letter of motivation of approximately 500 words, detailing:
- Your motivation for applying;
- what themes at DIGNITY you would be interested in working with and how your skills can be put to use within that theme;
- and whether you apply for an internship or a thesis-writing workplace.
- Curriculum Vitae
- Grade report from your educational institution
- An example of your written work in English (preferably bachelor assignment or equivalent)
We recommend that you familiarize yourself with DIGNITY’s work through the website before applying. All documents must be in PDF format and sent to vigs@dignity.dk We prefer to receive your application in English. You may expect to hear about the outcome of your application up to four weeks after the application deadline. If you require an earlier response, do reach out and we will see whether we can accommodate that.
The deadline for Autumn 2024 is April 12th, 2024.
You can expect to hear from us no later than 4 weeks after the application deadline.
If you are offered a placement DIGNITY expects you to participate actively in the weekly Talent meetings where DIGNITY staff and Talents present and discuss their work.
As an intern or a thesis student you will furthermore be invited to department and organizational meetings where we encourage Talents to participate.
Doing internships or doing field work for your master’s thesis abroad with a DIGNITY office or partner organisation is not possible through the talent programme. Any internships or field work abroad needs to be agreed to directly with the country office or the relevant partner organisation. DIGNITY can provide contact information if this is agreed to by the partner-organisation.