A free, self-paced internship for students and young researchers. Six video lessons, four writing tasks, published work and a certificate on completion.
You work through six narrated video lessons on peace, security and research writing. Along the way you submit four tasks, which build up to a finished piece of your choice: a commentary of 700 to 900 words on a current question, or a review of a recent book on international affairs. The strongest pieces are published on this website under the author's name.
| Week | Lesson | Task |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peace, conflict and prevention: preventive peace, people and peace, peace hospitality | Introduce yourself and choose a topic or a book |
| 2 | Small states between great powers | — |
| 3 | Research skills: finding and citing good sources | Five sources, with a line on each |
| 4 | Writing a commentary or a book review | — |
| 5 | Writing a short policy brief | First draft of your commentary or review |
| 6 | Revising and finishing | Final commentary or book review |
Each intern joins one of the Institute's five research centres and writes on its subjects:
Young people aged 18 to 30: university students at any level, recent graduates and early-career researchers in international relations, political science, peace and conflict studies, history, law or a related subject. You need good written English and about six to eight hours a week.
The first group starts on 1 November 2026. Applications stay open, and new interns can start at the beginning of any month.
When all four tasks are in, the Certificate of Completion is issued automatically and emailed to you. It names your research centre, carries its own number, and anyone can check it on this website.
Interns whose work is of a high standard may be invited to join the Institute as an Associate Fellow, and later to become a Fellow, and to keep writing commentaries and book reviews for GPIL. Fellowship is by invitation and is based on the quality of published work.
You receive an email straight away with the link to the first lesson. You can start the same day.