Public Affairs Section Internship

Scope of work, duties and responsibilities

Would you like to help us communicate U.S. policy, history and culture to Danes? Do you want to be part of the biggest Public Diplomacy family in the world?
If you can say yes to these two questions you should apply for a Public Affairs Internship at the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen.

Who We Are
The Public Affairs Section (PAS) at the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen connects with all aspects of the Danish public. We communicate U.S. policy, culture, and history through many different channels and to many different audiences. We help get the Ambassador in the Danish media, we get U.S. officials and experts in the Danish media, we bring U.S experts to speak at universities, we educate future Danish leaders about the U.S., we bring U.S. artists to Denmark to perform and inform about U.S. culture, and we communicate all this through various media platforms. 

Who You Are
You are a resourceful and innovative university student with at least two years of studies behind you, a keen interest in international relations and a good understanding of the importance of communication in international relations. You study American Studies, some kind of social science, communication, law or similar. You have an interest in communicating the U.S. to a Danish audience. You believe that information and knowledge are vital when forming an opinion about an issue and you want to help making sure Danes have the most factual and complete knowledge about the U.S. You have an interest in telling America’s story and helping maintain the good and unique relationship that the U.S. and Denmark have enjoyed since 1801. You have substantial knowledge about Danish and American societies and values and the ability to explain American society to Danes. If we are really fortunate, you also have experience with web editing as well as video and photo editing and maybe even html programming. Creative minds are welcome!

You can handle many simultaneous tasks at any one time and you have a keen sense of priority.  You have excellent interpersonal skills and can communicate with 5^th graders as well as high level officials and diplomats in English and Danish.

Needless to say, your writing abilities are impeccable. You are familiar with using office software and social media platforms and you are able to exercise judgment when writing texts.

What You Will Be Doing
You will work with all aspects of what we do in PAS. The bulk of your work will be assisting the IRC Director in communicating what PAS and the Embassy as a whole are doing to the Danish public. You will do this through writing material for the embassy website as well as the embassy’s Facebook and Twitter sites and posting it to these sites. You will also be working on developing concepts for the Embassy’s YouTube videos and consequently bringing these concepts to life. Another major aspect of your job will be communicating the U.S. to Danish primary, secondary, and high school students via our youth outreach website. You will also be doing research as part of the embassy’s information service to the Danish public. You will interact with all sections of the embassy as well as participate in embassy events with outside contacts.

Timeframe and Terms
The internship duration is six months. There is an option of a full time (40 hours/week - 08.30-17.00) or part time (35 hours/week - 09.00-16.30) internship depending on your situation and/or requirements from your institution.

The internship is unpaid.

Relevance to the Student
The internship will be constructed to accommodate special requirements from the student’s school. The goal of the internship is to give the student insights into the workings of a US mission, American foreign policy, history, and culture, Public Diplomacy, as well as a general introduction into working in an international environment.

For more information about the Public Affairs Section, please visit the PAS web page.

To Apply

Follow the instructions on the FNSIP main page and indicate that you are applying for the PAS internship no later than December 21, 2012.

U.S. citizen? Please visit the internship main page to review the internship possibilities for U.S. citizens.