Intern wanted for spring 2021

The SDSN Northern Europe secretariat is looking for an intern during spring 2021. The aim of the internship project is to analyse how universities and colleges among members of SDSN Northern Europe communicate or do not communicate their sustainability work.

The Sustainable Development Solutions Network Northern Europe (SDSN NE) brings together more than 60 Nordic universities, colleges, and other knowledge institutions in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden to identify and fill knowledge gaps, provide high-quality education for sustainable development and provide advice and solutions for transformation into a sustainable society. The network is part of the global SDSN with more than 1000 member organizations around the world.

This is the internship project description.

1.      Task

As an intern at SDSN NE, you mainly collaborate with the communicator and plan up and carry out the work in dialogue with her. However, you are a member of the SDSN NE team and get to take part in the entire business and give input if you wish.

1.1.  Task description

The preliminary content of the project is presented below. Details are chiseled out together with the intern. Challenges are discussed on an ongoing basis during the project.

Aim: Analyse how universities and colleges among members of SDSN Northern Europe communicate or do not communicate their sustainability work.

This work is broken down into the following issues concerning universities and colleges among SDSN NE members:

• Is sustainability a clear priority in the communication of these organisations?
• Is Agenda 2030 a clear framework for how these organisations communicate their sustainability work?
• Is there a clear sustainability work in strategies and plans at the highest organizational level?

1.2.  Limitations

The assignment applies only to universities and colleges among SDSN Northern Europe members, about 45. Only communication in English is included, partly because of linguistic limitations, partly because a previous pilot study has shown that many of these organizations have strategic priorities regarding internationalization and increased intake of international students. In case of lack of time, the parts below are prioritized in numerical order.

1.3.  Sub-parts

To be able to answer the questions in 1.1, a number of studies are carried out.

1)      A visit to each selected member’s external, English website is made within a given period of 2-4 weeks. The site is reviewed, and the following questions are answered:

One or more of the following terms are mentioned on the start page:

• sustainability
• sustainable development
• Agenda 2030
• Sustainable Development Goals
• SDGs
• Global Goals
• future generation

Is any of the terms above mentioned in the member’s overall strategy or goals?

Does the selected member describe its overall, long-term work on sustainability two clicks away from the start page (at the most)?

Does the selected member use an url with the suffix “/sustainability” (or similar) to make it easier for search engines to find the content?

Does the selected member use any type of tag to make it easier for students to find sustainability-related courses or programs?

Does the selected member have visible activities towards a sustainable campus?

Does the selected member show its membership in SDSN NE?

How many hits do you get when you use the selected member’s own search engine to search for the terms above?

Additional questions:

Does the selected member have a sustainability centre within the organisation?

Is this centre is easily found from the member website?

Good examples of each question above are saved.

 

2)      To conduct a corresponding analysis for the top 10 rankings in the Times Higher Education (THE)  Impact Ranking 2020 (or 2021, depending on when it is reported).

3)      A visit to each selected member’s English, centrally administered, social channels is made within a given period of  2-4  weeks. Links to the channels are saved and the following question is answered:

One or more of the following terms are mentioned in the profile:

• sustainability
• sustainable development
• Agenda 2030
• Sustainable Development Goals
• SDGs
• Global Goals
• future generation

4)      The Meltwater service (or equivalent) is used to find out what the general media footprint of the selected members looks like. The following keywords are used.

How many hits can be found where one or more of the following terms are mentioned:

• sustainability
• sustainable development
• Agenda 2030
• Sustainable Development Goals
• SDGs
• Global Goals
• future generation

1.4.  Delivery

The assignment is reported to SDSN NE via a report that includes an overall analysis of how the group of universities and colleges among SDSN NE’s members communicates sustainable development. The report shall also include a recommendation on how universities should communicate sustainable development, based on good examples taken by members and/or top 10 in the IMPACT rankings.

2.      Requirements

The internship is suitable for you studying at the university/college level. The internship must be part of a course, or similar. Of course, you have an interest and commitment to sustainable development and know about Agenda 2030 and the global sustainable development goals. A special interest in analysis is a priority.

3.      Scope

Full-time according to the working hours that apply at the workplace. Scope in weeks can be discussed but at least half-semester practice 8-10 weeks. The work is done remotely.

 

If you are interested, please send an email to nina.silow@chalmers.se. Include a personal description of yourself, your background and describe why this internship would be of value to you.

Welcome to apply! The deadline for application is 22 January 2021.