Jenna Higham, has just completed her FASS Placement with the London based Institute for Strategic Dialogue. ISD are a global counter-extremism organisation dedicated to powering new generations against hate and extremism. Below you can find a blog post detailing her experience of her time on placement, along with overviews of her role, the recruitment process, and more.
Recruitment Process:
I have interned for the Richardson Institute since October, and have been working on a project for Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) regarding the British Far Right. When the details of the FASS summer placements were released I immediately knew that I wanted to apply for the one with ISD because I had a real interest in their work, and I had enjoyed the research we had done for them. The recruitment process was straightforward; it consisted of submitting my CV alongside an application form detailing why I was both interested in and suitable for the position, followed by a Skype interview with members of the ISD team and two writing exercises. I felt that the interview had gone really well so was
incredibly pleased when I received a phone call later
that afternoon to tell me that I had been successful, and
that they wanted me to start in two weeks time.
Placement:
The placement was for four weeks and required me to be based in London for that time. Luckily I have family in London who were happy for me to come and stay with them, which meant that I could focus on getting ready for the placement itself.
My first day was very interesting but also (understandably) quite tiring. I began the role two days after the London Bridge attack, and as ISD work on counter extremism it meant that the team were really busy responding to media requests as well as working on all their usual projects. I was given an office tour by the Office Manager and given my laptop, work pass and other bits and pieces before heading into the board room for my first staff meeting. There I met most of the team, who all introduced themselves and told me a little bit about the projects they work on. The rest of the afternoon was spent getting to know the two teams that I would be working with, and setting out some ideas and goals that I would like to achieve while at ISD.
During my time at ISD I worked across two separate projects, which not only gave me plenty of variety but also allowed me to see the bigger picture of what ISD do. In the four weeks with ISD I got to try a variety of tasks, including writing ad copy and coming up with lists of keywords for a project with an online search provider, organising content for the social media feeds of another project, and doing research into counter-narratives. My supervisors were both also keen for me to have a go at writing some articles; one on fake news in the Baltics as they have an event happening in Latvia soon, and another on how the Far Right use grievance narratives. I’ve become so accustomed to writing academically, and so having the opportunity to write an opinion piece was brilliant but a real challenge! Each week saw me get involved with the weekly board meeting, where we talked through the bigger picture of what the team was doing that week, and I found this really useful in understanding how ISD manages to do what it does so effectively.
My biggest project was to create a central database of counter-narrative content that will be used by the entire team. This was an ambitious task that required me to scope out material, analyse its suitability and collate the data into a coherent database. I started with a rough list of about 90 pieces of content and grew the database to one with over 320 pieces, and it is perhaps the piece of work I was most proud of achieving during my time at ISD. It also allowed me to liaise with the majority of the team in gathering relevant content, and everyone was so incredibly welcoming and friendly from the moment l arrived. Everyone made time to grab a quick brew with me and talk through their role, their projects and their career path which has been invaluable, and I felt like part of the team from day one. I also made sure to attend social events with the team, including a team-bonding evening, and I really enjoyed the opportunity to get to know everyone outside of the office environment.
Four weeks was never going to be long enough but I loved every minute at ISD, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend both it and the FASS Placement scheme to anyone considering doing what I did. I’ve been able to get involved in a range of projects, the team were wonderful and have given me lots of ideas as to what I can do next once I’ve finished my Masters, and the extra research opportunities will hopefully improve my dissertation too! I couldn’t have hoped for a better experience.
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