PRS is a leading research group with the mission to strengthen India’s democracy by helping Parliament and state assemblies be more effective. These institutions make laws, hold the governments accountable and allocate public funds. It is important that they have information and analysis to perform their functions well, and that citizens have channels of engaging with their elected representatives.
PRS offers rolling internships throughout the year. The PRS staff consists of a team of dedicated professionals with different areas of expertise, and is broadly divided into the research and outreach departments. While the research team analyses legislative and policy issues of topical interest, the outreach team tracks the working of the legislatures and legislators, manages citizen engagement and is PRS’s interface with the MPs and MLAs. A prospective intern can apply for an internship in either/ both teams.
Structure of the internship
The internship varies from session to non-session time. During a Parliament session, PRS’s work is guided by the issues taken up in Parliament and interns are expected to work with the analysts on various research projects. They may also work with the outreach team to help with the media related output. During non-session periods, the interests of the individual intern are taken into consideration, and he/she is matched with an analyst(s) or outreach team member doing related work.
The successful completion of a PRS internship requires the intern to pursue and complete an internship project. The intern will be assisting analysts/outreach team member in their work, as well as undertaking an internship project.
The duration of the internship is flexible, but is normally between four and eight weeks. Interns are expected to report to office for the internship.
Please note that no accommodation or remuneration is provided. This is strictly an unpaid internship.
Expectations from interns
All interns should have a deep interest in the working of Parliament and the legislative process in India. In addition, an intern should have the following:
- Research interns: (i) strong analytical and problem solving skills; and (ii) strong writing skills.
- Data interns: (i) be well-versed with Microsoft Excel/Google Sheets, and one or more of these programming languages –Python/Java/C++/Javascript; and (ii) have exposure or prior experience in data scraping, wrangling, pre-processing, analysis, and visualisation, and/or applying machine learning techniques.
- Design interns: Basic understanding of design principles and familiarity with visualising data and text. Prior experience working with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, or similar software will be a plus.
Interested persons can fill in the application form. The form has to be filled out in one session, and there is no option of saving responses. You are expected to:
- write a short statement of purpose (not more than 500 words)
- upload an up-to-date resume in PDF format
- upload a writing sample on any policy issue (not more than 1000 words) in PDF format, or a relevant design work sample (up to two pages) in PDF format.
For any queries, please email us at [email protected].
Applications for the month of January will not be accepted after December 20, 2023.
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