The Think Tank Young Professional Development Program

The Think Tank Young Professional Development Program intends to attract recent graduates of MA and PhD programs in the social sciences and humanities to select think tanks in Central and Eastern Europe, South Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union, giving them an opportunity to gain firsthand policy research and advocacy experience at a renowned think tank in the region. The program is designed to benefit both young returning professionals and their host organizations.

With this initiative, the Open Society Think Tank Fund (OSF TTF) aims at supporting up to 15 fresh graduates per year from high-quality universities in the OECD countries who want to return to their country and assume posts in think tanks interested in attracting young staff. With these activities, they want to help young and talented people enter the region’s think tanks; provide additional capacity building with talented returnees getting engaged in policy-relevant research, analysis, and advocacy under the guidance of experienced staff; and assist think tanks in recruiting new talent into their ranks.

Depending on a research topic, individual programs at hosting organizations will last up to six months and start from November 2015.

Throughout this period, the young professionals are expected to engage in ongoing policy research projects:

• A full research or baseline study (young researchers are expected to formulate clear tangible outcomes at the end of the study/survey);
• Policy papers, briefs, or newsletters;
• An organized event or conference (young researchers should contribute to thematic development of an event organized within the program term);
• Any other policy-related product or activity that benefits both the individual and the hosting organization (e.g. designing and hosting policy blogs).

Eligibility

• Have graduated in the past three years with a PhD, LLM or MA degree in the social sciences and humanities from universities in the OECD countries;
• Be a citizen or permanent resident of Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, or Ukraine;
• Applicants should be between 23 and 35 years of age at the time of application;
• Applicants must be fluent in written and spoken English and the working language of the host organization.

Fellowship

The fellowship is full funded by OSF TTF Young Professional Development Program (up to USD 7,000)

Application deadline: 24 August 2015

Read more and apply here.