Exciting Time

In the spring of 2020, I did my internship at the division of “International Cooperation on Biodiversity” of the “Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety” in Bonn for twelve weeks. Three reasons that made it a very exciting and special time were:
– Germany prepared itself to takeover the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (second half of 2020);
– The draft of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework has been developed – which originally was planned to be adopted during the CBD COP 15 (15th “Conference of the Parties” to the “Convention on Biological Diversity”) in Kunming, China, in October, 2020, within the German EU Presidency. However, the COP 15 has been postponed to 2021 due to the corona pandemic;
– The corona pandemic has started to spread in Germany.

Corona and the Internship

At the beginning of the internship, I was mainly involved in the preparations for the CBD COP 15. However, the CBD COP 15 process was shifted because of the corona pandemic. Concerning my internship alone, the corona pandemic had disadvantages as well as advantages:
The biggest disadvantage was that I could not enter the ministry building anymore after my first weeks. Instead, I had to work from home like my colleagues did but it turned out to work surprisingly well.
The biggest advantage was that I got insight how a federal ministry is working during a crisis. Due to the crisis, I could witness how the ministry handles a totally new, dynamic situation right from the start and I was closely involved. My tasks switched from the topic “CBD COP 15” to the new topic “nature destruction and zoonoses”.

Tasks

Some of my tasks were:
– Review of comments on the latest IPCC (“Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change”) Assessment Report (AR6) within the peer review process;
– Analysis of preparatory documents for the CBD COP 15 and defining and evaluating indicators;
– Contributing to the preparations of a Federal Press Conference held by the Environment Minister;
– Preparation of an interview with the Environment Minister;
– Involvement in the creation of an internal strategic discussion paper;
– Responding to citizen´s e-mails;
– Preparation of an internal expert talk and giving an internal presentation;
– Preparation of speaking notes for the Minister and Parliamentary State Secretary;
– Preparation of the participation of the Minister in an online-panel;
– Review of different working papers, amongst others, within the interdepartmental coordination.

Working as Policy Officer

I am very grateful that my unit and subdivision had confidence in me and handed tasks with high responsibilities over to me. Those sometimes challenging tasks allowed me to get deeper insights into policy and now I feel better prepared for a job position after the university.
I hold the employees of the Ministry in high esteem. They have to deal with a high workload and oftentimes must fulfil their demanding tasks, which have a high responsibility, in a little while. Those experiences were very valuable to me because I could feel the work as policy officer very closely.
In my opinion, the advantages of being a policy officer in the Ministry outweigh clearly. For example, one can participate in international conferences all over the world, one has to manage changing, challenging tasks and topics and is close to the highly topical political events. But most of all, the greatest advantage is that I had the feeling that one’s work can really help to improve the protection of nature. And that’s what is necessary to keep alive the underlying motivation for the daily work.
I appreciate very much that I was treated like a normal member of the team and am very happy that I can continue to support the Ministry together with my new very nice team of the GIZ (German Corporation for International Cooperation GmbH) as student assistant.

If you are interested in an internship at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, check the latest organisation plan and application requirements (the German language is a precondition).

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            In general, one can say that the internship was very challenging but satisfying at the same time. I worked as a secretariat performing commercial and technical services, especially in the realm of EDI (electrodeionization) and activated carbon. These two approaches are used to produce ultrapure water, which is required for fields such as the pharmacy, chip production, laboratories, beverage producers, etc. where even the smallest impurities can lead to the failure of an entire production system.

            The first couple of days were a bit overwhelming since I was introduced to commercial programs such as the GDI Business Line that I have never worked with before. Getting introduced to the programs and procedures at this company was challenging and interesting at the same time because I had absolutely no knowledge about the basics of how to run a business. The first couple of days I followed one of the secretaries around so I received insights into the company’s procedures. The first week I was mainly performing basic tasks such as communicating with clients via phone and email and file away offers and purchase orders. In the next weeks, I was able to perform tasks with more responsibilities such as creating offers and purchase orders. I was also starting to technically advise costumers about EDI tools and which instruments would best suit their needs.

            What I liked about this internship was the trust and faith that everyone had in me right from the start. On the one side, I was thrown into the cold water, which allowed me to figure out things on my own. But on the other side, they introduced me to all the necessary tasks and procedures that I need to know to work effectively and efficiently. This internship has helped me to learn a lot about the different water treatments as well as all the tasks that are involved in running a business. Additionally, I also became friends with some of my colleagues who were always very supportive and kind. Overall, I can only recommend interning at the TES when one is interested in water treatment procedures as well as getting the handle of basic business principles.  

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Mysterious castles, beautiful hiking trails and fabulous wine festivals: For an internship, I moved to the beautiful Palatinate region in the very West of Germany for three months. The office of the small company UDATA – Environment and Education is located in the idyllic town Neustadt an der Weinstraße, which is situated 30 km from Mannheim. UDATA has around 15 employees – depending how many projects they are working on – and quite a lot focal points. Climate, water or soil research, environmental education, data management or app development: UDATA has many projects.

When I was about to start my internship, I was very nervous. Having had only an interview on the phone, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But I met a wonderful team with friendly and helpful people and I soon felt very comfortable about going to work. The team was also very supportive and tried to find work that matched my interest. I got the chance to work in different projects and to gain insights in various topics.

One of my tasks was to set up a website for a “Massive Open Online Course” (MOOC) about energy and business, but I was also involved in filming the lectures and setting up an additional course about climate change. Under www.energie-bwl.de (German version) and soon under www.energy-business.net (English version), you can learn everything a manager needs to know about energy. Controlling, facility management, logistics and green IT are closely related to energy consumption. In a changing world, the smart use of energy is a crucial ability for every business. Through filmed lectures and short animated videos you can learn all about energy and business. Are you also wondering why climate change is important? Have a look at the climate change course and find out!

In another project, an app called uRnature (we wrote about it in a previous article here) has been developed to bring young people in touch with nature again. With minigames and outdoor missions the app teaches youth about climate change andthe importance of forests. During my internship, I was not only writing texts for the app and helped debugging new versions, I was also involved in the marketing: I was allowed to plan and carry out two major marketing activities, including advertisement and a prize competition on-site the outdoor missions.

UDATA offers guided tours for kindergardeners and school kids through a waste-to-energy plant in Ludwigshafen (find out about the waste cemetery here) in order to teach children how to separate waste and raise awareness for trash avoidance. Luckily I also got the chance to to participate in these tours as well. And it was my task to take care of the ghost insects in the office. (Those were shown to the children in the waste-to-energy plant, to make them understand how animals deal with their waste). There were also some smaller projects such as designing an info panel for the newest outdoor mission of uRnature and a flyer about sustainable consumption. Additionally, UDATA is creating some maps in QGIS for a project aiming to provide a detailed map of bicycle paths all over Germany.

Due to the diverse and instructive tasks as well as due to the good work environment, I enjoyed my time at UDATA very much. The Palatinate region is also guaranteeing a high quality of life: The closeness to France, the beautiful landscapes, the friendly people. Thus, I am sure I have not been there for the last time and can only recommend it to others to do their internship there.

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