Internships in Estonia

Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, University of Tartu

City: Tartu, Estonia

Internship Dates: June 15 –August 7, 2026

About the Organization: The Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies at the University of Tartu combines top-level scholarly research with a dynamic, international learning environment at all three levels of higher education. Research conducted at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies encompasses the main subfields of political science (comparative politics, international relations and political theory), as well as area studies (Baltic, Russian, East European and EU politics) and, more recently, research on the usage and impact of information and communication technologies. We offer the following ‘tracks’ for the internship (which can also be combined, depending on the interests and competences of the intern) :

1. The Centre for Eurasian and Russian Studies (CEURUS) is offering an internship opportunity for students interested in the history, politics, and contemporary societies of Eastern Europe, Russia, and Northern Eurasia. Interns will have the opportunity to work on various projects based at the centre, including the European Research Council project EMPSOLID ("Empire of Solidarities: A Connected History of Private Charity across a Decentred Romanov Empire, 1855–1914"). Tasks may involve research assistance, conducting archival research at the Estonian National Archives in Tartu (knowledge of Russian, German, or Estonian is required), data collection, literature reviews, and assisting with event organisation for academic workshops and seminars.
2. The University of Tartu Ukraine Centre (UTUC) is offering an internship opportunity for students interested in the Ukraine studies, particularly, but not limited to the areas of contemporary politics and society, countering disinformation, digital governance and democracy. Prospective interns will be able to assist with implementing a range of projects (see list of ongoing projects at the UTUC website). Possible tasks include research assistance, event organization, communication and dissemination tasks.
3. European Union studies and European politics. Possible tasks include research assistance, help with writing grant proposals, reporting, dissemination and communication activities.
4. The Centre for IT Impact Studies (CITIS) offers opportunities to students interested in e-governance and e-democracy (including internet voting), including assistance with various applied research projects.

Number of Opening(s): 2

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Museum of Occupations and Freedom VABAMU

City: Tallinn, Estonia

Internship Dates: June 15 - August 7, 2026

About the Organization: VABAMU is a museum in Tallinn city centre that depicts the 20th century history of Estonia, as well as the current day independence. Vabamu hosts the permanent exhibition Freedom Without Borders, the exhibition about occupation, resistance, freedom, and recovery, as well as temporary exhibitions. Vabamu has around 20 employees and reaches out into three branches: the museums Vabamu and KGB Prison Cells, the youth learning platform NoVa, and its international collaboration unit Global Conversations.

Work Description: 

• Working with museum’s Collections Manager to help with collections storage as well as with archiving, packing and labelling different items in museum collections. When needed, digitizing items, creating metadata for the items in the exhibition, and designing a structure for the exhibition on the Spotlight platform.
• Giving tours in the KGB prison cells.
• Helping with events and Estonia’s Friends International Meeting program logistics.
• Working with the museum’s curator and head of exhibitions on organizing museum events, including event communication, setting up events and moderating discussions. Providing ideas and insight on future exhibitions, especially regarding how to present Estonian-centered topics for global audiences. Helping to make exhibitions by writing or editing texts and searching for information.
• Helping to set up and support Vabamu’s annual summer school Hüppelaud, where students in the age range of 14-19 gather to come up with new ideas and build actual tech products that would help solve some real-life problems while working as a team.

Number of Opening(s): 2

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NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE)

City: Tallinn, Estonia

Internship Dates: June 15 - August 7, 2026

About the Organization: NATO CCDCOE is an international and multidisciplinary cyber defence hub established in 2008 and is accredited by NATO. Member nations includes 39 nations from NATO and beyond. Staff size is approximately 70. 

NATO CCDCOE cooperates with national governments, NATO, academia, and the private sector. CCDCOE conducts research, training courses, and exercises. For the research activities, the Centre will actively search for cooperation partners from academia, industry, military, government and other research organizations. With all our activities, in our focus areas of technology, strategy, operations and law, we demonstrate our expertise in the field of cyber defence: The Tallinn Manual, the annual International Conference on Cyber Conflict (CyCon) and Locked Shields, the world’s largest live fire technical cyber defence exercise Locked Shields.

Project description:

Cyber is seen as a new warfare domain among NATO organizations. The demand for realistic cyber elements in exercises far exceeds the capacity of NATO bodies, including the NATO CCDCOE, to provide dedicated support.

To help close this gap, the NATO CCDCOE is developing a Cyber Playbook — a compendium of stand-alone, adaptable, and realistic cyber vignettes. Each vignette can be easily integrated into military or interagency exercises with minimal modification, enabling organizers to simulate cyber effects or background cyber campaigns even without dedicated cyber infrastructure or expertise.

The Playbook will be NATO UNCLASSIFIED and available for use by NATO and NATO-aligned entities seeking to incorporate credible cyber dynamics into their exercises.

The intern will support the development of the Cyber Playbook by drafting, adapting, and refining the short cyber vignettes for use in NATO and partner exercises. Tasks will include identifying plausible cyber incidents, framing them as exercise scenarios with clear triggers and outcomes, and formatting them for inclusion in the Playbook. The intern may also assist in reviewing or editing existing vignettes to improve clarity, consistency, and usability across different exercise contexts.

Number of Opening(s): 2

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Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech)

City: Tallinn, Estonia

Internship Dates: June 15 - August 7, 2026

About the Organization: Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) is the only flagship in engineering and IT science and education in Estonia, providing higher education at all levels in engineering and technology, information technology, economics, science, and maritime.

Internship Department:  The FinEst Centre for Smart Cities (FinEst Centre) is an international research and development center, driven by passion to enhance the quality of life in urban areas. The FinEst Centre focuses on five research themes (Mobility, Energy, Built Environment, Data and Governance) aimed at developing cities to be more human-centric, supported by digital data and services.

Work Description: The intern is expected to join the continuous process of matching long-term city challenges (e.g. urbanization, climate change) with ideas on how to solve them in the urban environment via research and innovation actions that we call pilots. If successful, those pilots aim to transform European cities of becoming climate-neutral and smart by 2030.

The FinEst Centre is conducting smart city pilots where each pilot project should involve one Estonian municipality and a foreign one. The FinEst Centre is also participating in several pan-European projects that conduct, for example, climate-neutral pilots in various European Cities and twin-city pilots on urban data integration and connected digital twin. The total combined volume of those piloting programmes exceeds 100 million dollars. 

This is a dynamic role having the potential tasks (depending on the interest/ availability):

• Assist in evaluation of cutting-edge pilot projects before they will be tested out in the urban environments – engage with experts with a goal to coordinate the evaluation process.
• Help in setting up international cross-sectoral teams of urban developers and researchers – e.g. facilitate meetings.
• Identify best practices to inspire and inform replication and scale-up in cities.
• Gather and analyze data – dependent on the skills and project needs, perform qualitative (e.g. setup interviews, analyze interview data) and/or quantitative data (statistical analyses).

The FinEst Centre has a flat and open working culture where the intern would be welcomed as an equal colleague.

Number of Opening(s): 1

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International Centre for Defence and Security (hosted by FSI)

This opportunity is sponsored and organized by the  Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) through their Global Policy Internships program.

City: Tallinn, Estonia

Internship Dates: Summer 2026 (10-week duration)

About the Organization: CDS is an independent Estonia’s think-tank conducting research, events, and outreach in defence, security and foreign policy. Its mission is to:

• Strengthen Estonia’s security, defence and diplomatic sectors by identifying and analysing national security, defence and foreign policy challenges and proposing policy solutions;
• Sharpen strategic thinking in NATO and the EU on international and security issues that affect the Nordic-Baltic region by offering timely and high-quality analysis and policy recommendations;
• Contribute to enhancing Estonia’s intellectual role within NATO and the EU by developing forward-looking and innovative policy ideas and strategic solutions for the common European and transatlantic security, defence, and foreign policy agenda;
• Raise public awareness and stimulate public debate on security, defence and foreign policy matters

Project description: The FSI Global Policy Intern will work for a period of about ten weeks during Summer 2026. The intern's project may include research on security challenges facing the Baltic-Nordic region, of which one of the following themes is likely:

Depending on the profile and interests of the candidates, one of the following themes is likely and possible:

• Russia’s war against Ukraine and broader threat to European and transatlantic security;
• Russia’s relations with China, Iran, North Korea, and the Global South;
• Internal developments in Russia and their implications to Russia’s foreign policy;
• Russia’s military capabilities and posture;
• Adaptation of NATO’s defence and deterrence posture;
• Role of the US in European security under the Trump administration;
• Evolution of the EU’s geopolitical role and defence cooperation;
• Ukraine’s European integration;
• Hybrid threats in the Nordic-Baltic region and across Europe;
• Strategic trends and security developments in the Indo-Pacific region;
• Geotech and geoeconomic competition in the context of great power rivalry;
• Emerging disruptive technologies, defence innovation, and defence industry.

The exact project will be developed with the intern and ICDS’ program staff. The intern will be expected to take on the following tasks:

• Produce short research-based analytical publications;
• Assist with data collection, analysis and drafting for the ongoing and/or planned ICDS research projects;
• Provide organisational support to the ongoing projects;
• Assist with development of future ICDS projects (research, outreach, events, etc);
• Assist ICDS research staff with editing and formatting research papers and articles.

Eligibility and Skills: The internship is open to continuing undergraduate and graduate students. Students from any department are welcome to apply. Applicants must be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.3 or higher. Applicants should have an interest in issues related to international security and defense issues, specifically in the Baltic-Nordic region.

Additional Requirements:

• Willingness to demonstrate initiative combined with an ability to follow instructions and constructively respond to feedback;
• Good research, analytical, communication and networking skills;
• Ability to work independently as well as part of a larger team;
• Ability to perform well under time pressure and meet demanding timelines and deadlines;
• Professional work ethic and careful attention to detail

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