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Environmental Law & Policy

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Environmental Law & Policy

Background

The Aegean Sea is one of the most important marine biodiversity hotspots in the Mediterranean, with some of the most extensive and pristine seagrass meadows and coralligenous assemblages hosting populations of keystone species. Unfortunately, these biodiversity hotspots and keystone species are at increasing risk of anthropogenic activities such as illegal fishing, tourism and climate change. Archipelagos aims to protect and conserve the Aegean nature with frontier science for conservation and we need spatial analyses in achieving our goals.

Environmental policy & law team

Archipelagos focuses on promoting environmental conservation in practice. The law and policy team research national and international law in order to establish knowledge on the legal framework of relevance to all fields of work of Archipelagos. The team also produces documents to inform the public on law and policy applied on environmental issues. Research is also undertaken on case-by-case bases to determine the legal parameters of specific instances of environmentally destructive human activities which are reported to the competent authorities. We are actively involved in (inter)national projects to formulate suggestions addressed to national and international policymakers for the improvement of environmental protection regimes, according to recent scientific data. The main region of our work is the Aegean Sea as a sub-area of the Mediterranean Sea, but we also research environmental law and policy approaches implemented in different regions of the world. We conduct comparative analyses to construct solid arguments to promote necessary law and policy regime reformations for the effective conservation of the Aegean and the Mediterranean marine and coastal environment.

Examples of recent internship projects

• The creation of a database including legal measures and policy approaches taken by different States.
• Regional and international protection of sensitive marine habitats against destructive fishing activities.
• The creation of a database including the minimum sizes of harvested fish in the Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea.
• The creation of a database including the EU and Greek legal provisions regarding the mistreatment of marine and terrestrial wild fauna.
• Ongoing research of the legal aspects of bottom trawl fishing in the Eastern Mediterranean with a focus on the Aegean Sea area.

Your role

The internship will primarily involve law and policy research regarding the conservation and management of the marine and terrestrial environment. Your main focus will be the Aegean and Mediterranean Sea, but you will be given the opportunity to research various legal and policy regimes and familiarise yourself with different approaches implemented on environmental issues worldwide. The outcome of your work will be used for the completion and/or update of Archipelagos’ databases. In addition, you will be called to provide your knowledge and opinion on unexpected issues that may arise during your internship, such as incidents of illegal activity. Although your research topics are relevant to the Archipelagos’ agenda and objective, you will be given the freedom to suggest new fields of research, always in accordance with the work of Archipelagos, and propose your ideas for future policy-making suggestions. The internship involves, in principle, office work, but you will also be able to participate in the field work of the other Archipelagos’ teams so that you get acquainted with the actual object of our conservation efforts.

Technical skills

At least one of the following requirements is needed:
• Experience on doctrinal legal research.
• Ability to conduct interdisciplinary research.
• Good writing skills and experience on legal writing.
• Ability to understand and analyse legal and policy texts and documents.

Other skills

• Fluency in English
• Good communication skills
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment
• Motivation to live in remote places with simple facilities
• Sincere desire to work towards Archipelagos’ conservation efforts

What we offer

We offer an internship at an inspiring institute with experts on coastal conservation. You have the opportunity to collect data for writing a thesis, scientific publications or increasing your skillset within the marine conservation sector. Internships range from 3 - 12 months, although shorter or longer internship periods may be arranged to cover the needs of groups or individuals. As Archipelagos is a non-profit research institute, the internships we offer are unpaid. The experience requires an internship weekly fee of 200 - 245 euros to cover living and research expenses (e.g. housing, 3 meals a day, public liability insurance and other research facilities). Students and recent graduates and researchers are advised to search for possible funding through their universities, by getting in touch with the International Office/ Placement/ Erasmus+ Offices at their Universities or other relevant grant providing organizations in their region.

Procedure

To apply for this internship, please send an email to our admissions team outlining your program of interest and requesting an application form - [email protected] We will get back to you within 2 working days.

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