In a previous blog post, I played around with the idea of reviving Culture Crime News, my beloved news media database and email list that I never got paid for and ran out of time for. On reflection, I have decided to try to bring it back, but doing so requires help. Lots of autonomous unsupervised help. Thus, I’m looking for interns. Three interns to help on three projects. These internships are not for everyone. They are unpaid, they require commitment, they come with no magical visa to come to the Netherlands…but they do represent real skills that one can put on a CV generally (and I’m here to help with CV optimisation in that regard), and the interns will learn a lot about this field.

Yes, unpaid internships are not awesome. But I encourage anyone thinking of applying (or complaining) to have a look at my blog post When Not To Work for Free While Building a Career in Academia. These internships are purposely structured to be flexible on time, totally remote, and with a clear benefit for the intern. They also represent contributions to things I am not paid for either. Things that are good for the community, but will not exist otherwise. In discussions with early career scholars and recent grads, they have indicated that they want the opportunities as long as they come with understanding, rather than have no intern/volunteer opportunities at all.

Applicants must respond by 6 October 2022 with the info required in the advert below. Please do not be offended if I do not select you, I will seek interns again. Finally, please only apply for the one role that best suits you and your time commitment. I know you might think “I would do any of them”, but that makes is hard to understand your interest and motivation. Pick one, not more than one, and do not send me a ranking. Also see the “Notes” section at the bottom.

So without further faff, here they are.

Internship 1: Culture Crime News

• Remote Work
• Unpaid
• Approx. 7 hours per week, no set times
• Best scheduled as 1 hour per day
• (probably) Requires a Mac
• This is an internship with me and with Culture Crime News, not my University or ERC Project.

The ideal intern would be:

• A student or recent graduate of a BA or MA programme
• Have some background in studying art or heritage related crime
• Have strong command of English, meaning reads English quickly and thoroughly
• Have a personal interest in following all the global news related to heritage crime
• Be generally “good with computers” as there are fiddly bits to set up

This internship represents the renewal and revitalisation of Culture Crime News, a database website and weekly email news letter that shares media articles covering crime related to art and heritage (interpreted broadly). The intern would spend approximately an hour each day (some days less), locating applicable media features using targeted Google News searches and placing them in a database using the Mac BibTex application Bibdesk. Sadly Bibdesk is Mac only and I haven’t come up with a way to transfer this workflow to Windows, so you need a Mac (any Mac) for this internship. After placing these items in the database, once a week they will be converted to a newsletter and sent out to the 2000 subscribers to Culture Crime News. They will also be shared on the CCNews website. Internships will last for 3 months in the first instance, with the possibility of staying on if it is reasonable for everyone involved.

What the Intern will get out of this

• A global view of art crime in all its contemporary manifestations
• Experience collecting data and sharing it
• Mentorship in this field

How to apply

• Title your email Internship 1
• Send me a motivation note (it can be in the body of the email) and be sure to include why you’d want to devote time to this, what kind of time commitment you can make, and what your background in this field is. Also please note if you have a Mac.
• Send me a short CV or resume; this is optional but it would help me see where you are coming from
• Let me know specifically if this internship can be used towards university credit for you
• Send this to me by 6 October 2022.
• internship@anonymousswisscollector.com

Internship 2: Art Crime Research Opportunities List

• Remote Work
• Unpaid
• Approx. 2 hours per week, no set times
• Can be done at any time
• May be able to get away without a Mac
• This is an internship with me and with Culture Crime News, not my University or ERC project.

The ideal intern would be:

• A student or recent graduate of a MA programme or current PhD
• Have some background in studying art or heritage related crime
• Have strong command of English, meaning reads English quickly and thoroughly
• Be willing to sign up for newsletters, monitor LinkedIn, set up site alerts, and check other sources to find opportunities

This internship involves finding content for the Art Crime Research Opportunities mailing list. Nearly 2000 people subscribe to the list, and more read it on Twitter, LinkedIn, and this Blog. While not exhaustive, it represents what I know about and can find with regard to jobs, conferences, scholarships, and other opportunities in the area of Art Crime Research, interpreted very broadly. The intern will need to monitor a number of sources and sites to find opportunities to share, and ensure that the information shared is accurate. We also might explore different or more interesting formats for the newsletter. Internships will last for 3 months in the first instance, with the possibility of staying on if it is reasonable for everyone involved.

What the Intern will get out of this

• A clear view of most opportunities available in this field
• Some opportunities to network digitally with those that create the opportunities
• Experience collecting data from a number of sources, extracting pertinent information, and sharing it
• Mentorship in this field

How to apply

• Title your email Internship 2
• Send me a motivation note (it can be in the body of the email) and be sure to include why you’d want to devote time to this, what kind of time commitment you can make, and what your background in this field is. Also please note if you have a Mac.
• Send me a short CV or resume; this is optional but it would help me see where you are coming from
• Let me know specifically if this internship can be used towards university credit for you
• Send this to me by 6 October 2022.
• internship@anonymousswisscollector.com

Internship 3: Research Assistance

NOTE THERE HAS ALREADY BEEN A LOT OF INTEREST IN THIS INTERNSHIP. BEST PICK A DIFFERENT ONE.

• Remote Work
• Unpaid
• Approx. 4 to 8 hours per week, no set times
• Can be done at any time
• Mac or PC
• This is an internship with me and my side projects, not my University or ERC project.

The ideal intern would be:

• A student or recent graduate of a BA or MA programme
• Have some background in studying art or heritage related crime
• Have strong command of English, meaning reads English quickly and thoroughly
• Have plans to continue on in academia or academic research
• Is prepared for the level of repetitive tasks and data entry that is academic data gathering reality

This internship involves providing research support for tasks related to a number of my side projects focused on crime related to art, cultural heritage, and fossils (e.g. the projects that I slowly work on in my spare time and that no one pays for). The tasks will vary every week (and some weeks there may be no tasks) but they represent things like base-level data gathering, data entry, reference and citation management, and at times development of annotated bibliographies. It ain’t glamorous, but it is what all research rests on.

What the Intern will get out of this

• Experience in the mechanics of academic research
• Views into possible research topics for future master’s or PhD level work
• Possibilities of converting the work into academic publications or other outputs
• Mentorship in this field

How to apply

• Title your email Internship 3
• Send me a motivation note (it can be in the body of the email) and be sure to include why you’d want to devote time to this, what kind of time commitment you can make, and what your background in this field is. Also please tell me about your future plans.
• Send me a short CV or resume; this is required for this position
• Let me know specifically if this internship can be used towards university credit for you
• Send this to me by 6 October 2022
• internship@anonymousswisscollector.com

Notes

There are a few things that I should say somewhere, and like the long winded academic I am, I am putting them all at the bottom in one giant note. As I think of them. Unstructured. Here we go. As you can see, I am heavily favouring students and recent graduates for all of these internships. That is intentional. I am not interested in taking on interns who are just offering out of passing interest, are casually considering a career switch, or as something to fill the time, and I need to be clear about that. Why? It comes down to what I can offer early career people. These are unpaid roles, money-wise, but I can pay early career interns in mentorship, research and career support, recommendations, and the likes. I am devoted to that. I’ve got nothing to offer to anyone else. Remember early career doesn’t mean that you are a certain age; no age cut offs in any way here! Next, I’m going to be honest folks, if the past is anything to go on, a lot of people will respond to this advert. I simply cannot take everyone on who applies and while I appreciate your enthusiasm and willingness to contribute, there is only so much work to do, and I have only so much time to manage the work. I will not be taking on more than three interns which means some applicants will be disappointed. If this goes well, I will seek new interns as the others move on with their lives and will advertise them here. Next, I said it above but I emphasise it here, you are interning with ME and my side projects, not my ERC funded transform project nor with my University. We can talk about how your CV should best reflect that, but do not be confused. European Students might have the ability to come to Maastricht and intern with me on an Erasmus+ deal but that is a different kettle of fish and you need to approach me about that. Next, I really am looking for people who can make at least a 3 month commitment. Some of this takes some setting up, and also other people want the position. Be honest with yourself about your ability to commit before you apply. What else. Oh! Language. I’m looking for perfect English because that is the language I work in, and some of this relates to communication. English doesn’t have to be your first language at all, but you have to be like C1+. Also, sometimes I get very very busy and at those times, managing interns falls a bit on the side. You might find some quiet weeks here and there as I am snowed under. Finally(?) I warn that I have a fairly easy-going style of communication and work: I’m friendly and outgoing with my interns and colleagues, and I encourage open discussion without deference to hierarchy. Some people can’t stand that so watch out. This should not be interpreted as a lack of obsession with detail and high quality work…I expect both, always.