One of the areas of responsibility of UNDP’s Crisis Bureau is to ensure that UNDP is well positioned to anticipate and to respond in the timeliest and most effective manner to the crisis. To improve UNDP’s crisis risk analysis capabilities, the Crisis Bureau is exploring the targeted use of data science to harness new and emerging technologies such as machine learning / artificial intelligence and alternative data sources. Hence it also offers Information Management & Data Science Internship while enabling early-career professionals to experience the working of UNDP Crisis Bureau first-hand.

What will the Information Management & Data Science Interns do at UNDP?

The Information Management & Data Science intern will provide support to the early warning team in its information management and data science tools development activities, particularly related to the further development and operation of the Crisis Risk Dashboard (CRD), which is a data management and visualization platform to track crisis risks.

Information management and tools development support may include:

• Identifying additional data sources and manage data flows that support crisis risk analysis
• Supporting the collection, management, and publishing of documents, data, information, and digital content, using UNDP’s content management systems;
• Developing customized applications and tools to strengthen CRD data collection, analysis, and visualization capabilities;
• Support the development of training material for the Global Crisis Risk Dashboard
• Developing customized CRDs that offer country- or issue-based tracking and analysis by designing and developing visual interfaces, human-computer interaction modeling, and usability testing;
• Researching innovative forms of acquiring data for early warning, particularly in the context where data is scarce;
• Contributing new ideas for improving the CRD in terms of the early warning data, and in terms of how the dashboard is used for effective crisis risk analysis;
• Other related duties as may be assigned by the Early Warning Programme Specialist.

Machine learning / artificial intelligence tools development support may include:

• Identifying new use cases for Machine Learning via Crisis Risk Dashboard applications
• Supporting the development of machine learning models applying structured and unstructured learning including but not limited to regressions, random forest models, clustering models, sentiment analysis, NLP (natural language processing) and Topic Modelling

What do you need for UNDP Information Management & Data Science  Internship?

To qualify for an internship with the UNDP Internship program, applicants must meet one of the following requirements:

• Be in a graduate school program (second university degree or equivalent, or higher);
• Be in the final academic year of a first university degree program (minimum Bachelor’s level or Master’s level or equivalent); or
• Have graduated with a university degree and, must commence the internship within a one year period of graduation from an academic program.
• Moreover, applicants who are unable to commence the internship within one year of graduation are not eligible.
• The University degree must be in the area of Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Economics, Quantitative Social Sciences, etc.
• Be computer literate in standard software applications, and with particular knowledge/expertise in data science, information management, information systems, geographic information systems (GIS), database development, web management, visualization, or other related areas;
• Demonstrate a keen interest in the UN’s work and have a personal commitment to the ideals of the Charter;
• Further, applicants do not require having professional working experience for participation in the UN Internship Program
• Fluency of English (both written and spoken) is desirable. Additionally, knowledge of French and Spanish is also desirable.

How to apply for an Internship at the UNDP?

Applicants may apply for the UNDP internship by submitting the online application. Further, the applicants will require a recent CV and cover letter to apply for the internship. Also, the interns may submit a relevant portfolio and documentation.

Interns, however, should note that they may submit only one PDF file via the online application portal. Hence, the applicants must merge all documents into one PDF file before uploading.

Deadline

Applicants may apply for the Information Management & Data Science at UNDP until 26 July 2019. UNDP will not accept any more application after the past the deadline.