Become an internship partner!

Philosophy students do their internships at a variety of businesses and organizations. The Groene Amsterdammer, Beter Onderwijs Nederland, magazine Trouw, the KNAW, the UMCG and the Politie Eenheid Noord-Nederland are KCF internship partners.

Would you also like to become an internship partner?

Internship partner's experiences

Curious what it’s like to have a philosophy student intern at your business? Swanny Kremer is an ethicist and project leader moral deliberation at FPC Dr. S van Mesdag, a clinic for male FPH patients. During her studies, she did an internship there herself and she wanted to pass the baton. Nowadays, she has been an internship partner of the Faculty of Philosophy for years and are she the interns responsible for an independent line of research within the Mesdag 

What does a philosophy student add? ‘After years of working in the same environment, you can start to view certain actions and events as normal. A philosophy student has learned to be critical and curious throughout their entire studies, never to assume things, and to question everything. This forces you to keep thinking. Keeps you sharp,’ Swanny says.

To illustrate: when you enter the Mesdag as a visitor, you tend to spend some time in the waiting room. A student who came to apply for an internship regarding the topic ‘worthiness’ was sat there when he heard the guard talk about “transporting” a patient to the court. When Swanny came to get the student from the waiting room, he asked how dignified that type of language was. He also noted that the choice of words also ‘wasn’t quite great’ within a historical context. Swanny immediately knew: this is my new intern!

Swanny continuously has an intern on-site. When an intern is done with their research, the results are presented at a gathering where workers, patients and people from outside the clinic are welcome. Every research brings with it new questions and these questions are something for the next intern to work with. This way, the interns create an independent line of research. ‘Because there is always a new philosophy intern working here, a fresh wind constantly blows through the clinic.’