Research internship offered as part of ACT UP! project

Research project ACT UP! is looking for research interns to join our international team. Are you interested in performance, politics/activism, and city life? Do you care about climate change? The Erasmus+ funded project Active Citizenship through Theatre for Urban Politics is offering paid research intern positions to help us to 1. investigate, design and implement pedagogical methods and tools for activating citizenship in students, staff and the public through performative urban interventions, 2. Communicate and activate existing and new networks relevant to the project. 

The project looks at the potential of performance from a political point of view: how can we use theatre and performance in educational settings to help us to hear other voices, tell new stories, and create new collective imaginaries? Working with students, we ask how performative encounters in public space can reshape public discourse around sustainability and climate change. How can we (re)invigorate political participation through creative interventions in urban settings? What role is there for higher education in these processes? We work in a consortium with partners at universities in Oslo, Cape Town and Tartu. We also work with renowned local theatre ensemble NITE (National Interdisciplinary Theatre Ensemble). 

Relevant disciplines are: politics, theatre and performance studies, urban studies, spatial sciences, philosophy, pedagogy. If you’re creative, enthusiastic, and well-organised, this is the internship for you!

Tasks:

• Assist in developing tools for the ACT UP! pedagogical toolkit; a toolkit including materials and resources and guidance on how to use the ACT UP! Methodology and its tools in educational settings. This includes incorporating the existing literature and practice review as part of educational resources in the toolkit. 
• Assist in making the toolkit accessible via the project website or other platforms and assist in developing a strategy for the dissemination of the toolkit.
• Communication and dissemination activities such as developing content for newsletters, the project website, social media etc.
• Update the ACT UP! literature review
• Update the ACT UP! practice review with additional sources indicated by the project partners
• Participate in (roughly) monthly online partner meetings
• Potentially participate in a project meeting in Estonia in February 2026, focusing on knowledge exchange, in particular on student work in the development of intervention methods. 
• Collaborate with project partners and their student/research assistants on project activities and outputs
• Support a correct internal documentation of project activities and outputs
• Offer general support for project activities and events

Requirements:

MA student enrolled in relevant programme and/or with relevant background experience

What we offer:

• Paid internship for 2-5 months in the period January 2026 - June 2026.. The project runs until May 2027 so a later start / extension are also possibilities. 
• Hands-on supervision and interaction with international research network and local partners
• Potentially: joining research visit to Estonian partner in February 2026

Reactions:

Send your CV and a short motivation to m.e.counihan rug.nl and m.l.wilders rug.nl.

Reactions before January 6 please!